Avatar: Shoot Me Now

[Mark]

Spoiler

It's a pretty standard David and Goliath tale with a pro-environmental stance against corporate greed. It's morally and ethically argued in some portions of the movie but never really gets politicized as there is no political arena represented. It takes place in 2154 (according to the daily log screen read out) and there are places where they mention that the humans come from a dying planet but the humans are not there to colonize, they are after a metal ore. So, apparently they are not after the land of the indigenous people except as a means of collecting the ore in as swiftly and cheaply a manner as possible.

So, too, do they have scientists who can put effort into biological and genetics research and development that allows them to create hybrid human-alien bodies into which they can temporarily implant their non-physical selves over great distances. If the human species were in danger of dying out, it is unlikely resources would have been put toward such an effort (and it must be a huge expenditure since the biotech is developed very quickly, considering how early in the process the mining operation seems to be). The other implication is that there might be human clone-avatars walking around with the non-physical portion of the person from whom they were cloned. Maybe that will be some portion of a sequel.

Of course, I won't discuss real world politics on these boards due to board policy restrictions.

 

[Fast Learner]

Hadn't thought of that implication, Mark, very cool point.

Spoiler

Get clones of yourself shipped all over the galaxy and you could instantly visit any of those places,

lickety-split. Very cool (if the tech transfers that far, but even if not, at least at some distance).

 

[TanisFrey]

But the corporation is stupid enough to over look the Supercomputer the natives have. The corporation just thinks it the biosphere.

The head scientist only tells them point blank about it. The blood thirsty Colonel had too much input to the corporate goonie.

The real world weeds out the most of blood thirsty officers from high command potions in the US military. They want officers whom will not wast the troops needlessly. When I say blood thirsty I means the ones whom just want to fight for no good reason. They make great leaders but are poor at following the commands of the Civilian leaders.

 

[Pbartender]

Hadn't thought of that implication, Mark, very cool point.

Spoiler

Get clones of yourself shipped all over the galaxy and you could instantly visit any of those places,

lickety-split. Very cool (if the tech transfers that far, but even if not, at least at some distance).

Read Altered Carbon, by Richard K. Morgan.

 

[Mark]

Did anyone spot The Wilhelm Scream?


I saw it Friday at Muvico (Rosemont) but felt compelled to see it the IMAX (Regal Lincolnshire) way, tonight.

 

[Fast Learner]

I didn't spot it, but you can almost guarantee it's there. Did you, now that you've seen it twice?

 

[Fast Learner]

Read Altered Carbon, by Richard K. Morgan.

Thanks for the recommendation!

 

[Pbartender]

Thanks for the recommendation!

He's got several books in that series, and they're based off of a very similar notion to what you suggest.

I've haven't seen the movie yet, and so I'm not certain of the implied limitations of the process. The way Mr. Morgan handles it in the his books, it means:

Spoiler

A) As you suggest, interstellar travel is achieved by building a physical body on another planet, then transmitting your personality there and downloading it into the clone.

B) You can "upgrade" your body, if you can afford to purchase a better one.

C) Practical immortality, as you can transfer your personality to a new body once your old one dies.

D) Backup personalities can be stored in data banks in case the non-physical portion of yourself is destroyed.

E) Multiple (and highly illegal) copies of yourself can be made by duplicating your personality data and downloading it into additional bodies.

 

[Mark]

I didn't spot it, but you can almost guarantee it's there. Did you, now that you've seen it twice?

I believe that I did spot it with the help of my buddy David when

Spoiler

the pallets of explosives roll back into the shuttle as it veers off course a guy is crushed between two of them and lets loose with the infamous scream

.

 

[Sparta2388]

When the first trailers for Avatar were released, I thought: This looks pretty cool. I might have to catch this one in the theater. However ...


The marketing blitz has now reached such a fever pitch it has killed any interest I had in seeing the movie. You can't turn around without running into some sort of marketing tie in, promotion, or vaguely-linked reference as the Hollywood marketing machine tries to shove this movie down my throat.

Blech.

I guess I just don't take notice to things like this. I saw the trailer for it months ago, and didn't really care about it until it came out. Went and saw it, and it was amazing. Put aside the grudge and see it, you'll probably enjoy yourself.