Korra's Worldbuilding: How did technology advance so quickly? [ Avatar: The Last Airbender ]

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[@HelloFutureMe]

From swords to sharks with fricken laser beams on their heads, probably. Get ma book + please leave a review! tinyurl.com/y5mwpyyj ~ Tim

[@tahj-waynehall4956]

have you been able to sleep? are you ok?...........

[@MrE_]

What does BG stand for? Before Gods? Lol

[@pyeitme508]

Yet no gun powder weapons such as firearms in legends of Korra.

[@emmareijonen635]

11:48 as a finnish person I felt attacked xddd

[@odjavsa2564]

But, couldn't it be more likely for the water tribes to develop a hidraulic engine or so because of their bending, even if not instead of what Zuko and the Earth king proposed, maybe after the reconstruction, because even after the reconstruction I assume that there was still some people that refused to the change, or could it be developed after what we saw in in the legend of Korra? PD.- sorry for my broken English

[@TheRealGuywithoutaMustache]

Everything changed, when -the fire nation attacked- *steam power was made*

[@salieri_sg9413]

well... yes!

[@SunsetTwist]

And metalbending

[@fatalequinox6553]

SunsetTwist and blood bending

[@thalmoragent9344]

N VL They probably should have used Bloodbending in hospitals to help with surgeries and stuff, but they completely outlawed it instead.

[@dr.rodabthicc]

@@thalmoragent9344 it's immoral and could be abused.

[@MG_SW]

So everything really did change when the fire nation attacked

[@twisthermind2514]

Michael Gauthier Yep

[@sanjaysreejith973]

Everything changed when the fire nation stopped attacking

[@wafflebro1556]

@@sanjaysreejith973 yup

[@NobaraGamezzz]

You mean when the fire nation stopped attacking.

[@finnheisenheim8274]

The fire nation really did share their prosperity with the world, just not in a more peaceful and less genocidal way

[@LASAGNA_LARRY]

It isn’t too far fetched. Aang was 12 at Sozin’s Comet and 66 when he died. We start Korra’s show when she’s 17. That’s 71 years between Sozin’s Comet and Korra’s pilot. That’s 71 years of peace (no world wars like real life) which is a lot of time for invention and discovery, especially for people who can bend. The Fire Nation already had combustion engines, cars and airships during the 100-year war. Not to mention Sokka invented the submarine, lol. 71 years is like going from 1849 to 1920. In 1849, most people were still using horses and messenger birds. By 1920, we had cars, telegraphs, and electricity.

[@arshiaaghaei]

Except we never reached the 300-400 years of musket usage. I suppose technology ages faster when people can ben metal and fire and etc but this was too fast imo

[@elius1548]

@@arshiaaghaei who needs to shoot a gun when you can shoot fire out of your fingertips

[@arshiaaghaei]

@@elius1548 Bullets are still faster I reckon

[@flagondragon1854]

@@arshiaaghaei perhaps but still easier to throw rocks and burn things than making a metal tube that goes bang but I'm sure gun weren't a things cause it's a kids show and gun are a bit too much but we did see attempts to match bender powers with the shock gloves and planes made by Asami's father

[@arshiaaghaei]

@@flagondragon1854 Korra isn't a kids show. Korra was made for teens

[@MmmmGoodBoy]

The Fire Nation was advanced enough to build that giant drill. That’s a massive technological feat accomplished before Ozai’s defeat. It makes perfect sense for the all of advancements made between the two series.

[@KittSpiken]

Right, but that's the problem. The focus on the tech in Korra ducks the background anachronistic technology in AtLA. It pulls on a thread that unravels both series. I don't like the setting in the sequel and if I start to unpack that, I like the original series less.

[@Heligoland360]

@@KittSpiken The tech wasn't anachronistic, it was just imbalanced. Imagine having a show set in early to mid 1800s Japan. Technology and social structure is still largely medieval. You could be forgiven for thinking it was set 1000 years in the past. Then everything changes when America attacks. Now you have large gun ships, machine guns, factories, trains, a whole new modern education system and beaurocracy and so on. The Fire Nation was very advanced, that's why they were able to fuck with a nation 10 times their size, similar to what Europe and America did to the rest of the world.

[@KittSpiken]

@@Heligoland360 fair point, even still: they had the aforementioned drill, harpoon guns powerful enough to embed metal stakes in solid rock, cables with the tensile strength to bear the weight of a tank and winches strong enough to pull that weight up a sheer cliff. All before they figure out hot air balloons. Also zeppelins apparently saw a parallel development to the balloons (seems they weren't full of hydrogen), because they are deployed a few weeks after the balloons were first deployed. I understand why firearms had to be omitted (though imagine how cool it would be sparking gun powder with no firing pin, no trigger pull, just a subtle bit of firebending), but even within the Fire Nation what they managed to engineer and what is stuck in r&d is all over the place.

