Unobtanium

[Sempu]

Just started reading "Fried" by Joan Borysenko (it's about burnout). It contains an interesting interpretation of "unobtanium." I'd always had a bit of a snork at the word in Avatar, since it's used by scientists (and s-f fans) to represent materials with impossible physical properties to use in thought experiments. Always seemed like a bit of a placeholder that snuck through to the final script by mistake.

But Borysenko, a psychologist, has a different take. She sees it as a deliberate metaphor for something that we keep seeking but cannot have in our lives. The mineral represents to her the technological chimera of our consumerist world, the attempt to find the experience of peace and harmony in a materialistic acme that cannot possibly supply those things.

Makes me think that name was chosen with a lot more care than I previously assumed. Hmm.