Why mankind is (still) wonderful

[ZenitYerkes]

We don't have an Eywa, neither have any kind of bonding queue or blue skin. We don't have Ikrans, and we aren't as quick or fit as the Na'vi. Unfortunately, it seems that Nature just left us in the middle of the wild.

But her gift for us, was a brain and two hands.

With them we tamed horses and domesticated dogs. We made our own food cycle and created agriculture and ranching. We made cities and even our own path to heaven with planes. Instead of neural connections, we had our machinery. And although we have given it a bad use, it still amazes me how we, the weakest species in Earth, could manage to go this far.

Plus, we are able to do something that nobody else is able to do: to create different realities. Where do you think the Na'vi came from? Or those amazing sci-fi sagas, the classic novels like Les Misèrables, the tales from the greatest heroes and the lowest characters,...?

Two things: brain, and hands.

And look what we made so far.

[Treefriend]

We've also combined cultures and made beautiful architecture. Some people have also made nature reserves which are not perfect, but a step in the right direction. Great post though. We shouldn't sell our earth short!

[Elyannia]

I agree we are wonderful creatures, but I think humans somewhere along the way lost what was really important and that's nature.

[Nibiru]

Only problem with man they have probloms.
Violence,Gangs, Drugs, Rape, war and greed

[Theorist]

I have to say i disagree, I don't think nature made us to make machinery, but made us to Run. Yes RUN! run until the thing you want to eat dies, then catch your breath and eat it. I think that's what nature meant for us.

I think we stumbled on machinery, because we have no gene which codes for a protein which builds machines. We just happen to have genes which happened to code for proteins, which happened to let us think in a way that let us do mathematical calculations.
What I'm trying to say is that building machines is something we have to learn, not something we are born knowing.

[Coui]

sorry i ll reply with a copy and paste from another my post on another thread
(cause i m gonna sleep now and i m very tired lol)
but the conclusions are quite similar
that thread was asking...

what mean to be human?

my answer

"in my opinion..to understand what mean to be human first
we need to understand what mean to be animal

the bigger difference between humans and animals is the Conscience
a ego/conscience that give us the cognition to be born and that one day we must die

So be human is.. to know our ephemeral condition
most of the negative human behaviors come just from that

animals live out of time and are naturally connected
with nature through a kind of expanded conscience
we are not like that anymore...

that s why animals know how to live with simple happyness
enjoying every little moment and more often humans don t"




so yes is true.. our brain is very powerful and we can do a lot of things animals can t
but we lost something along the way of our evolution
normally we don t realize that...but things like Avatar can help

[fortress8]

IS nature even that important? People talk as she were alive which she wasn't. What humanity has done is shape it's own future. We will not be slaves to nature as previous species have been but the controller of it. My example dinosaurs. What did they get for following everything nature wanted? A big comet or meteor falling on their heads! but like them and the na'vi we are not powerless as they are to stop such things from happening. In the past species have died just on chance and survived by just luck. Humans no longer need luck or chance to survive but our own desire to survive

[Prometheus]

IS nature even that important? People talk as she were alive which she wasn't. What humanity has done is shape it's own future. We will not be slaves to nature as previous species have been but the controller of it. My example dinosaurs. What did they get for following everything nature wanted? A big comet or meteor falling on their heads! but like them and the na'vi we are not powerless as they are to stop such things from happening. In the past species have died just on chance and survived by just luck. Humans no longer need luck or chance to survive but our own desire to survive

That is where the whole trouble lies...in what you said in your first line. "Is nature even that important". Nature is all important. If it wasn't for nature, you or I wouldn't be here to discuss this, for a start. As to it not being alive. Look out your window, look into your own heart and you'll see the answer to that question. If you have become so blind that you can't see how alive nature is, then I feel sorry for you. You've become so closed in your own mind that you are living with a dark veil over your eyes. This entire existence is the product of a thought...of life. All physical life has to live by the laws which govern this reality. That something as terrible as an asteroid strike wiped out the dinosaurs and other life on this planet (and it certainly wasn't the first or last mass extinction to happen) is just a consequence of those laws. It's not as random as you may think.

