No Matter How you Slice it, Lost is a Paradox by Michael Aaron

I posted a theory earlier that has started a debate about the meaning and use of the term "paradox" (you can read it here), and it got me thinking: Whether Jack and company cause or prevent their plane from crashing via Jughead, it's a paradox. We're talking "Time Paradox", specifically.

If they cause their plane to crash (if setting off Jughead actually creates the scenario that leads to their plane crashing) then it's both a Predestination Paradox and an Ontological Paradox. (Predestination Paradox because it implies that free will is an illusion, and Ontological Paradox because there is no beginning or end, it's like a mobius strip).

if they manage to negate all the events that lead up to their plane crashing, then it's a Grandfather Paradox. (How can they be there to negate the crash if they negated the crash?).

Either way, the end result will be a paradox. Right?

So if we grant that either of the above scenarios yields a paradox, what does that say about the universe of Lost? If there are paradoxes, then they imply (by the simple act of being) that they exist in a universe that allows for paradoxes.

The only other scenario is that all of the actions of the character have absolutely no effect or value whatsoever. As John Locke once said: "where would be the fun in that?"