The activists on earth. Qs that I need answered plz.

[Rainbowhawk1993]

Originally Posted by Cyvaris

You also have to remember that depending on where in the timeline you place this what the public opinion of the Na'vi/Avatar program/Pandora is. In the movie Selfridge talks about how bombing the Na'vi would lead to bad PR. Now picture that same situation but only after the RDA has had its ass handed to it. I would put pretty good money on the RDA spinning the story in such a way that public opinion would turn from "Poor Na'vi" to "They attacked us....kill em!"

Even if Jake and CO are able to release "footage" of Quaritch's attack on hometree I doubt they would be trusted. So basically your resistance group would not only be fighting the RDA but a good chunk of the population as well.

My idea was that the inside man on pandora would download the attack footage, Jake's video logs and the facts about the plants that can restore earth and smuggle it to the other activists to place it on the internet and the "Cause" organizations (pg. 128).

I don't think the public opinon of the na'vi being savages might stay if they upload the data. Take the movie Blood Diamond, once they got the diamond, they got to london and Solomon denied the offer by the company and Maddy got the pictures for Time Magazine. What happened afterwards? The company got protests for their little skeem with the dirty diamonds.

I think thats what people might think when they learn that unobtainum is dirty and that the plants can help restore earth.

[Ashen Key]

Originally Posted by Rainbowhawk1993

I don't think the public opinon of the na'vi being savages might stay if they upload the data.

Why do you assume this? And besides, we have no idea what public opinion of the Na'vi IS - I actually suspect that it'd be like Avatar's fandom's reaction, only much stronger/worse, due to Pandora actually being real. Grace has been writing about the plants for YEARS, and published back on Earth. The public would be lapping it all up, and the RDA would be putting as good a spin on Pandora and the Na'vi as they could, I imagine. With the amount of linking via internet, even the bio-connection would just be seen as a bio-internet.

And I really doubt that the footage of the Hometree attack would change ANYTHING. If seeing destruction and people screaming actually did anything, we wouldn't still be having the amount of war that we do. By 2154, viewers would be even more desensitized than we already are.

Don't get me wrong, the footage would certainly HURT the RDA a lot - but I don't think it'd change people's perception on the Na'vi in themselves.

[Cyvaris]

Originally Posted by Ashen Key

Why do you assume this? And besides, we have no idea what public opinion of the Na'vi IS - I actually suspect that it'd be like Avatar's fandom's reaction, only much stronger/worse, due to Pandora actually being real. Grace has been writing about the plants for YEARS, and published back on Earth. The public would be lapping it all up, and the RDA would be putting as good a spin on Pandora and the Na'vi as they could, I imagine. With the amount of linking via internet, even the bio-connection would just be seen as a bio-internet.

And I really doubt that the footage of the Hometree attack would change ANYTHING. If seeing destruction and people screaming actually did anything, we wouldn't still be having the amount of war that we do. By 2154, viewers would be even more desensitized than we already are.

Don't get me wrong, the footage would certainly HURT the RDA a lot - but I don't think it'd change people's perception on the Na'vi in themselves.

Until Earth's economy pretty much collapses because there is no more unobtanium.
Qouteing the wiki here
"Without unobtanium, interstellar commerce on this scale would not be possible. Unobtanium is not only the key to Earth’s energy needs in the 22nd century, but it is the enabler of interstellar travel and the establishment of a truly spacefaring civilization"

Imagine if all the world's oil(save for a small reserve) suddenly vanished. The economic panic would be sudden and devastating. The RDA may or may not recover from that. They and other Mega-Corporations would be in a pretty tight spot. Sure someone may have a synthetic form of unobtanium ready to go, but odds are slim. The RDA and other Mega-Corpratioins would either have to lay off millions of workers or figure out some way to get the unobtanium back.

Walking on eggshells here, but....picture 9/11 but over oil. You have more then just an "attack" you have economic destruction. Sure some people may like the Na'vi but when the spin story comes out that they are responsible for a severe economic down their opinion will change.

[Ashen Key]

Originally Posted by Cyvaris

Until Earth's economy pretty much collapses because there is no more unobtanium.
Qouteing the wiki here
"Without unobtanium, interstellar commerce on this scale would not be possible. Unobtanium is not only the key to Earth’s energy needs in the 22nd century, but it is the enabler of interstellar travel and the establishment of a truly spacefaring civilization"

Imagine if all the world's oil(save for a small reserve) suddenly vanished. The economic panic would be sudden and devastating. The RDA may or may not recover from that. They and other Mega-Corporations would be in a pretty tight spot. Sure someone may have a synthetic form of unobtanium ready to go, but odds are slim. The RDA and other Mega-Corpratioins would either have to lay off millions of workers or figure out some way to get the unobtanium back.

Walking on eggshells here, but....picture 9/11 but over oil. You have more then just an "attack" you have economic destruction. Sure some people may like the Na'vi but when the spin story comes out that they are responsible for a severe economic down their opinion will change.

Excellent point, I didn't think to mention that (despite a WiP fic of mine having one of the plots centered around trying not to doom Earth, oops.) Yeah, public opinion might just be ugly over that. Forget interstellar travel - if the trains and power grid shut down, you've got utter collapse on your hands.

