The Sideways World Revealed? by Palirath

This is a rather short theory and I don't have all that much evidence, but I wanted to get it out there before the season gets too far along.

The basic idea is that the sideways world (where the flashes are taking us this season) is simply what the world would be like without Jacob or MIB. There I said it!

So far, we have seen several changes in the sideways narrative that might indicate the result of Jacob never "touching" any of our Losties. For instance, if J never stopped Kate from stealing that might be the reason that her story is slightly different. If J had not given Sawyer the pen, maybe he would have written a different letter, and so on.

As far as the underwater island, I am on record as saying that I think that the island is underwater because someone turned the Donkey Wheel when it was broken. If fChristian really was a version of MIB, it was he who told Locke how to fix the wheel, so maybe that prevented Dr. Chang from tampering with the wheel in the 70s and sending the island to the bottom of the sea?

Please discuss!