Ben mentions Jack’s decision costing the lives of 40 people, but I don’t think he’s talking about Jack’s group.
I believe he’s talking about the inhabitants of the island that have been there for a long time - the “others” like Richard, etc. Since I believe that the island’s healing factor is what keeps them from aging (because it’s constantly healing them as their bodies break down during the normal aging process), some of the “others” who have been there for a long time could easily be very, very old.
If they are forced to leave the island, they might die immediately once they get out of “range” of its ability to heal them. This could even apply to some of the Losties as well, especially ones like Rose who we know had a terminal disease before coming to the island.
In any event, I suspect that the boat people will coax some of the people willing to be “rescued” (Jack and his group) into leaving just by telling them that they’re rescuing them. They may possibly even manipulate them into helping them battle the “others” and subdue Locke, on the pretext that they need to do that in order to get free of the island.
My bet is that during this battle, Jack knocks Locke out and they eventually triumph over the “others”, and leave the island thinking that they were victorious. Then, once they are clear of the island and will not be able to find it again, it becomes clear to Jack that it was a mistake. Either people start dying outside of the island’s protection and/or Locke wakes up and clues Jack in to what’s happening, and/or he finds out how Whidmore is going to abuse the power of the island.
In my Opinion, I highly believe that the Losties and the others for some reason will have to ally themselves to fight off those people from the boat.. Of course Jack will realise that he made a a big mistake when he called them with the satellite phone.
That’s one option, but I’d rather see the boat people continue to use Jack’s trust (and that of his group) to their advantage for as long as they can.
There’s no reason for them to turn on Jack and his group yet, since so far they’ve been doing exactly what the boat people want them to do. They’re also highly motivated by the opportunity for rescue, so it’s likely that they’ll continue to cooperate with them until they somehow discover that something is wrong (perhaps from Desmond confronting Naomi).
The other thing that tends to make me believe that they went willingly with the boat people is the fact that they’re back on the mainland. It seems like Jack didn’t realize that it was a mistake until it was too late, and it sounds like Kate doesn’t think it was a mistake at all. I don’t think they’d have that kind of an outlook if they were forced off the island after battling the boat people to stay there.
The healing power of the island is not foolproof, i.e. Ben’s Cancer. I don’t think this theory has wings. But, you never know. There have been a lot of inconstancies, so it will be interesting to see what really happens. One thing holds true, Ben may be sneaky but a lot of the things he says and does do hold true.
I don’t think the healing power is “foolproof”, but it has clearly been shown to be more effective on some people than others (as well as varying over time, sometimes less sometimes more - like Locke), so I don’t see any inconsistencies there.
I don’t think that Ben is necessarily lying in this situation, although I think he definitely isn’t telling the full truth (in terms of what he knows about this situation) and I am somewhat curious as to why, considering the high stakes and the fact that he apparently has the most to loose.
i don’t think the island prevents aging, if it did wouldn’t ben still be a kid…he was on the island as a kid. And they’ve only been on the island for like 90 days i think so they really wouldn’t age that much.
I think the effects vary by person. Obviously, the healing works for some better than others, and I think it’s pretty clear that they’re showing Richard as not aging much.