Rules for a "Becoming Na'vi" program (sorta long =/)
 

Alright, so I've been all across all of the Avatar boards, and on every single one, there's at least two threads titled "Would you become Na'vi and throw away your humanity?".

Alright, so let's pretend that we all live in the world of the film, on Earth, the RDA has given up the whole Unobtainium thing for one reason or another, and the Na'vi are okay with humans doing this:

Hell's Gate has been rebuilt as a center for Science and the sharing of culture between Humans and Na'vi, and Grace's old schoolhouse was rebuilt, etc. It is NOT a typical tourist destination; it is a place for scientists to help rebuild the relationship between humans and Pandora as a peaceful one. People can take vacations there, but only a few people every five to ten years (as in fifty people or less).

You can get there one of three ways; pay your way (only twenty people at a time may do it this way, and it will be EXPENSIVE), win a contest (only three people can win the trip), win a scholarship/award and be allowed to study there (for certain college majors only, preferably ten people or less), be allowed to go there as therapy (only by perscription, only five people, and will still be rather expensive), or be invited there by somebody (Na'vi or otherwise). The ideal result is that a ship arrives every five years or so to pick people up or drop them off, and that the base is never housing more than 130 people or so (~50visitors, and 50 scientists, plus some more. The visitors would be required to help out around the base during the ten years performing a job, whether it be working in one of the science wings or helping to run the other operations/maintain the base.

Then, there will be an extra five people. These people are the people that applied for the "Becoming Na'vi" program and passed. There would only be ten slots total for this, and in order to enter, you had to pass some sort of highly competitive selection process. Then, if you did pass, you would arrive, live at the base for about a week learning the basics of their language, etc., and then you would be sent to live with one of the tribes that live on Pandora (Omaticaya, Plains, Sea Cliff/Ikran, and any others that exist. This is where the Avatars come in; before these lucky people leave earth, they have an avatar made for them (the avatar MUST have as little human DNA as possible, for reasons that will be made clear later). Then, much like Jake, they must pass the trials that are set before them to become one of the people, using the avatar equipment left at the base from the movie. If they die during the trials, that's too bad; the Na'vi have to deal with that risk too, and this isn't going to be "candy-coated". If someone's avatar dies, they are boarded in one of the rooms at the base until the next ship comes, and they must work at the base to make up for the money that was used on them. If they do pass all of the trials, then they must be ready to be disconnected from their human body permanently at the tree of souls. The people who have the privelidge to participate in this program may bring up to three other people with them; these people may stay with them for one week after they arrive and then they must leave with the shuttle/spaceship that took them there.

The people who are selected for the Na'vi program and pass all of the hurdles therein (ideally, only a few people at a time) will live with the Na'vi for the rest of their life in that body. They may invite up to five humans each on each ship there, but if the slots on the spaceship are full already, they may be required to invite less. The invited people are given a discounted cost, but may not participate in the Na'vi program when they arrive. They are only allowed to do this three times. They may only visit for one week. They may visit the home of their loved one up to three times, but the Na'vi they are visiting may visit the base as many times as they wish (the same goes for any Na'vi that wishes to visit the base).

In addition, there may be only thirty transcended humans (people who have become Na'vi) spread among the tribes at any one time. This is to avoid any issues with genetics between Human-Na'vi hybrids and pure Na'vi that could possibly arise and work their way into the Na'vi gene pool.

Finally, there should be other rules pertaining to the people who may participate in any of these programs. Some ideas are:

1) Absolutely NO criminal record, expunged or otherwise.
2) Absolutely NO people may participate in the Na'vi program if they are carriers of a genetic disorder or have any history with immuno-inhibitory retrovirii (aka AIDS) or any STDs.
3) To participate in the Na'vi program, you must be between the ages of 18 and 35.
4) Absolutely NO pets.
5) People who are participating in the Na'vi program may bring ONE item with them to keep if they pass the tests laid before them by their respective tribe; it may NOT be an electronic, religious, chemical, or biological item, and it may NOT be any kind of food or drink.

What do you think? There's gotta be some rules that I left out or forgot about......

Agreed

Ok, I got a serious problem with this. Even though the RDA might be out of the picture you would still need to use their tech to get to Pandora. What this means is the ability to fix genetic and physical problems (such as a spine injury) would be possible. Somebody who has a physical problem or disability might just have the right mindset to follow through with this program (such as Jake Sully), I'll expand on this more below. A stipulation to this should be if a physical impairment is caused by negligence or on purpose.

Ok

A given

Agreed but kind of iffy on the religious part

A mental aptitude test should be the second thing given after a background check, as the driver would require a sharp mind to keep the Avatar safe for the duration. Also a consideration of the persons obligations should be considered (such as family) as they could prove to be too distracting. I think somebody with a similar situation to Jake's would be the best candidate.

Very good topic, Zai-en-ken:)

A very interesting topic indeed Zai-en-ken, it definitely got me thinking...

This one is a given, but it can be argued that some people who have gone through the rehabilitation system come out the other side just as 'law-abiding' as you or I, even moreso in some cases. But that's another topic altogether...

I agree with what Helicordian said, if they can repair a spinal cord, i'm sure they can fix such issues in the future.

I personally think 35 is a little bit young as a max age cap, maybe a little higher.

Makes sense.

This i'm not so sure about. I say that if you were to become a part of the Na'vi, you should embrace and learn their cultures instead of trying to preserve your own and introduce it to them. If they want to know, they can ask and you can explain. There is no need to have a physical object, they can make up their own minds about your culture. (Sorry, but that was particularly poorly worded. I hope you got what I meant though :S).

