Here is a little something I have been pondering...

It came up when trying to figure out what the DHARMA acronym might mean. A few of us think that,

DeGroot
Hanso
Artificial
Reality
Manipulation
Assessment

could be plausable, (or something similar) so this theory naturally stems from there.

To the point: Suppose the flashbacks are really just shown to us to throw us off. Explanation is warrented. Lets say the "?" in the center of the island (as seen on the blast doors) with the big tower Rousseau saw is the heart of the "experiment". It has the power to transmit false memories to individuals, in essence, brainwash.
Suppose for a moment that the "losties" are actually volunteer Dharma employees/test subjects. They are the experimental group. The others, therfore, who we know are fully cognisent of their situation since they use stage make-up and costumes, must be the control group, whose memories have not been erased.
The losties, DHArma volunteers, had all of their previous memories erased, their whole lives, and DHARMA is feeding them tidbits of their new identity. Ever find it odd how EVERYTIME there is a flashback, it is preceeded and concluded with a "rushing" sound? Maybe more than simply stylistic.
This theory therefore purports that the plane crash was staged, the losties volunteered for this social experiment (Perhaps to see if a group of strangers would come together and form a utopian economy without capitalism, ie. Marx... etc.) and that their memories are being manipulated by DHARMA.

Thoughts?

In addition, this would explain the seemigly impossible character/flashback crossovers, such as Locke and Nadia, and Jack and Desmond. If they are manufactured memories, DHARMA might only have a limited palette to choose from...

Feasible but there are so many darned theories that could work!!!

I believe that the island is one big experiment, and the Losties were pre-destine to end up there. Or maybe put there deplibertly (there was an earlier thread here talking about this and someone had a picture from the first scene of the pilot showing Jack on the ground with a flashlight next to him like someone maybe forgot it), but I think it is an experiment gone wrong. And I think it's a very long experiment, and things have gone wrong more than once.

I also think that the DHARMA researchers on the island don't have any way off either. There's something/someone over them too.

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VBKatLou, Those are good points, especially the fact that the Dharma folks are stuck on the island too.
As I mentioned above, I think it is a giant experiment...

The thing is wwhat is the real likelyhood their lives all intertwined the way they do in flashbacks and then they all ended up on the same plane. Makes this theory seem more plausible for sure.

True Indeed

I really like this idea...But where does the black smoke\monster come in to this? Is the smoke a tool of the brainwashing they are instituting upon the losties?

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Well, if the black smoke monster is Cerberus the security system, (whether or not it is malfunctioning) perhaps it was meant to make sure the volunteers don't unwittingly stuble across the "?" in the centre of the island. It makes sense that there would be measures in place to protect the experiment.
The black smoke monster might also be part of an observation system, a la "remote viewing station". That explains why the "dark territory" is closest to the area of the RVS on the hatch map...

It really isn't that farfetched. If the plane was headed back to L.A it
stands to reason that many of the passengers lived there - not all-
I realize it could be a hub - but chances are a large majority of them
probably live there, so it's not so odd (to me) that they would cross
paths in all the years they were there. Desmond was not on the plane,
so that one was farfetched, but the others crossing paths - not so much.

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