
Kurzweil Critiques Avatar – Technology Applied Unevenly, Cast as Enemy - nreece
http://singularityhub.com/2010/03/10/kurzweil-critiques-avatar-technology-applied-unevenly-cast-as-enemy/
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TrevorJ
A lot of his critiques are based on the assumption that technology is the main
driving factor in human development and behavior. If I apply his logic to the
real world here's some of the questions I would have:

-If lightweight body armor is available, why do our soldiers not have access to it?

-If the technology for filtering clean drinking water is available then why does half the world not have clean drinking water?

-If plastic surgery can improve or change our appearance why doesn't everyone use it?

He completely glosses over the fact that economic factors play a huge role in
how technologies are used and adopted. That very fact is blatantly obvious in
the film itself, you even have a main character who can't walk, for no other
reason than the fact that he can't afford to pay to get his legs fixed.

The whole movie is about a company that is trying to maximize profits. Why
would we expect them to buy top of the line gear for every single soldier if
they can get away with cheaper stuff? My argument is supported over and over
again in the film: the _only_ reason the protagonist was even involved was
because the company was unwilling to lose money by wasting an avatar.

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ilkhd2
Generally,almost all the last (last 5-10 years) movies made in USA is
completely dumbed down garbage. I realize, that american culture as a whole is
(and has always been) somewhat infantile, but, still let's say, Terminator and
Back to the Future were excellent movies. The more country get
deindustrialized, the more people move to "service economy and real estate"
the more they become disconnected from reality, and less you need to entertain
their minds.

My major concern with Avatar - why in the hell everybody are american in this
movie? Does Cameron beleive that USA will still be the "power" in 100 years?
Or without stripe/stars flags everywhere nobody would watch the movie?

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TrevorJ
Perhaps James feels that the message about putting profit and
industrialization above human life is something the he wished to address to
Americans because we can benefit from the self-examination?