Yes, we are lucky in that our minds allow us to create great and wonderful things, and we can shape ourselves and nature should we want to. But it is gaining that power without an equal growth in our spiritual development that has held us back. Made things as they are. We are not immune to natures ways, despite our hubris. For all our technology and intelligence, we can and could be snuffed out just as easily as the dinosaurs. That is another one of our greatest failings...that we think so highly of ourselves that we believe we're bulletproof. That is the thinking of callow youth, of impetuous thought, of hubris and arrogance. That's what gets us into trouble. Those that are even a little wise no better. We are most certainly not bulletproof.

Time to grow up, for all of us.

[Concerned RDA Shareholder]

In my mind, humanity is a more mature civilization than the Na'vi could ever be. Not in a technological sense (that's obvious), but in a sociological one.

We don't have some planetary hive-mind holding our hands, keeping us happy and deciding our love lives for us. We never did. As a result, we've had to become independent and reasonably clever. We adapted to our environment, as intended (if there is "intention" behind it all...)

The Na'vi, on the other hand, live an existence that is quite peaceful and at first glance extremely desirable, but they also seemingly have little free will. They are like children. Their society seems very static and rigid, with not a whole lot of room for independent thought or creativity. Everyone looks the same and (from what I can see) everyone acts pretty much the same. According to the movie, they are dependent on a physical object (a particular tree) for their emotional well-being and sense of purpose. Does that not strike anyone else as a crippling liability?

[ProfoundHeart]

We are truly wonderful. But we are also truly horrible.

[Prometheus]

In my mind, humanity is a more mature civilization than the Na'vi could ever be. Not in a technological sense (that's obvious), but in a sociological one.

We don't have some planetary hive-mind holding our hands, keeping us happy and deciding our love lives for us. We never did. As a result, we've had to become independent and reasonably clever. We adapted to our environment, as intended (if there is "intention" behind it all...)

The Na'vi, on the other hand, live an existence that is quite peaceful and at first glance extremely desirable, but they also seemingly have little free will. They are like children. Their society seems very static and rigid, with not a whole lot of room for independent thought or creativity. Everyone looks the same and (from what I can see) everyone acts pretty much the same. According to the movie, they are dependent on a physical object (a particular tree) for their emotional well-being and sense of purpose. Does that not strike anyone else as a crippling liability?

You can't see the forest for the trees (no pun intended).

If you think that a civilisation that would willfully and wantonly destroy its own planet in the pursuit of profit and then export that filth to another one is a mature society, then you must be truly blind. That is the result of arrogance, stupidity and mindlessness. If you call being slaves to a corporate culture hell bent on the pursuit of profit and power and contemptuous of everything truly human, even of itself, is a sign that they are intelligent and wise people, then you really need to take a look at your own thoughts.

The Na'vi are hardly mindless automatons of an all powerful overmind. In actual fact, that better describes the condition that humanity is in the movie. The humans act like mindless sheep for the most part, whether they have a conscience or not. Only a few have the courage and the moral capacity to break the mold. No, the Na'vi, whilst they're less advanced technologically are far more advanced as a species, spiritually and socially. They are also far from all looking alike...actually that's a rather silly statement on your part. Why...because exactly the same thing can and could be said about humans...and probably is by other species in the universe, who have come to this planet. Hell, we even look like chimps, or gorillas, or orangutans. Get a bear to stand on it's hind legs and we look superficially like one of them.

And talking about being dependent on something for their emotional wellbeing...that is a spot on description of humans if ever I read one. The Na'vi may have their tree, their deity and their lives to be dependent on, but us, on the other hand, worship money, power, greed and quite a few other things which have so "enriched" our lives. That statement you made was very weak and with no substance because humans are just as guilty, even more so, than the Na'vi of being dependent on things for their meaning.