[Cyvaris]

Originally Posted by Ashen Key

Excellent point, I didn't think to mention that (despite a WiP fic of mine having one of the plots centered around trying not to doom Earth, oops.) Yeah, public opinion might just be ugly over that. Forget interstellar travel - if the trains and power grid shut down, you've got utter collapse on your hands.

Basically picture the current worldwide economic collapse...but about a thousand times worse. I am using this idea for the FF I am writing(shameless plug, check out Unshackled in the FF section). Really unless JC pulls a major handwave for the sequel I really don't see how the sequels won't end up in a lot of bloodshed. Human nature is to be greedy, and money grubbing. If something messes with our profits we are going to get angry...and get even.

Now on topic of activists on earth. I like to picture them as Eco-terrorists to the extreme, probably to the point of rejecting "technology" to show that they want things to change. I could see them conducting "civil disobedience" with bows and arrows. Okay maybe thats just because I practice archery and would probably be doing that. Soon as the mega-corp show up I am going full on protestor!

Looks at reports about how Wal-mart and "Wal-mart international" are currently the first and third "largest" corporations in the world.

TO WAR!

[Ashen Key]

Originally Posted by Cyvaris

Basically picture the current worldwide economic collapse...but about a thousand times worse. I am using this idea for the FF I am writing(shameless plug, check out Unshackled in the FF section). Really unless JC pulls a major handwave for the sequel I really don't see how the sequels won't end up in a lot of bloodshed. Human nature is to be greedy, and money grubbing. If something messes with our profits we are going to get angry...and get even.

Don't have to be greedy to be worried about economic collapse - no jobs, no money, no food on the table, no medicine. Also no ability to pay bills, so at that next killer heatwave, no air con. Or you and your family get evicted. And the people to be hit first would be the poor. Look at Hurricane Katrina - a lot of people literally couldn't afford to get out, because it wasn't pay-day.

The resistance movement, I can see a mix. You'll have the protesters, the 'hearts and minds' advocates, the people who break in destroy property, the people who blow things up while trying not to hurt anyone, and the people who would see deaths as part of how revolutions are. Organization-wise, I can see them grouped in cells with not a lot of contact between each for protection. You'd also probably see a large range in attitude towards the Na'vi, from the Na'viphiles who worship them and want to be them to the people who go 'that's nice for them, but we need to concentrate on Earth' right to the people who regard the the Na'viphiles' attitude towards the Na'vi is creepy and fetishistic and rather full of appropriation. You'd get the people who are hard-core socialists, and the people who, due to the Na'vi, are more open to different ideas of society. So, yeah, I think you'd get a large mix. Maybe more than one movement? It's a huge area to play around in.

[Human No More]

Originally Posted by Cyvaris

Until Earth's economy pretty much collapses because there is no more unobtanium.
Qouteing the wiki here
"Without unobtanium, interstellar commerce on this scale would not be possible. Unobtanium is not only the key to Earth’s energy needs in the 22nd century, but it is the enabler of interstellar travel and the establishment of a truly spacefaring civilization"

Interstellar commerce, yes. that has nothing to do wth an economy. Stop going Earth needs unobtainium!!1!, it is patently false.

Imagine if all the world's oil(save for a small reserve) suddenly vanished. The economic panic would be sudden and devastating. The RDA may or may not recover from that. They and other Mega-Corporations would be in a pretty tight spot. Sure someone may have a synthetic form of unobtanium ready to go, but odds are slim. The RDA and other Mega-Corpratioins would either have to lay off millions of workers or figure out some way to get the unobtanium back.

The RDA are in everything. It's a setback, certainly, but you act as if it's the world's fuel source or something, and indeed, as if the RDA are devoid of other profit sources.

Walking on eggshells here, but....picture 9/11 but over oil. You have more then just an "attack" you have economic destruction. Sure some people may like the Na'vi but when the spin story comes out that they are responsible for a severe economic down their opinion will change.

You mean the economic depression that ALREADY exists?
Normal people don't profit form unobtainium. The RDA execs do

[Ashen Key]

Originally Posted by Human No More

Interstellar commerce, yes. that has nothing to do wth an economy. Stop going Earth needs unobtainium!!1!, it is patently false.

The RDA are in everything. It's a setback, certainly, but you act as if it's the world's fuel source or something, and indeed, as if the RDA are devoid of other profit sources.

You mean the economic depression that ALREADY exists?
Normal people don't profit form unobtainium. The RDA execs do

One thing - if the execs don't profit, they cut jobs (and/or slash hours and/or hire people who cost, for whatever reason, less per hour or per year). It's THAT which hurts everyone else. The unemployment rate would jump, and the share-market would go crazy, which would lead to OTHER companies being in trouble, which in turn would affect the lives of THEIR workers. If the share-market crashes, hello economic depression.

Also, according to the ASG (pages 17-18), unobtanium is used on the maglev trains. Given that other kinds of fuel would be hard to find and/or ridiculously expensive (we're running out of fossil fuel NOW, let alone 140 years in the future with a global-city type Earth, and solar power would be hard thanks to the smog), uh, yeah, I'd say the lack of unobtanium would be a massive problem for transport. And countries can't really run without transport.

Not to mention that you'd have issues with other colonies in the solar system itself (I....can't believe that Hell's Gate is the first colony off Earth, that just makes ZERO sense). Travel between them would go back to being years without unobtanium.

[Moco Loco]

Originally Posted by Ashen Key

other kinds of fuel

What were you referring to then?