Hanso Foundation

The Hanso Foundation

The Hanso Foundation
Company type	Fictional
Industry	Life Extension Electromagnetic Research Quest for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence Mathematical Forecasting Cryogenics Development Juxtapositional Eugenics Accelerated Remote Viewing The DHARMA Initiative
Headquarters	Unknown
Key people	Alvar Hanso
Website	http://www.thehansofoundation.org/

In the fictional world of the television series Lost, The Hanso Foundation was formed by arms purveyor Alvar Hanso who turned his attention away from "keeping the world safe through the development of sophisticated weapons systems" and focused instead on the development of new technologies to "create a brighter future for all humanity." An advertisement for the foundation is played before the showing of Lost on the British terestrial television Channel 4.

The Hanso Foundation, through its funding of the DHARMA Initiative, was involved in the construction of facilities on the Lost island.

As of 02/05/06, The Hanso Foundation has a free phone number in the UK; 0800 66 66 40. Phoning it leads to a recorded message, with "Press 1", "Press 2" type options. The website has also been updated. A recording of the call has been made available [1]

www.thehansofoundation.org website

The organization was first mentioned in the Lost season 2 episode "Orientation" – the orientation film includes the copyright declaration "© The Hanso Foundation 1980". Subsequent to the airing of this episode, the website www.thehansofoundation.org was launched by ABC.

In March 2006, the website became unavailable. In the offical Lost podcast dated March 28 2006, the executive producers stated that the site was "down for remodeling" and would be available again in May.

The domain thehansofoundation.org was registered on July 18, 2005 by ABC , although the ownership changed from ABC to Verisign DBMS on April 20, 2006

Most of the links on the website led to a page stating "ACCESS DENIED", but a hidden link on the "Active Projects" page led to a page showing the orientation film seen in the "Orientation" episode.

Another "Active Projects" link, the Hanso Life-Extension Project link, displayed a press release dated September 21, 2005 regarding the life-extension of an orangutan named "Joop" celebrating its 105th birthday.

Finally, the "Alvar Hanso" page showed a photo of Alvar Hanso. Clicking on this photo showed an animation of a computer screen similar to the one Michael encounters in the episode "The 23rd Psalm". After this, the page displayed an internal memorandum dated October 5, 2005 from the Global Health Organization regarding the Hanso Life-Extension Project.

On May 2 2006, the Hanso Foundation website returned with a completely new design and new sections in order to play an important role for "the Lost Experience" ARG. The first clues for this game were given in the UK, during the first advert break of the second season premiere of Lost. An advertisement of the Hanso Foundation was shown with a freephone number (0800 66 66 40) which gives options for general information and various directors' voicemail. Most messages are pretty cryptic and there appears to be some kind of German radio playing during the call waiting sections.

Mission statement

On www.thehansofoundation.org, the following mission statement was presented:

The Hanso Foundation stands at the vanguard of social and scientific research for the advancement of the human race. For forty years, the foundation has offered grants to worthy experiments designed to further the evolution of the human race and provide technological solutions to the most pressing problems of our time.

The Hanso Foundation: a commitment to encouraging excellence in science and technology and furthering the cause of human development.

Alvar Hanso

Alvar Hanso is the fictional enigmatic leader of the Hanso Foundation. Little is known about him, but it is known that he is or was a Danish weapons conveyer. His face is shown for a brief moment in the orientation film.

According to www.thehansofoundation.org,

• Driven by a need for privacy and a deep-seated sense of humility, Alvar Hanso has released few details of his personal life to the public.
• He first made his mark during the Second World War, providing munitions to various resistance movements around Europe. After the War, Hanso became the leading purveyor of high-technology armaments for NATO.
• After decades of keeping the world safe through the development of sophisticated weapons systems, Hanso turned his attention to critical areas of science and technology - always searching for new ways to improve the human experience, and create a brighter future for all humanity.
• Still running his vast network of companies, Hanso has set new standards for philanthropy and the support of pure scientific research for the betterment of the entire race.

Quote: “From the dawn of our species, Man has been blessed with curiosity. Our most precious gift, without exception, is the desire to know more - to look beyond what is accepted as the truth and to imagine what is possible.”

Alvar Hanso, Address to the U.N. Security Council, 1967

In the Lost episode "The Hunting Party", the character "Mr. Friendly" apparently quotes Hanso's statement on curiosity, claiming it was said once by a man "much smarter than anyone [on the island]".

Trivia

• "Namaste", a Hindi greeting, is found on thehansofoundation.org website and is also spoken by Dr. Marvin Candle, presenter of the orientation film.

• Namaste, in the language created by J. R. R. Tolkien for his elfs, Quenya, means "goodbye" or "farewell".

External links

• www.thehansofoundation.org – The Hanso Foundation fictional ABC Web site.
• An unofficial mirror of www.thehansofoundation.org at web design studio Big Spaceship