This Place is Death
MAN ON RECORDING: 8, 15, 16, 23, 42. 8, 15...
ROUSSEAU: Are you all right?
JIN: You Rousseau? Danielle Rousseau?
Namaste
LAPIDUS: Massive instrument failure! We're puttin' her down!
CO-PILOT: Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! This is Ajira 3-1-6! Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!
AUTOMATED MALE VOICE: 4...8...15...16...
LAPIDUS: Full flaps!
Numbers
HURLEY: Now, I want some friggin' answers.
DANIELLE: [lowering her rifle] Our ship picked up a transmission -- a voice repeating those numbers. We changed course to investigate.We've been shown in no uncertain terms that the numbers correspond to our losties. We've been lead to believe that our losties are candidates. Whatever that means. We've also been shown quite a few names, along with their corresponding numbers, crossed off both the cave list and the lighthouse dial.

So can we assume that the Numbers are the remaining candidates? Seems to be.

So... why broadcast them on a loop? It we follow that out logically, we have to assume that the list of numbers was longer at some point. Prior to some of those crossed out names being crossed out. Or at the very least, different numbers.
MAN ON RECORDING: 4, 8, 14, 15, 16, 20, 23, 42. 62, 117, 4, 8, 14, 15...

But see, that poses a real mind bender. How are names like Inman or Dawson going to end up on the number/candidate list but yet not be read out on the number broadcast in 1988?


Ok, before my ears starts bleeding, let me bring this back to my original, simple question. Given the Numbers are simply a list of candidate identifiers, what's the point of broadcasting them? Was this a signal to off island Others who's job it was to keep an eye on the losties before they got to the island?

If you feel like it, try taking on the puzzler above. Why aren't some of the other name/numbers not being read out in 1988?

The numbers are the prime factors of the valenzetti equasion and were broadcast from the island on a loop with the intention of changing the broadcast when they had succeeded in altering one of the core factors of the equasion and averting the cataclysm which the equasion predicts for humanity. The numbers were broadcast as a way of informing the dharma and hanso members on the outside when they had succeeded in this research as it founded the core of the dharma initiatives purpose and the research was funded by the hanso foundation.

The fact that the remaining candidates correspond to the numbers is a coincidence in line with all the other times the numbers have seemingly randomly popped up in the show. Their purvasiveness is a sympton of their role in the fate of humanity.

Rather than think of the Valenzaetti Equation as a straight mathematical expression such as:

-4x + 8y - 15z16...etc

think of the equation as a figurative term such as "the human equation" into which The Numbers (the Candidates) are plugged in.

Take these 6 candidates (4,8,15,16,23,42) and maneuver them into particular positions which complement each other in such a way as to produce a result which does nothing short of saving humanity.

-4x (Locke must die to draw out Smokey)
8y (Hurley must relay the words of Obi Jacob)
-15z16 (Sawyer must be taken in by Team Black, raised to the power of undead Sayid)
23j (Jack has what it takes to save them all)
42k (The Kwons' love will fulfill the final part of the equation)

The numbers of the candidates have nothing to do with the numbers being broadcast by the transmission.

The reason the numbers were broadcast, IMO, was to remind everyone on the island, in Dharma times, what to punch into the computer (thus, saving the world. Kind of important for them to remember those numbers.) I think the fact that they are the numbers of our candidates as well, is either
1.) coincidence
2.) Somebody overlooking something in the writer's room or
3.) a mystery that has yet to be explained.

I, personally, have confidence that they'll explain WHY Dharma had those specific numbers. I'm thinking Jacob gave them the numbers somehow...

We already know why they chose those numbers, its even written in the second post of the thread if you're at all interested. With regards to the hatch, it obviously isn't to remind the people pressing the button, we don't hear the french transmission in the hatch and desmond says its important to remember them.

The numbers of the candidates have nothing to do with the numbers being broadcast by the transmission.

Other than the fact that they're exactly the same?

The chances of this coincidence (the most blatant coincidence in the show and one that's been repeatedly pointed out since the first season) are exactly as remote as winning the lottery!

Of course they're related...exactly how remains a mystery, but a fair guess is that the "equation" is really a combination of specific people and their decisions.

Other than the fact that they're exactly the same?

The chances of this coincidence (the most blatant coincidence in the show and one that's been repeatedly pointed out since the first season) are exactly as remote as winning the lottery!

Of course they're related...exactly how remains a mystery, but a fair guess is that the "equation" is really a combination of specific people and their decisions. The reason that they are exactly the same is because, despite having explained the significance of the numbers through the Lost Experience, there are millions of fans who either are unfamiliar with the ARG or didn't find that explanation to be satisfactory (some even went as far as to say the Valenzetti explanation "didn't count" because it wasn't covered in the show, even though Darlton have said that TLE is canon). Therefore, the writers gave the numbers additional meaning in the show besides simply being part of Hurley's curse, which to me was always a satisfactory enough explanation to begin with.

That's three, count 'em, three explanations for the numbers, and yet there are still people claiming that they haven't been explained. If I were a LOST writer I would have gone nuts by now from all the hand-holding they seem to have to do.

even though Darlton have said that TLE is canon
Pretty sure they said last year that it wasn't exactly canon.

Pretty sure they said last year that it wasn't exactly canon.

http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Canon

Damon Lindelof (http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Damon_Lindelof) and Carlton Cuse (http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Carlton_Cuse) have stated on record that the following are canonical. The first four were cited in an interview with Entertainment Weekly [1] (http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20179125_4,00.html), the fifth from a previous interview [2] (http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/The_Lost_Experience#Looking_back), and the sixth from a producer commentary on the Season 3 DVD (http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Lost:_The_Complete_Third_Season_%28DVD%29) entitled Access: Granted (http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Access:_Granted) and an interview with Gadi Pollack (http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Gadi_Pollack) [3] (http://blogs.pcworld.com/gameon/archives/006458.html).


Lost episodes (noted by Lindelof as "the only true canon")
Lost: Missing Pieces (http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Lost:_Missing_Pieces)
The Orchid Orientation film (http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Orchid_Orientation_film)
The Christiane I (http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Christiane_I)'s search for the Black Rock (http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Black_Rock) from Find 815 (http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Find_815)
Information about the Hanso Foundation (http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Hanso_Foundation) and the Valenzetti Equation (http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Valenzetti_Equation) revealed in The Lost Experience (http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/The_Lost_Experience)
The blast door map (http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Blast_door_map_%28Via_Domus%29), the Incident Room (http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/The_Incident_Room), and the Island locations (http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Locations_%28Via_Domus%29) as seen in the video game Lost: Via Domus (http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Lost:_Via_Domus).

Carlton Cuse goes into greater detail about the issue of Lost canon in the March 10, 2008 Podcast (http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Official_Lost_Podcast/March_10,_2008#Questions). Ancillary materials such as deleted scenes, the majority of the storytelling in the ARGs, and other sources of information are considered apocryphal to varying degrees of semi-canon, and depend solely on how involved the executive staff are in the development of each.

Oh, ok. Just a coincidence. Very satisfying!