Humans need technology to compensate for their weakness, looking at Navis...I don't think they need it judging from their biological needs and ability. But Pandora could be relatively new world and might be different few hundreds years later when Navi found technology themselves instead being forced fed by humans.

What the... dude, such fantastical speculations on works of fiction are not befitting of a Ph.D school.

While it is true that the Na'vi may not need a lot of technological advances like for example, aeroplanes or ships because they have nature on that side. And it's that very nature that they do not want to upset by cutting down trees and building bigger and bigger colonies.

However, the threat of the humans are very present. And this blogger really just hit me and intrigued me.

With the threat of the humans being so real, and with their intelligence, I don't see why they should just rely on bows and arrows while they can actually build fire cannons etc.

It's interesting to consider avatar from this perspective. Scientist have often wondered about different categories of civilisation. Perhaps they happen in stages. From a roaming family of creatures, to a tribe, to a government, nations, coalition etc.

The Navi would probably be a tribe stage species(not considered a civilisation yet). While it could be concluded that a tribe species is technologically inferior, it is also possible that they may have knowledge that even a civilisation may not have due to differences in the ecology or their planet.

Think about it. If the Navi could use guns, cannons etc, they would need an industry. A system to govern a larger population for mass production and heavy mining(which goes against their tribal philosophy in the story).

But most of the reason why the Navi are the way they are is, I suspect has more to do with it being a fictional story rather than a realistic look at what other intelligent life may be like.

The storyline of Avatar is also heavily influenced by elements of white guilt over the genocide and massacres of American Indians and Aborigines as well as the fantasy of the "native rescuer", i.e the white man who becomes one of the tribe and does what they could not do - saving themselves from other white people - being innately superior to the native champion, and getting the native chick as a foregone conclusion.

It's really cliched but as long as these elements are present many morons and dilettantes will feel that it's a movie that represents the human condition and uplifts us with a story of hope.

LMAO!

This post has been edited by Dickson Poon: Jan 14 2010, 07:33 PM

I've watched the movie again (free tix!) and noticed a couple of things,

1. Eywa is obviously sentient as she could understand what Jake told her about what humans did to earth and verify the fact by going through Grace's memories.

2. Grace is the top biologist in her field, and everything she knows about DNA and stuff like neural networks is now part of Eywa.

3. Since they can download/upload data at will, it will just be a matter of time before all this new information is spread throughout the populace, or any scientifically inclined native.

Looking at real world ventures into science like,

Nanotech, nanobots
Swarm intelligence
DNA computing, quantum computing
Biowarfare

It's not hard to imagine that if the Na'Vi do progress scientifically, the organic element will be quite a prominent element in their tech, which is nothing to sneeze at.

Remember War of the Worlds? The common cold virus turned out to be humanity's savior vs the technologically superior Martians.

wth is science FICTION doing in phD school?

edit: they arent advanced cos they go around raping horses n birds

This post has been edited by b3ta: Jan 15 2010, 06:46 AM

Aiyoh. People don't want to have newfangled gunzszxzx that go pew pew pew then dowan lah. Why still must ask

But to me, Avatar sucked anyway. The juxtaposition of the 'advanced' technology that was *nearly* sci-fi and the lack of sophistication in a storyline was too awkward- the only saving grace was the nice graphics, and I am not exactly a graphics person.

The movie Avatar, in my opinion, is kinda a reflection of the above. Why? first of all, the Na'vi are contended with their existing technologies, i.e. the bow and arrow. They don't need gas stove, computer and such. And even is Egwa is like a supercomputer that demands balance, I believe that the advancement towards developing technologies comes from the very mind of individuals that thinks and rationalises that they are better way to do things.

And another thing, it is such movies that makes us think further and deeper. Example? Star Wars movies and Astro Boy. Those kind of movies enabled inventors and scientist alike to emulate devices and advancement to better (or suffer) our lives. PErfect example, handphones. A lot of Sci-fi had some sort of communication device. Thus the birth and evolution of the gadget itself.

The truth in avatar is,

the navi people is HUMAN, and the Human is the Gods who taught us technology.

They are just laughing at us!!!

I concur... and again... I once read this... philosopher once theoretise this level of cilivizations.... where we were at the lowest level.... where we greatly depends on the resources on our planet... and the next level is to harnest the sun`s resources on earth.....

and up next is the transformers level.... to harnest sun`s energy and move to another solar system when the one is depleted...

and lastly.... cililivaztions which know everything and are everything around that is able to utilize all resources available

maybe na'vi ppl know how to control the natural power which more powerful then the weapon created by human..

Biotechnology!