Back to Lost, I did notice that Jacob went out of his way to touch the losties, I wonder what it meant, but totally noticed that man, great catch.
With all this "changing the timeline" stuff, man I would be so happy to find out that next year isn't the last year of Lost because the "timeline" has been altered in our reality too or some twist like that. They could literally say anything now and take it into another directon with a new cast or keep most of the current cast and put them on another 6 years....endless possibilities. I hope the show continues on, I love it, favorite show of all time.
IMO, Jacobs touch was him 'choosing' and possibly clearing their mind of emotions that could twist their decision making process.
For example, Hurley was adamant he was not going back to the island, he was pure back luck and would bring down anyone who was around him he cared for.
Jacob touched him, put things into perspective and cleared his mind.
Did he leave the decision up to him or coherse him into thinking it was his decision but was infact Jacobs. Im of the opinion he left it to Hurley, he gave them all a choice, including Ilana at the hospital (he had leather gloves on and didnt touch her in this scene).
The significance of the touch was implied but not confirmed, all we know is he touched all of the losties from the plane in season 1 who were at the site of the incident.
Next season is all but confirmed the last i hear, and opens with Jack's eye opening apparently on a beach...meaning that it reset to a point but only to the beggining of the cycle Jacob mentions at the start, this cycle started when the plane crashed.
Looks like next season brings them all back to that point, with the chance to do it all again.
Jacob believes the human race can break the cycles, his nemesis does not.