Remember the Future.

Have you ever wondered what the deal is with the flashbacks? Sure there is speculation that they could be implanted memories or the black smoke monster extracting them. There is also the theory that they are just simple plot devices to move on character development and add to the general mystery of the show. Okay there is some truth in that last one. But is there more to them? I think maybe there is a lot more going on than it seems. I have a theory that ties the flashbacks and various other events on the island with the island's unusual properties and perhaps even the Valenzetti Equation. Consider the following:

• The Lostaways always seem to have relevant flashbacks to whatever is going on. One could easily presume that these flashbacks are memories triggered by events that are happening. But then think about the timing. Almost every time the flashbacks happen just before the event that could trigger them. Take the most recent one for instance. Charlie is thinking about his own "greatest hits" before Naomi mentions the album to him and before he was told that he had to die. Of course he may have been thinking on his mortality anyway. But is it a co-incidence that he thinks about learning to swim and seconds later he is told he is going to drown? Had this happened once you may call it a co-incidence, but this happens all the time.
  
  
• What about Desmond's precognitive ability? He sees "flashes" of things that are going to happen. What this establishes is two things, firstly that there is some kind of capability to see into the future within the show. Secondly it establishes Desmond's conception of it. Humans aren't really designed to deal with precognition, but like any sensory perception it is all about how we perceive it rather then what it actually is (consider for instance how different creatures perceive the visual appearance of the same things differently). Desmond sees flashes of the future. Perhaps it is a bit like dejavous, which may trigger memories from the past, but in Desmond's case it triggers some from the future. What if everyone on the island actually has some precognitive ability, while on the island. Like the island helps channel it. Desmond is now heavily in touch with it, but other people are only able to process the information in very basic ways. Triggering a more traditional sense of dejavous, where they can only conceive future events based on their own past experience.
  
  
• A lot of people have speculated that "Jacob" looked a lot like Locke. Considering that we were seeing him from Locke's perspective, what did we really see? Locke saw someone that looked like himself and heard a voice saying "help me" just after that he was shot by Ben and said those exact words (although quoting Jacob, which creates a strange paradox in that theory). What if Ben also sees someone that represents himself in that hut? Perhaps what Jacob really is, is the center of the islands precognitive influence. People see themselves in Jacob and through that image they can view the future, but only if they are truly sensitive to it. That makes you wonder what Desmond would see in that hut!
  
  
• How does Ben stay one step ahead of the Losties so often? Perhaps that is via Jacobs hut too. If he see's the future there then he would be able to manipulate events to suite himself. Which interestingly could be why the island is turning on him. Perhaps the reason that Lockes father ended up on the Island was because Ben saw his car crash when visiting Jacob and sent some of his operatives out to pick him up. That way Ben can say the island/Locke brought him to the island and go on about magic boxes, where as in reality he just knew when an unfortunate event would happen and be there to take advantage of it. Perhaps he also saw Juliets ex being hit by a bus and so knew that Alpert would be able to recruit her. It could also be that Juliet has some natural precognitive skills too.
  
  
• The whole purpose of the Dharma Initiative was based on the concept of being able to predict the end of the world. While the Lost Experience may not intertwine heavily with the Lost show but we cannot ignore this very important fact. For a start it again emphasizes that it is possible to see into the future in the Lost world. In this case it's a mathematical equation. This brings up two important questions. The first is did Dharma set up on the island because of these unusual precognitive effects? Perhaps they thought it would be a good way to find a back door to changing those core values.
  
  
• The second question about Dharma is sort of the reverse. But ties into the apparent effect that the dead seem to have on the island. We have heard things that sound like the voices of the dead and we have seen Smokey take the form of the dead on a regular basis. What if the deaths of so many of the Dharma Initiative on the island, and apparently close to Jacobs hut too, had an effect on the islands "mentality" (or something similar). Even ignoring the deaths, what if having so many alive on the island at one time that were investigating the future and trying to change it had an effect on the development of the strange properties of the island.
  
  
• We have heard that the show will be based on scientific possibility rather the outright fantasy (with Smokey perhaps the sole exception). So where does precognition fit in? Well read this article (Credit to Ange on that one). It seems that it is entirely within the character of the show.
  
  
• The subconscious manipulation of oneself based on knowledge not consciously available to you, could perhaps be the answer to why the Lostaways all ended up on that plane with people they are deeply tied to but are not consciously aware of. Perhaps they are all coming to the island for an event they have seen in their subconscious but are totally oblivious to.
  
  
• The article linked to above quotes something from Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. The Red Queen says, "It is a poor sort of memory that only works backwards." That is an interesting quote in many ways and made me think about Chaos Theory. In Chaos theory even a small event can cause massive repercussions. A good example is the lazy blacksmith not fitting a new shoe to a horse. The horse is unable to take a kings messenger to a point in a battle in time to give vital directions. Thus, a whole kingdom falls. Just because of a lazy blacksmith. So what if this can work in the other direction too? One event that is yet to happen leads out from the center of a massive web. This event causes repercussions through everyone's pasts that work when viewed in a forward direction. A series of intertwining events pushing people towards a central point. That links in with the subconscious influence. Everyone is actually aware of it yet they are not conscious of it. Could this be mathematically plotted? The whole concept is mind blowing and the big question is, can you avoid the "cause" if you are already suffering the "effect"?

So there you have it. To finish, I leave you with a quote:

"I believe that we can 'sense' the future, we just haven't yet established the mechanism allowing it to happen." - Nobel Prizewinning physicist Brian Josephson.