Lost and the computational island metaphor

Last Thursday night I posted a picture of the comic that appeared on the evening's episode of Lost. I enjoy the show for any number of reasons, but perhaps the most compelling is its grounding in the island metaphor.

From Plato's Atlantis to Gilligan, think back through the last couple millennia and you'll see island metaphors recurring in times of dramatic technological change. The immediate popularity of Lost echoes the emergence of yet another island metaphor that I think is not unrelated: the image of computing as an array of virtual islands connected by virtual rafts.

Extend the metaphor to the planet or universe as an information processing array and you can see how the metaphor would appeal in an era defined by hyper-connectivity. Space and time collapse as we each find ourselves acting as a localized agent in a complex array where all is accessible if you know how to chart the course.

And even if you have the know-how to get from one place to another, that doesn't mean you understand what's going on.

Archie Comics version of Lost via Three Men in a Tub