I missed the first episode... but I was mainly wanting to see some of my favorite no name actors (Daniel dae Kim, Terry O'Quinn, etc) do their stuff... and I almost gasped outloud when I caught the episode on oct 6th... Terry O'Quinn was playing Locke... which is good, he's good with "Millenium" type characters.

But it was the Title of the Third epsiode, "Tabula Rasa" that caught me off guard, and instantly makes me want to check out the series in depth....

First, Tabula rasa, or "blank slate", is the basic idea that individual human beings are born "blank" (with no built-in mental content), and that his or her identity is defined overwhelmingly by events after birth. However, there are two meanings of the term in modern usage, and these meanings are fundamentally incongruent.

Now, The character, Locke... seems to be a direct refrence to John Locke (August 29, 1632 - October 28, 1704), who was an Enlightenment philosopher. The character in Lost seemingly has a knowledge about the island ("evil") inhabitants... which we'll get to see invade the camp in the upcoming episodes...

Now, this gets a bit preachy.... but...

As understood by Locke, tabula rasa meant that the mind of the individual was born "blank", and it also emphasized the individual's freedom to author his own soul. Each individual was free to define the content of his character -- but his basic identity as a member of the human species cannot be so altered. It is this presumption of a free, self-authored mind combined with an immutable human nature, from which the Lockean doctrine of "natural" rights derives.

The modern definition of tabula rasa, however, is fundamentally altered from the Lockean meaning. While the idea that the individual can be changed remains, the power to effect that change is now ascribed to society, not the self -- and that power extends to the whole of human nature. Under this view, one can shape the individual with few, if any, restrictions by changing the individual's environment, and thus sensory experiences. In this form, the theory is taken up by many utopian schemes that rely on changing human nature in order to achieve their goals. As the Lockean idea of "natural rights" no longer holds any meaning under such a view (because "natural" now means whatever society chooses to define), many such schemes end up moving towards one form or another of totalitarianism.

So what does all this mean? A couple of things. IF you're into character driven stories, this is it. You get to see just where humanity begins and ends, and what societies without law can do.

Second... I bet you anything Locke's connection to the island will become fuel for the already character driven fire.

Forget all this "The plan crash wasn't accurate" crap, thats just a back drop. These creatures are going to change a few peoples opinions.... and I bet you it's not dinosaurs.

(Side Note: Check out the last ten seconds of "Deep Rising" for an interesting connection to "Lost")