Desmond saved Charlie's life several times from several possible deaths, before Charlie finally embraced his own death in the Looking Glass. At the time of these "flashes" of Desmond's, we knew nothing about Constants and Variables and time-shifting with one's own consciousness. After viewing the Constant, we can rewatch these earlier Season 3 episodes in which Desmond has flashes of Charlie's death with a new perspective. They weren't flashes at all, but Desmond's consciousness was actually time shifting just as he did in The Constant, and all of these Charlie deaths actually did happen. Desmond truly did change the future when his mind returned to an earlier point on the island and he goes and prevents Charlie's death.
Now, regardless of course-correction or fate or anything else, Desmond still prevented Charlie from dying four times (lightning, drowning, the rocks, the neck arrow). Desmond was able to change the future.
But even though he changed the future, you can also argue that Whatever Happened Happened, meaning that Desmond always saved Charlie's life 4 times. Desmond always changed the future.
So if that's the case, did Jack & Juliet & co change the future by detonating Jughead? Yes. But not in the way Jack thought he was going to do. Jack thought that if they detonated Jughead according to Faraday's plans, that this would negate all of their adventures on the island and they would land in LAX without ever having been to the island. This is so wrong because Jack & co always detonated Jughead. And for that to happen, they always time traveled back to the 70s and they always crashed on the island in 2004.
What would have happened if Jack & co hadn't detonated Jughead is this: the world most likely would have ended as we know it. If Radzinsky had continued to drill into that pocket of energy and Jughead was never detonated, then the electromagnetic charge would have been so great that not only would the island have exploded, but it would have caused such a catastrophic event that the entire Earth or all life on it would have been destroyed.
Because Jack listened to Faraday, the Jughead bomb neutralized the energy released from Radzinsky's drilling. As soon as that bomb went off, everything was fine, except for the fact that anyone within a very close radius to the explosion was taken into the wormhole that was created and brought to the future.
Miles was right, Jack did create the Incident. Jack always created the Incident, but instead of dying, Jack, Sawyer, Juliet, Kate, Hurley, Sayid and maybe even Miles & Dr. Chang will show up on the beach in 2007 just after Jacob is killed in the statue.
Now, regardless of course-correction or fate or anything else, Desmond still prevented Charlie from dying four times (lightning, drowning, the rocks, the neck arrow). Desmond was able to change the future.
But even though he changed the future, you can also argue that Whatever Happened Happened, meaning that Desmond always saved Charlie's life 4 times. Desmond always changed the future.
So if that's the case, did Jack & Juliet & co change the future by detonating Jughead? Yes. But not in the way Jack thought he was going to do. Jack thought that if they detonated Jughead according to Faraday's plans, that this would negate all of their adventures on the island and they would land in LAX without ever having been to the island. This is so wrong because Jack & co always detonated Jughead. And for that to happen, they always time traveled back to the 70s and they always crashed on the island in 2004.
What would have happened if Jack & co hadn't detonated Jughead is this: the world most likely would have ended as we know it. If Radzinsky had continued to drill into that pocket of energy and Jughead was never detonated, then the electromagnetic charge would have been so great that not only would the island have exploded, but it would have caused such a catastrophic event that the entire Earth or all life on it would have been destroyed.
Because Jack listened to Faraday, the Jughead bomb neutralized the energy released from Radzinsky's drilling. As soon as that bomb went off, everything was fine, except for the fact that anyone within a very close radius to the explosion was taken into the wormhole that was created and brought to the future.
Miles was right, Jack did create the Incident. Jack always created the Incident, but instead of dying, Jack, Sawyer, Juliet, Kate, Hurley, Sayid and maybe even Miles & Dr. Chang will show up on the beach in 2007 just after Jacob is killed in the statue.
