I have seen in many, many postings and theories that Desmond is the only one who can alter the past. What is odd to me is that the majority of these posters are the same ones who subscribe to Faraday's theory that "whatever happened, happened." Although there is good reason to follow both of these premises from what we have been told on the show, it really makes little sense to me that Desmond can alter the past if we are to maintain that "whatever happened, happened."
Logically (to me, at least), there seem to be only two possible modes of operation for the time traveling on LOST:
1) No one can alter the past (=one timeline)
2) If Desmond can alter the past at all, it still makes for infinite timelines and alternate universes.
Although it was presented that Faraday's plea to Desmond at the Hatch in "Because You Left" quote-endquote "changed the past", this does not need to be true. If "whatever happened, happened" (which I am claiming), then Faraday always told Desmond this information in 2002/3/4 (whenever that took place). Desmond didn't change the past or the future based on this conversation. Both of them always happened, too.
What, then, makes Desmond "miraculously and uniquely special"? This is a tough question, but unless Faraday is wrong about altering the past/single timeline, then it cannot be that Desmond can alter the past (or really any time period any more than anyone else).
What seems to be the case, from what I can deduce, is that Desmond is unique in that he is able to perceive time not only from his present position, but sometimes, despite himself, he gets glimpses at other moments along the timeline as if they were occurring at that moment. Using Daniel's record analogy, imagine regular people as a CD (not a record, for my analogy). For them, time plays through the songs in their entirety and in the order on the CD, and then the CD is over (when they die). For Desmond, his temporal perception sometimes skips, and though within his physical being he is on, say, Track 5, he suddenly skips to the middle of Track 12, and then skips back to his normal position on the CD. That's my guess...but of course I'm uncertain. What doesn't sit right with me, however, is that Desmond can change the past.
"The Constant" is generally viewed as containing flashbacks with respect to Desmond's time on the Freighter. I actually hold the opposite point of view: (nearly) the entire episode is set in 1996, with *flash-forwards* to the Freighter, which Desmond is experiencing in 1996. Therefore, Desmond *always* went to Oxford to see Daniel Faraday. The reason Faraday knew the oscillation for the electromagnetic wave is because Desmond *always* told it to him. 2004 Desmond did not alter the past, but rather, 1996 Desmond glimpsed at his future on the freighter and acted on the information he extracted from these flashes.
Finally, the issue of Charlie comes up. Here, I will posit that Desmond can also view alternate *imaginary* possibilities, but that he *always* interfered and kept Charlie alive, and he therefore always survived until the Looking Glass to unjam the radio transmissions. This MUST be the case, if the 815ers existed in Dharma time! In the only timeline in existence, Charlie never died until the Looking Glass station; what Desmond saw in his flashes were glimpses into alternate timelines (which DO exist in the irrealis but not in reality, important distinction), and these glimpses were the motivation behind his interferences, even though in the only real timeline Desmond always interferes. This is getting muddy, but I hope people understand what I am saying.
Although multiple timelines exist in theory, there is only one timeline that plays out when all is said and done. This is true in real life as well as in fiction. ANALOGY: At any given point while reading a book, you can stop reading and imagine all the technically possible things that will happen in the book; but the entire book is in front of you, regardless of what *could* possibly happen in it. The end is there in front of you, but you haven't read it yet. This ties into the conception that the human psyche experiences time only within what we perceive as the present, but that hypothetically more advanced minds would be able to experience time from higher dimensions, seeing past/present/future all at once. Time is a perception imposed by the limitations of our minds; everything we choose to do, have chosen to do, and will choose to do exists all at once (thereby not ruling out free will, but it is as if we have chosen everything instantaneously, and our minds watch 'the ! video' of what we choose).
What this amounts to is the same as someone without depth perception (3-D). That person can only experience two-dimensional objects. Imagine a silhouetted figure. The 2-D viewer sees the image slice-by-slice until the entire image is illuminated or approached (maybe at first just a nose is visible: it looks like a dot; he moves closer, it looks like a triangle; he moves closer, an ovular face appears around the triangular nose, etc.), but the 2-D viewer cannot perceive depth. This is akin to the human perception of time; we only see present (and past within our memories, which is an imperfect storage unit), and the future is not visible until it becomes the present, and is thus perceptible.