Again, partially agreed, partially not. Many people perfrom poorly in such tests but excell in other areas such as real life problem solving and creativity, but they need to be in such a position to unleash their potential. I'm not entirely sure you can accurately judge how mentally strong a person is with a test.

I like it. I think you thought of everything, I agree with it all.

I just wish it was real... :'(

Definitely agreed!

I agree with this two. What has been mentioned above were both repairs done to damage, rather than genetic conditions. If you were modified to be free of genetic disorders before birth, obviously this rule wouldn't apply to you; But it should apply to those who currently exhibit these.

Agreed

No-Brainer

I agree to this too, in addition to the religious thing. If you want to embrace another culture and live as they do, how can you bow to two gods at the same time?
I'm not religious and religion isn't a big deal to me, but from the Na'vi perspective I think they would look down upon this- as you would not be devoted to Eywa; Rather, you could simply be there for the environment and people rather than the spiritual reasons. While there may be nothing wrong with this to many people, it was mentioned in the original script that the Omaticaya never fully accepted Grace and vice-versa because she never truly 'gave' herself to them.

Cool topic!

I think you may have misunderstood; I am talking strictly about carriers of genetic disorders. There is gene therapy now for things like this, so if someone can have therapy in the future to rid themselves of such things, then yes, they can do it. I'm not talking about people that are mentally or physically handicapped due to injuries, I'm talking specifically about things that could potentially get into the Na'vi gene pool and cause biological havoc. This includes AIDs, lysogenic-cycle viruses (aka herpes), and any genetic disorder that you are known to be a carrier for that could be spread to your offspring.

As for the "bringing something with you" rule, yeah, I guess that one isn't necessary, but I'm mainly talking about things like pictures of yourself or family. Maybe that one could just be shortened to "one photograph" and only be of a certain size. The reason why I said "no religious stuff" has to do with what has happened in the past with different religions spreading to other peoples and annihilating the original religion or causing wars, and I don't feel like getting into an argument about what should and shouldn't be allowed in that area; it would be useless and hair-splitting.

I think the aptitude test is a great idea, and there should also be a general psych evaluation to make sure that the people that get in aren't crazy (This would all be done on earth of course).

I also agree about the "Jake" situation and that perhaps people in a similar situation should get special recognition.

No religion-related items is clear enough, we wouldn't want to go introducing that to another species. Myself, I'd just take a few photos of friends and family, I guess that is what most people would take.

You make some good points but in order to create the Avatar, human and Na'vi genetic material must be combined. I'm sure it wouldn't be that much more difficult to remove any bad genes from the human sample leaving just the stuff needed to create the Avatar (assuming this is possible given what can be done at the time). I'm by no means a biologist, but it's possible that human diseases and genetic disorders might not even affect them. Obviously much research must be done, and sampolz taken to know for sure:P

After thinking about it and seeing your response, I agree that no religious material should be allowed. I would like to take it a step further and allow nothing to be taken as it may be too distracting to the Na'vi or the person chosen to become Na'vi.

Agree on the psych evaluation:)

Ninat? :P

Are you thinking Eywa would do that? Eywa is not a machine that can be used to transfer consciousness' at a humans whim, nor a pet that would do it for the same reason. I hope she would continue to assault the sky people until they leave for good. Na'vi culture was perfect until the moment they first interacted with tawtute.

Oh ho ho!

Finally someone decides to respond with the alternate viewpoint I was looking for all along.

Thanks for taking a look at it from the other perspective, but you misunderstood; I was creating this imaginary scenario with the assumption that none of that mattered.

When I created this thread, I gave it two "faces". One face was made to attract and appeal to the hopeful "damn I wish I was Na'vi" side, and the other was created to illustrate the realities of how difficult a program like that would be to pull off. If you "read between the lines" and consider the resources needed for interplanetary travel, you might be able to collect all of the different things that would ruin a program like the one I described and form the other "face". Clever, no?

For example, barring the fact that random people wouldn't just be able to "become one of the people", there is a big question mark as to how human DNA would affect the Na'vi gene pool should the two interbreed; any "silent" genetic disorders or missense/nonsense mutations (take some biology courses kids) might become amplified or have a different effect. We haven't even been told if Na'vi and humans have the same nitrogenous nases in their genetic material for crying out loud! (again about the biology courses).

That is just one of the problems with a program such as this. I made this thread so that the users on this forum could decide for themselves whether or not such a program would actually work, what the Na'vi would actually think about it, and whether or not additional rules should be added if they think that it would work.

Well?

Im not thinking about the impossibilities at all. I just hate having people on pandora.

I would love to be Na'vi, but not if im not born Na'vi.

Which face represents the "i don't like people on pandora even if it was possible"?

I think Eywa would want to try and help the humans - if they could learn to See, then she would help them with that.

That is a different topic. Make a thread about it if you want to.

Once again, the purpose of this thread in general is to analyze the results of a scenario in which

A) The Na'vi and the Humans could somehow work towards peace
B) The Na'vi were okay with multiple "Jake Sullies"
C) There is enough resources to turn Hell's Gate into a research center
D) There is enough resources for spacecraft to make regular runs from Earth to Pandora

I gave the OP two faces so that I could see if people could both see how such a program would exist and how difficult it would be to maintain. Not about how humanity should have left Pandora alone in the first place. Make a new topic about that if you want to, but don't screw up my thread with irrelevant posts.

Sorry :P