This theory says: the CC brought the plane down [with the help of the 'black fog' which is nothing more than charged metallic particles]. It simulated a plane about to crash, ensured everybody had passed out, brought the surviving unconscious passengers and plane parts down gently, kept them asleep for a period (maybe hours, maybe years), scattered debris, injured some, and then woke them in different places - in a tree, next to an engine, in the sea etc..
As they slept, the Others - those scientists and their offspring that still adhered to the Dharma plan - removed combs and hairbrushes from the plane/passengers. The tiny electrostatic intereference that brushing hair causes would make it difficult for the CC to tamper with their minds.
In the very first shot of Lost [Pilot, Part1] we see the CC/black fog:
As Jack awoke, the black fog that had placed him there ascended into the canopy. He blinked and it was gone. Not a pupil dilated, but a reflection!
[Weeks later, Kate would disrupt the black fog's field with a stick of dynamite. As it tries to stabilise, two poles are clearly visible. The electric nature of the black fog is also evident in a season 2 when Eko confronts it - it can clearly be seen crackling with electricity.]
..........But this was not the first time on the island for many of them. They had been born to continue the Dharma work - to protect the island and the CC; for while the CC is powerful it is still reliant on human beings.
They had been born on the island as part of Dharma. A long time ago, one scientist had taken exception to the treatment of children as part of such a project and sabotaged it. He/she deliberately prevented entry of the code numbers into the hatch computer, and so the Hanso satellite - as its programmed function as a security failsafe - zapped the area of the hatch. Four people were killed in this 'incident' (as it was referred to in the Orientation film), including Hanso himself; two scientists lost arms - Dr. Marvin Candle and Ray Mullen (the farmer who handed Kate over to the police (and possibly her real father)). The dead were laid to rest on the island and were found as 'Adam and Eve' by our heroes. [Hanso's was the body that had the black and white stones, which have no more significance than as a ying yang metaphor - a guiding principle in him trying to make reparation for all the suffering he had caused by dealing and developing arms - especially during the Cold War; world peace instead of world war.]
[The numbers that are imputted are intrinsically meaningless; more telling are the facts that the numbers get larger and that they total 108. The numbers getting larger (without any obvious arithmetic progression) suggests units of time; 108 minutes was the time it took Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin to orbit the earth. The code is for a satellite; if it is not entered, the satellite will zap the hatch.]
Back to the 'incident': using the inferno as a distraction, the rebel scientist freed several of the children. Among them was a boy who he/she later named 'Ethan Rom' as this child was 'MORE THAN' just a test subject! These freed children make up the Renegade Others who have lived on the island since 1967/8; by now they are onto the second generation [in direct opposition to the scientist Others (beardy) who continue the Dharma work - the Renegades often burn material and create massive billowing clouds of black smoke to camouflage their movements from the CC]. The Dharma Initiative, severely weakened by the loss of Alvar Hanso, his funding, and other key scientists could not scour the island for the children, but concentrated on achieving the original Dharma vision of world peace, before their US Army patrons could swoop in and ruin everything.
[The hatch now has blast doors to protect the two-man team in case they miss a 108 minute deadline. However, in the event of the satellite firing, the sensitive, important information on the other side of the blast doors would be destroyed - including the scientists that make up the CC - better that than allow this technology to fall into the wrong hands.]
Following the 'incident', Hanso's US Army patrons decided it should be dissolved. The Dharma scientists resisted - and do to this day - using the very weapons the US Army had funded, they fortified the island. The greatest weapon in the arsenal being the CC.
They managed to get the remainder of the children secretly and intermittently sent out into the world and given to foster parents as part of the Dharma project. They were all placed with trusted Dharma devotees as parents, and were conditioned over the course of their lives for their particular future purposes on the island.
After years of conditioning and guidance remotely by the CC (according to the principles of BF Skinner) in the outside world, our heroes were - one way or another - delivered onto the same flight out of Sydney.
As time passes on the island, it will become clearer what part each survivor should play, if any. To keep the project alive, the CC must endure. Therefore, they need replacements: as part of the CC itself, to push the buttons, to maintain the island's defences, and to keep the secrets secret. As well as embodying the Dharma vision of a new world order of peace and co-operation (by coercion), our heroes are [guided] on the island to continue the work. Specifically: Hurley's whole aim in life has always been to input the numbers; not only is he already obsessed with them, he has also been conditioned to survive in that indoor, claustrophobic environment, with nothing but TV meals and music to sustain him. Hurley seems to be unlucky when it comes to electrical equipment - fuses burn out etc - this was a deliberate strategy of the CC to discourage Hurley from meddling with electrical equipment - an essential attitude for long hours down in the hatch bored out of his mind. And now he seems to have found a hatch buddy in Libby... more reasons to stay in.
Hurley had two electromagnets clamped to his head for most of season 1: his headphones are a metaphor for how much he is controlled by the CC.
Also, specifically: Walt has been conditioned to eventually become part of the CC - to replace one of the withered old scientists with electrodes attached to his head behind the concrete; this is why, throughout his life, the CC has made sure he was surrounded by electromagnetic phenomena - e.g. the bird that hit the window. He has a pseudo-affinity with magnetism, by which I mean: the CC has, to an extent, acted on Walt's will and wishes so that he gets used to that sort of power... he's being trained, but he doesn't know it.
Walt is becoming increasingly familiar with 'visualizing' and guiding metal objects - even though it is actually the CC doing this on his behalf.
The intention is to train Walt to use his mind to guide objects as the CC does. At the moment, the CC is doing all the work, but one day, Walt will have the power. At the moment, he seems to have some kind of access to the CC technology as he is able to project his image across the island; that his voice is reversed may be because the CC is censoring him or because he is not yet familiar with the technology and is making a fundamental mistake.
No-one knows what will happen in the end. One guess is that our survivors will discover the island's purpose - and their purpose on it - and will decide to stay because they like it, have nothing good to return to now and want to continue the Dharma project of world peace in defending the CC.
Now: on the island, the CC continues to manipulate our heroes. Locke is the most obvious case: he is beholden to the CC because it gave him the ability to walk. The evidence for this is: Locke cannot FEEL his legs but he can walk.
...notice the electro-convulsive equipment next to Locke's lame legs - to stimulate muscle even though he cannot walk. Also: their is a scene in which Locke is dragged along the ground by the black fog; this is made easier for an electromagnetic foe as Locke has metal pins in his legs!
Others are manipulated (according to BF Skinner's ideas) by playing on their weaknesses, addictions, or beliefs - the voices in the trees. It is even able to induce visions in those that are physically or mentally vulnerable. This it has been doing to a degree all their lives.
...notice the resemblance to the Dharma logo.