I think that there is a difference between what Desmond (and the crew members on the freighter experienced) and what the people on the island are experiencing. In the case of Desmond, his mind was unstuck in time... in those cases, it seemed like the mind was jumping to past selves.
In the case of the island people, the problem seems to be that the *island* is unstuck in time. When Locke sees the light coming out of the hatch, he knows that past!Locke is there. His mind hasn't jumped back into his past body.
So, this leads me to believe that while the origins of the problem might be related, the "illnesses" are distinct from each other--thus having a constant in the case of the island dwellers doesn't matter. Also, Daniel hasn't started exhibiting symptoms yet, but he's also the one with the least island exposure... I don't think that it's because he has a constant.
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Date: 2009-02-12 03:47 pm (UTC)In the case of the island people, the problem seems to be that the *island* is unstuck in time. When Locke sees the light coming out of the hatch, he knows that past!Locke is there. His mind hasn't jumped back into his past body.
So, this leads me to believe that while the origins of the problem might be related, the "illnesses" are distinct from each other--thus having a constant in the case of the island dwellers doesn't matter. Also, Daniel hasn't started exhibiting symptoms yet, but he's also the one with the least island exposure... I don't think that it's because he has a constant.