So I have been wondering for a while now about the flashbacks in every epi, whether perhaps they are actually not real and are somehow "island generated" or implanted. It would be neat if this were true, and Desmond's implants were simply breaking or wearing down and he had suddenly become conscious of his own existence in both island and flashback at the same time.

Well...none of the other Losties went face to face with that huge electromagnetic anomoly that occurred when he turned the key at ground zero...perhaps that's why his flashback is glitching? When the old lady started talking about "That's not what you are suppose to do....you're suppose to change your mind about the ring and walk out"...it reminded me of Neo seeing the cat walk by twice in The Matrix.

were told that everything that happens to our Losties is dead real :)

Perhaps the "flashbacks" are how the Others know so much about Jack and possibly the others - they are reading their minds