[@Justin-ui5ti]

@_Social.LiberalistI think you meant Japan during WW2? Fire Nation is pretty much that.

[@jaspertuin2073]

Also the fact that development went a bit faster than we had in our case could be explained by the planet in avatar being literally smaller than real Earth

[@Hubert99999]

I guess Technology advances fast when everyone can do literal magic

[@blitzencaliburn9072]

It’s NoT mAgIC

[@brystet6642]

@@blitzencaliburn9072 its bending?

[@blitzencaliburn9072]

Coffee Grounds that’d be it, yeah.

[@dewhiterabbit1337]

How did our tech advanced so quickly in the 21s century compared to last 400 years?

[@brystet6642]

@@dewhiterabbit1337 bending?

[@diegoprodriguez]

I mean to be fair, once our world entered the industrial revolution, our technology really skyrocketed.

[@flok462]

The comment I was looking for. People can't wrap their mind around how fast the change was in the industrial revolution. In Europe city's went from 1000 citizens to 500.000 and more in less than 80 years. People were raised as dirt poor farmers and died in the citys of 1900.

[@SkyHacker9]

a big part of this was literal skyrockets

[@elijahaitaok8624]

In a couple hundred years we went from casting iron looms to 3D printing in space and fledglings of quantum computing

[@alyseleem2692]

Let me explain: I don't have a problem with the cars or the telegraph or even the radio I have a problem with platinum mechs which somehow despite being technically softer than pure iron,sustain great damage without issue. I have a problem with the bland pathetic excuse of a multicultural center that city is. I have a problem with the giant clone of the Statue of Liberty standing outside said city. I have a problem with the idea of spirituality being used as the equivalent of a NUKE,TIED TO ANOTHER GIANT MECH COVERED OF PLATINUM,THE DESIGN OF WHICH SEEMS SO RIDICULOUS I DON'T KNOW HOW IT'S STILL STANDING! I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THE USE OF THE MOST DEADLY TECHNIQUE OF FIREBENDING,WHICH TAKES YEARS TO MASTER,AS PART OF A POWER PLANT JOB FOR RANDOM SCHMUCKS! I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THE POLICE FORCE THAT HAS THE GALL TO WEAR METAL ARMOR WHILE CHASING SAID SCHMUCKS EVEN THOUGH THEY COULD COOK THEM ALIVE SEVERAL TIMES OVER WITHOUT LIGHTNING,OR EVEN CRUSH THEM WITH SAID METAL ARMOR! I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH HOW THE ONLY OPPRESSED MINORITY I SEE IN THAT CITY IS A STUPIDLY HAPPY HOMELESS GUY WITH NO ISSUES WITH HIS PREDICAMENT, HAPPILY MAKING FOOD FROM DUMPSTERS! I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THE IDEA THAT THERE WAS A LITERAL DOOR TO THE SPIRIT REALM,WHICH IS NOW ALICE IN WONDERLAND STYLE,MAKING SPIRITUALITY AND FAITH UTTERLY USELESS! Alright, I think I'll stop now. Edit: To future generations: This is partly a joke. It appears I should've explained that before.

[@joshrll9195]

@@alyseleem2692 I with you. Korra trashed the asain inspired world of avatar to add 1920 American vibes which is so out of place its jarring. It also ruined the whole ying yang idea of order chaos in balance for a western view on good vs evil. Honestly I dont know how same people who made masterpiece last air bender with its rich and diverse asain cultures and beliefs end up making dumpster fire that is korra, the show that somehow turn into some weird 1920 fanfic with gay baiting and all. Also physical spiritual world was just plain stupid.

[@Trashloot]

I think its just so common for science fiction and fantasy settings to basically freeze in tech development that it is strange to see a setting actually develop. Most fantasy/science fiction settings have tounsands or even millions of years of backstorie in which they constantly use similar armor / vehicles / weapons /whatever.

[@StormForthcoming]

You should read Mistborn if you hate unchanging fantasy worlds

[@anfuro]

Yeah but when they show the first avatar setting its pretty much the same as in the last air bender. So in 10000 years almost no development at all

[@andrewwoodger1180]

i mean our societies similar, how big were the differences between the 16th century and the 1st century? and we really didnt learn that much in the flashbacks of past avatars or theyre worlds, so its not a fair judgement. plus by the time of atla the fire nation is in an industrial revolution, republic cities tech is definitley not fafr fetched based off of that.@@anfuro

[@anfuro]

@@andrewwoodger1180 we are talking about a 100 centuries time jump, and the clothing and architecture of the world looks pretty similar to the world in the last airbender. I agree that in the 70 year jump to Korra the tech makes sense. But the 10k year leap with almost no change in architecture and clothing seemed unlikely to me.

