Origins of Jacob, MIB, and the Island by JoshDM

Before you read this theory, you must understand the following

The producers have explicitly stated the following 3 paraphrased items in various interviews/podcasts :

1 - time travel is not a factor in this show.
Time travel has become a major factor in this show.

2 - alternate dimensions/timelines are not a factor in this show.
Alternate dimensions/timelines are likely a major factor in Season Six.

3 - nanobots (microscopic robot colonies) are not a factor in this show.
At this point, we can believe nothing the producers say.

My theory hinges on the producers having lied in the third statements above, as they lied in the first two. It is logical for them to lie, as there is no reason for them to confirm any theory until their show has been produced.

My theory (as follows) will explain the following key points, which will create inferences to solve all mysteries across LOST.

KEY POINTS
1 - the origins of Jacob and his nemesis, the Man in Black (MIB)
2 - the origin of the Island
3 - the destination of Tunisia
4 - the goals of Jacob and the MIB
5 - what Jacob is and what MIB is and what the Black Smoke is
6 - why MIB hates Jacob and must find a loophole to stop him
7 - why Jacob and Richard do not age
8 - why Jacob lights right up in the flames
9 - how Ben can control the Black Smoke
10 - how Jacob can speak languages flawlessly and knows arts like weaving
11 - how Jacob found each member of the Oceanic 6 through recorded history

I've revised my theory from earlier (link will be provided at the end of this theory), as many readers
1 - did not like the terminology I used
2 - did not like or understand the concept of nanobots
3 - did not appreciate logic loopholes

EVIDENCE WHICH LED ME TO CREATE MY THEORY

1 - MIB has stated he must find a loophole, which infers he must obey rules.

2 - Every "touch" encounter between Jacob and a member of the Oceanic 6 was during a time when that person's name was about to enter the public record.

THE THEORY

KEY POINTS 1 - 3 : ORIGINS
Jacob and his nemesis are both from the far future, as is the entire island landmass. They were all sent back in time to the distant past due to some sort of accident involving time travel, which took (rather, takes) place in a scientific lab in the far future. Likely, this scientific lab was (rather, will be) located in future Tunisia, and the entire landmass of the LOST island is the same landmass currently located in Tunisia, but from the far future; with the decades of age it has undergone, it is unrecognizable.

KEY POINT 4 : GOALS
Jacob's Goal:
Jacob wants to alter the timeline so the events that sent him to the past never take place.

MIB's Goal:
MIB wants to preserve the timeline, so something detrimental doesn't happen, as MIB suspects it will. It is possible that in MIB's original source future, the island of LOST existed and therefore an older duplicate MIB and possibly a Jacob existed; therefore MIB wants to preserve this time loop, but he doesn't deem an older Jacob as necessary to exist in that future.

KEY POINTS 5-6 : THE BLACK SMOKE AND THE LOOPHOLE
Jacob is human. MIB is the black smoke. Specifically, MIB is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) built into a nanobot (or microscopic robot) colony created in the far future; this might not be referred to explicitly as nanobots, but it can be inferred. Therefore, MIB is also the black smoke. AI are traditionally set to follow logic rules (see Robocop, Terminator, or I,Robot for basic examples). MIB's rules include not harming Jacob and/or the timeline, hence the first comment he makes to Jacob about hating Jacob for trying to change the timeline, which makes MIB's job of preserving the timeline harder, and being unable to kill Jacob, which would alter the timeline. The rules governing MIB are thusly:

RULE 1 - DO NOT HARM THE TIMELINE
RULE 2 - DO NOT HARM JACOB
RULE 3 - DO NOT HARM YOURSELF (cannot self-terminate - THIS IS KEY!).

KEY POINTS 7 - 9 : AGING, JACOB ON FIRE, CONTROL BLACK SMOKE
The MIB nanobot particles, being high technology from the future, can preserve flesh. MIB having given Jacob some particles can explain Jacob's inability to age; it can also explain why he lights right up into flames; he's actually become aged, brittle flesh over the centuries, held together by robots. Jacob having MIB's nanobots means that Jacob is now detected as a part of MIB; therefore MIB cannot harm him. Jacob gifted some nanobots from himself (he did not refer to them as nanobots) to Richard to preserve Richard. This is why Richard does not age, and this is why MIB does not affect Richard. Richard may have given some to Ben; this is why Ben can summon the Black Smoke to an extent.

