Social, Economic and Political Perfectionism.

[Spock]

I think we need to look deeper at what constitutes a successful civilisation, is it sustainability? Ambition? Equality?

Looking at these individually shows us that the Na'vi are not a perfect civilisation, but neither is humanity, from a human standpoint. The Na'vi lack ambition almost completely, however the maintain a sustainable society whereas we don't. By my logic I find the Na'vi less than perfect, I can say the same about humanity.

In the pursuit of perfection we must formulate hybrid social, economic and political structures.

[Woodsprite]

The Na'vi lack any advancement because they are in direct contact with their deity. There's no need for them (in their mindset) to advance because "Eywa will provide". If humans had the same connection to God, we'd be the same.

[Mune]

Originally Posted by Woodsprite

The Na'vi lack any advancement because they are in direct contact with their deity. There's no need for them (in their mindset) to advance because "Eywa will provide". If humans had the same connection to God, we'd be the same.

Careful Woodsprite. As I would with any other quote of a similar level, I'm just saying that this may annoy a few people who aren't Christians.

Not warning. Just saying.

[Human No More]

Originally Posted by Woodsprite

Still doesn't make sense, though. How many ISVs could there be? They're huge crafts as big as 3 cities. If it's $7500 per bit, and the unobtanium mined costs over $20 million per kilo, wouldn't the RDA have enough funds to invest in more efficient methods of communication? I don't expect there to be more than 50 ISVs in operation... I can't imagine more than 20, actually.

There are 12 ISVs, 6 of which would be en route to Pandora before the events of Avatar - assuming that as I mentioned earlier, it takes 4.4 years for the news to return to Earth, then after which the RDA will not be sending any more ISVs, then that means 4 more will be launched, but since the RDA have no knowledge of the situation still, these would be carrying normal resupply missions too. As for the quantum entanglement communications, the reason is due to the extreme difficulty and expense of manufacturing a pair (capacity can not be added on one side, and due to the basic physical principle, any working pair has to be created at the same location and then one part brought to Pandora) - due to the nature of it, it can't be extended with more units in the same communication system either, any additional ones would have to be used in parallel.

Originally Posted by Mune

Careful Woodsprite. As I would with any other quote of a similar level, I'm just saying that this may annoy a few people who aren't Christians.

Not warning. Just saying.

I agree with Mune. There was no need to make those allusions, the point was just as valid without them. I try to avoid intentionally and unnecessarily making statements on these things or brining them into every thread, please treat people who you don't agree with the same way.

[Woodsprite]

Originally Posted by Human No More

I agree with Mune. There was no need to make those allusions, the point was just as valid without them. I try to avoid intentionally and unnecessarily making statements on these things or brining them into every thread, please treat people who you don't agree with the same way.

Well I'm just saying, the Na'vi have a deity to worship. If humans had a single deity to look to, and were in direct contact, yes. We would be the same as the Na'vi. Not trying to incite anything; just stating what would likely happen.

[Fosus]

Originally Posted by Woodsprite

The Na'vi lack any advancement because they are in direct contact with their deity. There's no need for them (in their mindset) to advance because "Eywa will provide". If humans had the same connection to God, we'd be the same.

IMO this is an interesting point. There are so many different views on "god", this would probably cause a lot of problems too. But as a thought, very interesting indeed.

[Tsyal Makto]

I'd say the pinnacle of a species would be one that is able to become space-fairing without destroying the home-world in the process.

Whether that is possible is a whole 'nother matter completely. Which of those two options people value more (space travel vs the planet) is more of a personal matter of opinion.

I'd say the best route for humanity to go would be a resource-based economy. Lest we be destroyed by greed-driven, speculative trading (which is the inherent, destructive problem of a currency-based system).

The Venus Project - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

My $0.02.

[Banefull]

Society is a reflection of our values. Ask someone here, across the globe, or across the universe what constitues a perfect society and you will get different asnwers. Taking the subjectivist stance here, everyone has their vision of what constitutes a perfect world. Ghandhi had his vision but so did Hitler. Some would consider a shopping mall to be a great achievement, others would call it a tragedy.

In short, perfection is how close society reflects a group of people's values. Society is whatever we want it to be.

[Human No More]

Success is stability. The ability to survive indefinitely, and doing so. Ambition is for its own sake and not indicative of success.

Woodsprite - you can't really compare a planet with no sentience to a world where just about every living thing is part of a neural network.

[ZenitYerkes]

Originally Posted by Human No More

Success is stability.

"Brave New World", anyone?

[Human No More]

Originally Posted by ZenitYerkes

"Brave New World", anyone?

It's a single measure. You never asked for context - I was replying to a question between two options. There is far more than just that, individual rights being just as important - but you can not deny that something is not successful if it suddenly stops existing.

[Woodsprite]

I meant from their perspective as compared to ours, not necessarily the way things really are.

[James of terra]

Well to be success, has to be a group effort. Indivials, will not succed in the long run, everyone must work together, to change things. I think Habits of greed and waste must change and Technolgy, to help find better alteratives.

[Raptor]

I somehow think that the Na'vi will start pursuing some form of technology after they saw the destruction wreaked by the RDA. It would be prudent of them to formulate some form of sophisticated defense against the humans. Better be safe than sorry, and the battle for the Tree of Souls was awfully close. Too close for my liking. I do not like the enormous Na'vi casualties at all, and they and the entire moon of Pandora simply can't fight a war of attrition against the human-made weapons.

[Woodsprite]

And thus, from the development of technology, they will begin to become more like us. Even for the best intentions, the Na'vi, if headed towards a more fortified set of clans, will become like us. It's only a matter of time if they embrace advanced technology.