What do u think it is the purpose of the Pearl?
I don't think that what we saw in the orientation movie is in the right perspective.
All the things seems to indicate that Swan is a test and Pearl is the monitoring station.
But if u think about u can see that is possible that the Pearl is a test and the Swan is real!
Why not?
Why did Dharma create a shark with his logo?
Why did Dharma put in the hatch a big magnet?
Why did Dharma put hyeroglipichs on the counter?
Why did Dharma hide all these things under the ground?
I can figure in my mind that Dharma decide to develope a psicological test in the Pearl, asking to people to observe other people and take notes of everything... This maniacal request make me think that Pearl is the test.

Probably we will discover it in the next future...
Probably someone will decide to not push the button.
And we will understand from the print log that Henry Gale push the button. The clock will go to zero and the season will go to end!