The Black Smoke can also take various forms. Jacob has aged enough that he, too, may be able to take forms.

KEY POINT 10 : KNOWLEDGE AND LANGUAGE
Being high technology from the future, MIB / the Black Smoke contains a memory database with the entire recorded knowledge of human history up till the point of the event which sent it back in time. This database also includes languages and other knowledge that one might find in, for a general example, Wikipedia. As someone gifted with parts of the MIB, Jacob can access this database, which explains how he speaks so well to Sun and Jin.

KEY POINT 11 : LOCATING THE OCEANIC 6
When Jacob visited each person in the last episode of season 5:

- Hurley was released from prison, potentially creating a O6 out of jail huge news story; RECORDED HISTORY.
- Sayid was at the death of Nadia; they both might have died in the assassination attempt, creating news; RECORDED HISTORY.
- Kate was about to get arrested and given a public police record; RECORDED HISTORY.
- Sawyer was at his parent's funeral, which is usually announced in the newspaper; RECORDED HISTORY.
- Locke had fallen several stories, and would have died, which would be in the newspaper; RECORDED HISTORY.
- Sun and Jin were at their, likely newsworthy (Paik Industries daughter marriage today!), wedding; RECORDED HISTORY.
- Jack was at a hospital where he worked.

All, but one were publicly-recorded events. Jack's event doesn't stand out as newsworthy, but maybe his patient was supposed to die? There might have possibly been a notable lawsuit involved going forward. If you knew Jack worked at a hospital, chances are it's pretty easy to locate him there on any given day.

With Jacob able to access the database from his timeline, he could locate each of the above people at their times and touch them; gifting them with a part of MIB. Per RULE 3, this would make them unable to be directly harmed by MIB, but would make MIB curious about them (Why can't I harm this person!) This would also have explained how Locke was healed from death.

Notable, Hurley and Sayid were touched AFTER they came back from the island; there is significance here. MIB knows that he cannot directly harm Kate, Sun, Jin, Jack, Locke and Sawyer. MIB does not yet know that he cannot touch Hurley and Sayid.

WHY DID JACOB TOUCH THEM
Jacob touched each to plant them, as he knew from news reports (Oceanic 6) they would crash on the island and survive. It is likely that Sawyer and Jin will also get off the island at some point and there will be a public news report about them in Season 6 for Jacob to follow.

WHY DOES BLACK SMOKE KILL
MIB kills select people as according to his timeline, they are supposed to be dead. When Locke and The Black Smoke encounter each other, the smoke doesn't kill Locke, because he senses himself on Locke. This is also why MIB didn't kill Kate when she and Juliet were hiding in a tree; it only took pictures. According to the news reports, Locke is already supposed to be dead in MIB's time (from falling out the window), so MIB can tell he is a paradox. This is why MIB picks Locke to manipulate; MIB believes Locke doesn't belong in the timeline and thinks Jacob trusts Locke.

MIB picks Locke as his disguise because Locke is a living paradox due to Jacob's involvement. Therefore the concept behind Locke being a paradox helps break some of the logic rules which bind MIB from allowing Jacob's death. By masquerading as Locke, he can finally manipulate the world to where Jacob gets killed and the AI rules are absolved.

THE ONE THING I CAN'T EXPLAIN
I cannot explain how Jacob (or Richard) gets off the island, but since my theory is the island contains laboratories from the future, it probably contains an equivalent futuristic method of transportation, akin to the Frozen Donkey Wheel.

I've written a lot here and there are items I need to get to, which include WHY MIB can only masquerade as dead people, and all the odd psychic phenomenon from Miles and Walt.

My original earlier, less-distinct post theory is named "The Overarching Jacob vs Esau Theory"