Seeing the Pylons that Widmore put up and room 23 made me think:

This so called "experiment room" built by DHARMA
is not what it seems. Let's look at the facts:

1. Everyone was "DHARMA material", picked especially for the island.
Excelling mentally and physically.

2. If you look at the details of the Video of room 23, it
doesn't "feel" like a experiment at all.

I feel this room was built "as the result" of people being
"mentally scanned" by smokie and had their mind "altered".

Let's look at some of the people that have had this problem:

1. Rousseau's team.

2. obviously Razinski was exposed (with his ramblings on the Blast door).

3. Locke was exposed to Smokie twice (once scanned and when once when
he was dragged into Smokie's layer).

This room (origionally) was to "treat" DHARMA people who were exposed
to Smokie before the security Pylons were developed.

How did DHARMA know to put up the Pylons (to repel smokey)?

Once DHARMA found out about this creature, they studied it, found it's
"strengths and weaknesses" then they found a way to "repel" Smokie
with the Pylons.

Yes I know that "the others" used it with Walt and Karl, but they
"changed" the programming to fit in with Jacob's ideology.

But that wasn't it's origional purpose.

~ THE Pemstar Initiative ~