I would like to preface this theory by saying first that this theory does not directly concern alternate timelines or "whatever happened, happened". So arguing in the comments is counterproductive. Also, this theory has also been stated in comments by other people, so it isn't my theory alone.
So in 2008 Frank and Sun arrive to see a dock and a Barracks that is dilapidated and shows renewed signs of a DHARMA presence, however these traces too have clearly been abandoned for at least a year or so. Smokey is inside the perimeter of the sonic fence, and the Numbers are seemingly playing again from the radio tower. In the same episode, Jack asks Sawyer whether the DHARMA Initiative "came back to the Island". I think they did.
Think about the combination of the ARG, which was seemingly pointless, and the description of DHARMA by Mikhail back in season 3. "Very rich...very secret". If DHARMA was actually reconstituted and found a way to return to the Island (Lamp Post, anyone?), then it is logical that they would move in to retake the Barracks and resume the broadcast of the Numbers from the tower. The ARG wouldn't have gone into it because it was supposed to be a secret for the show, and aside from the Chang video nothing really came out of the modern DHARMA story.
Finally, simply to go into my own guesswork, there has been no scene of the 316 survivors in 2008 that did not include DHARMA. First the focus on the Hydra in TLADOJB, and then the dock and Barracks in Namaste. I don't know why, but it seems to me that the focus on DHARMA in 2008 is setting up the show for a modern Initiative on the Island for season 6, which would also allow things such as the Purge and the food drops to be re-examined if the Incident does, as many suspect, send the Losties back to the present, without using time flashes again (yes that was a run-on sentence).
This theory applies to both theories on timelines as well, as it merely emphasizes an active DHARMA presence on the island in 2008.Theory by Smoke & Mirrors
So in 2008 Frank and Sun arrive to see a dock and a Barracks that is dilapidated and shows renewed signs of a DHARMA presence, however these traces too have clearly been abandoned for at least a year or so. Smokey is inside the perimeter of the sonic fence, and the Numbers are seemingly playing again from the radio tower. In the same episode, Jack asks Sawyer whether the DHARMA Initiative "came back to the Island". I think they did.
Think about the combination of the ARG, which was seemingly pointless, and the description of DHARMA by Mikhail back in season 3. "Very rich...very secret". If DHARMA was actually reconstituted and found a way to return to the Island (Lamp Post, anyone?), then it is logical that they would move in to retake the Barracks and resume the broadcast of the Numbers from the tower. The ARG wouldn't have gone into it because it was supposed to be a secret for the show, and aside from the Chang video nothing really came out of the modern DHARMA story.
Finally, simply to go into my own guesswork, there has been no scene of the 316 survivors in 2008 that did not include DHARMA. First the focus on the Hydra in TLADOJB, and then the dock and Barracks in Namaste. I don't know why, but it seems to me that the focus on DHARMA in 2008 is setting up the show for a modern Initiative on the Island for season 6, which would also allow things such as the Purge and the food drops to be re-examined if the Incident does, as many suspect, send the Losties back to the present, without using time flashes again (yes that was a run-on sentence).
This theory applies to both theories on timelines as well, as it merely emphasizes an active DHARMA presence on the island in 2008.Theory by Smoke & Mirrors
