All of the original LOST characters ("Originals", as opposed to "The Others") are subjects of a genetic experiment by Mittelos to clone people effectively.
They were each given false memories. Which is why various of "The Others" appear in their past lives. Some of their likenesses were used in the program used to generate their false memories. This is why they all appeared together during a "crash" to bring them altogether to kick off the experiment.
Most of The Others are prior genetic experiments that were grown without the false memories. They are used now to monitor the Originals (planted memory characters). They are there to watch them both for health reasons and to monitor whether they can successfully deal with social situations. The key-turning and other exercises related to the DHARMA initiative are part of the tasks we watch facing the Originals. Some of the Originals were given shady past/criminal activities memories to also test how the Originals experiments will deal with difficult lives if they eventually are mass produced.
The "disease" is just a biological agent implanted by Mittelos allowing them to control any genetic experiments (original or otherwise) should they try to escape or do something they don't want. The control includes knocking out (to be revived later with no memory of what occurred while knocked out) or seeing hallucinations. This is why we saw odd manifestations like the black smoke. But Mittelos tries to never do this to interfere with the trial procedures the Originals are being put through during monitoring.
Some of The Others (Ben, Juliet, etc.) are workers from Mittelos inserted to work with The Others monitoring and testing the Originals. This is why they promised Juliet she could "go home" if she completed a task. Part of the reason they were going to send her home was that Juliet began to become sympathetic to the Original experiments regarding the manipulation and occassional culling (killing) of them that occurs during various events. For example, they were likely going to "cull" Sawyer and Kate (having found The Others experiments monitoring compound island). Juliet shot one of The Others to keep them from killing them. The "Judgment" meeting was the others meeting with some Mittelos others regarding whether Juliet should be killed. The whole experiment is confidential and secluded, so there are no cops to call in on a murder case. There is a lot of tension, because Juliet isn't an experiment. She's a regularly conceived human working at Mittelos with The Others, and they are not going to be happy if she's allowed to live after killing one of them.
All of The Originals will probably be "culled" at the end of the experiment. This is one reason why The Others have come to grips with the manipulation and occasional killing of Originals that must take place. All of those lab rats, so to speak, are probably going to get it in the end anyway.
Jack's Phuket tattooing memory is just the memory they implanted to explain his tattoo. His tattoo does mean that he's unlike those he's around (the other Originals) because he's a different model with a different memory implantation method.
Theory by Mose Schrute
They were each given false memories. Which is why various of "The Others" appear in their past lives. Some of their likenesses were used in the program used to generate their false memories. This is why they all appeared together during a "crash" to bring them altogether to kick off the experiment.
Most of The Others are prior genetic experiments that were grown without the false memories. They are used now to monitor the Originals (planted memory characters). They are there to watch them both for health reasons and to monitor whether they can successfully deal with social situations. The key-turning and other exercises related to the DHARMA initiative are part of the tasks we watch facing the Originals. Some of the Originals were given shady past/criminal activities memories to also test how the Originals experiments will deal with difficult lives if they eventually are mass produced.
The "disease" is just a biological agent implanted by Mittelos allowing them to control any genetic experiments (original or otherwise) should they try to escape or do something they don't want. The control includes knocking out (to be revived later with no memory of what occurred while knocked out) or seeing hallucinations. This is why we saw odd manifestations like the black smoke. But Mittelos tries to never do this to interfere with the trial procedures the Originals are being put through during monitoring.
Some of The Others (Ben, Juliet, etc.) are workers from Mittelos inserted to work with The Others monitoring and testing the Originals. This is why they promised Juliet she could "go home" if she completed a task. Part of the reason they were going to send her home was that Juliet began to become sympathetic to the Original experiments regarding the manipulation and occassional culling (killing) of them that occurs during various events. For example, they were likely going to "cull" Sawyer and Kate (having found The Others experiments monitoring compound island). Juliet shot one of The Others to keep them from killing them. The "Judgment" meeting was the others meeting with some Mittelos others regarding whether Juliet should be killed. The whole experiment is confidential and secluded, so there are no cops to call in on a murder case. There is a lot of tension, because Juliet isn't an experiment. She's a regularly conceived human working at Mittelos with The Others, and they are not going to be happy if she's allowed to live after killing one of them.
All of The Originals will probably be "culled" at the end of the experiment. This is one reason why The Others have come to grips with the manipulation and occasional killing of Originals that must take place. All of those lab rats, so to speak, are probably going to get it in the end anyway.
Jack's Phuket tattooing memory is just the memory they implanted to explain his tattoo. His tattoo does mean that he's unlike those he's around (the other Originals) because he's a different model with a different memory implantation method.
Theory by Mose Schrute
