>Since it is usually customary to face the person while speaking to them, that would mean they would be in front of you -- hence "forward"...

Flashback is not automated yet. On each camera it points forward. You can get it only if you buy an external one... and even that you have to turn manually.

>If I stand next to a duplicate of myself, would that mean that I am beside myself?

In Serbian, it's astral. The expression is "outside oneself".

>And what could be said about a programmer that can only think of hex?

Candidate for a hive mind.