Perhaps Desmond is "miraculously and uniquely special" because he can subvert the normal human limitations on time perception and sporadically gets glimpses of later moments on the time line. Theory by Francisco
Logically (to me, at least), there seem to be only two possible modes of operation for the time traveling on LOST:
1) No one can alter the past (=one timeline)
2) If Desmond can alter the past at all, it still makes for infinite timelines and alternate universes.
Although it was presented that Faraday's plea to Desmond at the Hatch in "Because You Left" quote-endquote "changed the past", this does not need to be true. If "whatever happened, happened" (which I am claiming), then Faraday always told Desmond this information in 2002/3/4 (whenever that took place). Desmond didn't change the past or the future based on this conversation. Both of them always happened, too.
What, then, makes Desmond "miraculously and uniquely special"? This is a tough question, but unless Faraday is wrong about altering the past/single timeline, then it cannot be that Desmond can alter the past (or really any time period any more than anyone else).
What seems to be the case, from what I can deduce, is that Desmond is unique in that he is able to perceive time not only from his present position, but sometimes, despite himself, he gets glimpses at other moments along the timeline as if they were occurring at that moment. Using Daniel's record analogy, imagine regular people as a CD (not a record, for my analogy). For them, time plays through the songs in their entirety and in the order on the CD, and then the CD is over (when they die). For Desmond, his temporal perception sometimes skips, and though within his physical being he is on, say, Track 5, he suddenly skips to the middle of Track 12, and then skips back to his normal position on the CD. That's my guess...but of course I'm uncertain. What doesn't sit right with me, however, is that Desmond can change the past.
"The Constant" is generally viewed as containing flashbacks with respect to Desmond's time on the Freighter. I actually hold the opposite point of view: (nearly) the entire episode is set in 1996, with *flash-forwards* to the Freighter, which Desmond is experiencing in 1996. Therefore, Desmond *always* went to Oxford to see Daniel Faraday. The reason Faraday knew the oscillation for the electromagnetic wave is because Desmond *always* told it to him. 2004 Desmond did not alter the past, but rather, 1996 Desmond glimpsed at his future on the freighter and acted on the information he extracted from these flashes.
Finally, the issue of Charlie comes up. Here, I will posit that Desmond can also view alternate *imaginary* possibilities, but that he *always* interfered and kept Charlie alive, and he therefore always survived until the Looking Glass to unjam the radio transmissions. This MUST be the case, if the 815ers existed in Dharma time! In the only timeline in existence, Charlie never died until the Looking Glass station; what Desmond saw in his flashes were glimpses into alternate timelines (which DO exist in the irrealis but not in reality, important distinction), and these glimpses were the motivation behind his interferences, even though in the only real timeline Desmond always interferes. This is getting muddy, but I hope people understand what I am saying.
Although multiple timelines exist in theory, there is only one timeline that plays out when all is said and done. This is true in real life as well as in fiction. ANALOGY: At any given point while reading a book, you can stop reading and imagine all the technically possible things that will happen in the book; but the entire book is in front of you, regardless of what *could* possibly happen in it. The end is there in front of you, but you haven't read it yet. This ties into the conception that the human psyche experiences time only within what we perceive as the present, but that hypothetically more advanced minds would be able to experience time from higher dimensions, seeing past/present/future all at once. Time is a perception imposed by the limitations of our minds; everything we choose to do, have chosen to do, and will choose to do exists all at once (thereby not ruling out free will, but it is as if we have chosen everything instantaneously, and our minds watch 'the ! video' of what we choose).
What this amounts to is the same as someone without depth perception (3-D). That person can only experience two-dimensional objects. Imagine a silhouetted figure. The 2-D viewer sees the image slice-by-slice until the entire image is illuminated or approached (maybe at first just a nose is visible: it looks like a dot; he moves closer, it looks like a triangle; he moves closer, an ovular face appears around the triangular nose, etc.), but the 2-D viewer cannot perceive depth. This is akin to the human perception of time; we only see present (and past within our memories, which is an imperfect storage unit), and the future is not visible until it becomes the present, and is thus perceptible.
Perhaps Desmond is "miraculously and uniquely special" because he can subvert the normal human limitations on time perception and sporadically gets glimpses of later moments on the time line. Theory by Francisco
