Also, both Claire and Rousseau have been saved by the island - or spared depending upon how we want to look at it. The island surely rebirthed Claire (or cushioned her landing) from the plane wrackage, and it has allowed Rousseau to live on it's land for 16 years without purging her - as it did Eko, for example. Why does the island purge some but not others? Do the islanders manifest their OWN judgements - Eko being unlucky enough to face (the island in the guise of) his own judgemental brother, Rousseau being lucky enough not to be able to remember the events from her past, hence the island having no 'data' from with to extract?
I agree, the odds of survival for Claire and the Losties was very slim, so the island must have played a part in her/their regeneration. Infact the island seems to have a governing hand in many outcomes, whether it's directly or via a third party or by other means (such as reducing it's residents to go crazy). Could the island have told Ben to take Alex? Could the island have decided which hand should raise Aaron?
Yes, good catch - Kate was indeed the one who helped birth Aaron..Jin was also there, I believe
Interestingly Jin is presumed dead in the future - is any of this linked?
I never did understand Alex' motivation for 'rescuing' Claire - either she is ignorant or she genuinely thought that Claire was better off with the Losties and exposed to the potential sickness. Alex is known to be a bit of a rebel, so perhaps we can put it down to her wanting to put one over her dear old dad?