If the power of the island is such that it can heal all but the worst injuries that raises a few interesting points:
- There is some clear significance in Bens condition, it also explains why Ben may not have sent out for a surgeon because he didn't want anyone but his closest allies amongst the Others to know the island had "turned it's back" on him. If this "Jacob"'s influence can heal cancer off of the island then perhaps it is Jacob that Ben is keeping this a secret from. Having said that, we still don't know if Juliets sister really did regress so Jacob could still be a non-existant character and there could be no healing influence outside of the island.
- The islands healing was nothing to do with the Swan station. I think we can count this as definite fact.
- I had always assumed that Lockes regression with his legs was psychological, but perhaps the islands healing is only tempory after all and can be turned off at any time. Did it make some kind of judgement on Locke?
- Our friends that were buried alive (Paulo and Nikki) may be being sustained by the island. So Locke's comment about things not staying buried on the island may be hinting at their eventual return. This could just be a bit of a teasing red herring (Zombies anyone?), but I suspect that their burial will come back to haunt the Losties in some way, even if they aren't sustained indefinetly.
- Having examined the list of fatalities on the island (from Lostpedia, but it's not the most detailed list and has some debatable info like Gary Troup being the jet engine suckee is included, ) it seems that there are a good number of injuries the island should have been able to cure. For example "Donald" of the Tailies dies from an infection due to his leg wound. Surely that wouldn't be any harder then curing cancer. So that seems to suggest the island is very selective, which again exposes how much of a problem it must be for Ben not being healed.
- Juliet seemed to accept Bens talk of no one getting cancer on the island, yet in such an apparently small population it would seem cancer would be unlikely (Credit to Ange on that one). So have people on the island, specifically the Others been up to something that would increase the risks of cancer? Have they been testing the islands healing powers to see how far they can push it? Perhaps even room 23 is just to test this, to see if the island can heal whatever damage that kind of apparent brainwashing can do.
- Is the islands healing effects both the cause of the increased sperm count and the complications that arise from pregnancy? If the body is trying to heal from the baby like it was a cancer that would make sense, that only happens (apparently) when conception is on the island, so if there has been any growth outside the island the body knows not to reject it.
2 comments:
Hi Fenris, great thoughts on the Lost topics that you have chosen!
I am curious as to why cancer would not be probable in a small population. What are the reasons for this? This concept is not one that I have heard of yet. But it's also important to consider that since the island supposedly has unusual or strong electromagnetic properties, might it be just the catalyst for such renegade or mutated cell diseases as cancer? I mean in the way that living in close proximity to the EMFs of huge powerline configurations is suspected of causing cancer or other mutations. Tx.
Hi Capcom. The observation is just based on statistics.
There are some 300 million odd people in the US and 8.9 Million with a history of cancer (That's history not even currently with cancer). Given the likely healthier living of being stranded on an island (and the fact that it doesn't seem like the others are big smokers or anything), regardless of it's special properties I would say that we would be expecting a lot less then 0.89 cases in every 30 Others. How many others have we seen? Seems to me there can't be much more then 50 odd. Plus take into account that 77% of Cancers are diagnosed at 55 years or older. Now while the islands special properties may keep people younger that doesn't mean it can specially cure cancer.
Even if there are 100+ Others, I wouldn't exactly say it was shocking that they are free of cancer.
Now, that is a very good point about the Dharma projects and their possibility for increasing the odds of cancer. It is a possibility. But how would anyone know that they have that effect if it is all done on the island? I don't get the impression that the Others know a lot about the technical nature of a lot of the Dharma stations.
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