You talk about the Na'vi being sociologically cripple...that is even a better description of the human race!!!. Take a good look at us...crime, war, poverty, hunger, hate, derision, callousness, dishonesty...I could go on. That is your human condition. What is most noticeable about us. Yes, there are a great many other things which are positive, but they get overwhelmed by the negativity we seem to so much enjoy building and spreading in our lives.

Humanity lives in an illusion. It's about time it wakes up.

[ZenitYerkes]

Alright people, I think that just a few noticed why the "still" is on the title of the thread.

War, diseases, and destruction are what we know to do the best too, just because as they say "the brightest light brings the darkest shadows". Human nature is based on a constant fight between the correct and the easy way, between doing what's good for all and what's good for only you. Because of that, we've got people who usually does bad, and who usually does good.

We all know that bad people, and know the people who harms what we want, what we love and what we care. And hey, we've got our dark side too. Who hasn't ever lied, hurt or done any kind of bad thing? Flesh is weak.

But spirit remains.

We'll always have a bit of light there. I'm talking about that piece of light that makes us able to help the others, care about our land and our planet. That light, no matter how weak it is, it'll be always be a guide in the darkest evilness.

And yes, the better person you are, the easier is to fall into temptation (again, the brightest light brings the darkest shadows).

But I'm getting too metaphorical to this point.

What I say is that we still are a loable species. We can do the worse, but the best as well. It's all about fighting for the bit of good remaining in us.

And the Nature and machinery thingie, I believe there should exist a midpoint between both. Like an ecologic settlement that provides clean water, electricity and Internet for example, but you have to grow or hunt your food. We can have the best of both and not harm anybody.

[blue_moon]

which we forgot to use.
We do create different realities, but we can't get right our own reality.
Are we wonderful?!
I think we are. We could be. If we'd believe our inner magic.

[Fko Lrrtok]

we are humanity and humanity is love, hate, desire, creativity, war, anger, peace, greed, lust, happiness, understanding, compassion, tolerance, misunderstanding, good, evil, jealous, logical, building, laughter, vanity, sad, joyus, destructive, supportive, musical, storeytellers...............

[ReiAyanami]

I'm sure Humanity has many attributes Na'vi could only dream....
YouTube - Andrea Bocelli- Con te Partiro

[Theorist]

IS nature even that important? People talk as she were alive which she wasn't. What humanity has done is shape it's own future. We will not be slaves to nature as previous species have been but the controller of it. My example dinosaurs. What did they get for following everything nature wanted? A big comet or meteor falling on their heads! but like them and the na'vi we are not powerless as they are to stop such things from happening. In the past species have died just on chance and survived by just luck. Humans no longer need luck or chance to survive but our own desire to survive

Any second, an asteroid we couldn't see could enter the atmosphere, and in under a second smash into the earth destroying any foundation of security we had built. If you watch any shows, or read things about how we would stop an asteroid impact, they pretty much all agree. A Bomb is going to blow an asteroid up, and we probably won't even see one coming.

[Lparsons7641]

In my mind, humanity is a more mature civilization than the Na'vi could ever be. Not in a technological sense (that's obvious), but in a sociological one.

We don't have some planetary hive-mind holding our hands, keeping us happy and deciding our love lives for us. We never did. As a result, we've had to become independent and reasonably clever. We adapted to our environment, as intended (if there is "intention" behind it all...)

The Na'vi, on the other hand, live an existence that is quite peaceful and at first glance extremely desirable, but they also seemingly have little free will. They are like children. Their society seems very static and rigid, with not a whole lot of room for independent thought or creativity. Everyone looks the same and (from what I can see) everyone acts pretty much the same. According to the movie, they are dependent on a physical object (a particular tree) for their emotional well-being and sense of purpose. Does that not strike anyone else as a crippling liability?

Of course no one wants to see that. Living in a third world village is getting back to nature dude!

[navisport]

....

mankind is wonderful, because a man made that movie.

while there's lots of calamities in the world there's always the bright side with people trying to send positive message such as Cameron is doing with Avatar.