Why do you want to be a NA'Vi on Pandora?

[dstroudswan]

Originally Posted by Human No More

Exactly - if I COULD be 3m tall, with blue skin, beautiful eyes and a tail. I would. If I could, as an average individual, be physically superior to the greatest human who lived, I would. If I could have a lifemate and make tsaheylu and experience everything together, I would. If it was possible to bond with an ikran and ride it through the air, I would. If I could spend every night wandering through bioluminescence, with everything around having its own beauty, I would. None of that's at all remotely possible.

You're almost completely right. Increasing height to 3 meters would destroy the spinal column and cause paralysis. Blue skin, however, would be possible with tattooing or permanent ink, and maybe in the not-too-distant future, gene therapy. A tail would also be possible if it could be artificially grown and grafted on, but the technology for that is not yet available; maybe in a decade that will change. Tsaheylu would be extremely difficult to achieve, but it might be possible with lots of technology (see my post here). Riding an ikran is definitely not possible. Bioluminescence, however, might be achieved with gene therapy, since some species of fish already have that.

Originally Posted by Human No More

Honestly, ideally, I'd like the best of both lives. I'd like to be able to be a Na'vi physically, live somewhere really nice, be able to fly, but also still be able to occasionally enjoy things from Earth.

I second that; all I'd need from Earth is a generator, an iPad, a laptop, and a satellite connection. There would be no need to do away with technology; it would just have to be used sparingly.

[auroraglacialis]

Originally Posted by dstroudswan

Bioluminescence, however, might be achieved with gene therapy, since some species of fish already have that.

Actually they did gene modified plants that glow in the dark by putting marine organisms genes into them. But of course these have to stay in the enclosed labs because no one knows what will be the result if they go into the wild...

I second that; all I'd need from Earth is a generator, an iPad, a laptop, and a satellite connection.

So all you need is "the internet" basically?

Originally Posted by Sarah Noel

I'd also probably freak out with the first night I spent on Pandora, and spend hours stuck looking at tiny things like leaf venation, or the dots on my legs, or something.

- yeah I can imagine that. That image is very funny but so true. Look at all the dots indeed...

[Clarke]

Originally Posted by dstroudswan

Increasing height to 3 meters would destroy the spinal column and cause paralysis.

Carbon-fibre bones! Carbon-fibre bones! (I've given JC crap for not justifying himself elsewhere, but that sort of thing is what I hoped there was more of: just enough explanation so we can hear, "I know this doesn't work, but it's a film. You should really just relax.")

Though if you're talking about turning a human into a Na'vi, can't you just use surgery whatevers?

I second that; all I'd need from Earth is a generator, an iPad, a laptop, and a satellite connection. There would be no need to do away with technology; it would just have to be used sparingly.

For a species that has a IO cable dangling out the back of their skull, an iPad seems like an awfully crude HCI. (or should that be Na'vi-Computer interface? ) Wouldn't strategically-placed wireless transceivers work better?