[@jordanmaldonado8784]

@@anfuro well considering its implied that in the 10000 years between Wan and Korra that Literal cultures and civilizations, entire parts of the history of the world were lost, we can safely assume that maybe at some point we had a regression of knowledge, its highly likely that technology was developted and lost

[@herowither12354]

There were like, 60 years, between the first air plane and the moon landing. Tech advances pretty fast.

[@TrinityCore60]

And everything changed when the Steam Engine attached.

[@spiderz5145]

“The Air Nomads didn’t advance at all in this period... because they were *dead* “ I laughed too hard at this. Edit: there’s a warzone down that away, I advise avoiding it👇🏻.

[@slevinchannel7589]

They didnt just Advance. Face it, people, the whole world got americanized, and that's sad, embrassing, even disturbing. What a Fail of a Cartoon, for the most Part.

[@spiderz5145]

Slevin Channel yeah... I disliked the changes too, so I agree.

[@Katwind]

@@slevinchannel7589 What is exactly that you find disturbing about Republic City being like New York?

[@slevinchannel7589]

@@Katwind ...Go figure...

[@slevinchannel7589]

@@Katwind ...Wow... Just Wow...

[@TheToneBender]

Imagine if Aang was infertile. Boom. End of airbending for real.

[@moproodu]

"Shit I guess being in ice for 100 years doesn't work wonders on your sperm"

[@dioelric3032]

Moreorlesser I have no idea how much hair there is down there for the sperm to somehow survive

[@islandsunset]

Korra's decision to keep the portals open would have eventually brought back the air benders. The air nuns and monks survived. Most of them were non benders. Air nation would still exist if Aang was infertile. But the chances are less because Aang was pre pubescent when he froze himself in the ice. Atleast that's what I understood.

[@g.h7657]

@@islandsunset korras story would completely change without aang having kids. Society would go into ruin.

[@singularleaf3895]

@@g.h7657 Well if he couldn't have children then he would've thrown himself more into work and possible fixed issues non benders had. The while story of republic city would've completely changed three might not have been an anti bending movement or the movement could've happened sooner and kicked if not long after his death.

[@g.b569]

I like how you break this down. It’s amazing how far our world came in terms of technology. For 100 years we went from barely able to get a wooden plane off the ground to putting a man on the moon. From being unable to get anywhere without an animal to cars, subways etc. Even to the Internet and phones, it’s amazing to look back and see how fast it all came

[@IS-2_1944]

Actually the first flight to the first man on the moon was 66 years apart

[@g.b569]

@@IS-2_1944 Thank you. I was mainly speaking broadly of how far we came in the 20th century

[@barnacleboi2595]

Pretty insane, humanity has existed for a blink of an eye relative to the earth, which means our advancement is travelling at the speed of light lol. We have probably done more in the last 200 years than we have done pretty much ever. Its completely bonkers

[@TrinityCore60]

A bit of an addendum. It took closer to 50 years to go from “barely able to fly” to “moon landing”.

[@SB19ATIN00]

​@@IS-2_1944 and from aang ending the war and Korra as 17 years old, that'll be like 70+ years apart...

[@joshuashaw2923]

I also think of Sokka and Toph’s contributions. Sokka was a genius and there were certainly many others like him who could now dedicate their minds to advancing problems in homes and whatnot instead of the war, and Toph invented metalbending so obviously

[@Rammythelogophile]

sokka was a genius?

[@joshuashaw2923]

@@Rammythelogophile I mean he invented submarines, pyrotechnics, helped create blimps, and planned the invasion on the day of the black sun. So I’d assume as much

[@blackpowderkun]

​@@RammythelogophileSokka is basically a caveman in the Southpole yet easily understood the tech of other nations.

[@DianneAlexander4858]

Metal bending was a big part in how the technology seemed to “jump” in quality and quantity

[@seanwaddell2659]

you mean quality and quantity?

[@sonicvenom8292]

Quality and quality seems very accurate.

[@DianneAlexander4858]

@@seanwaddell2659 yes that is what I meant, I will correct it

[@ZekromAndYugiAndDrago123]

Yeah. Mix Metalbending with the advances the Fire Nation had made on their own, and naturally the world would advance very quickly

[@TheSuperNats]

And lightening bending becoming more popular

[@blick0gb0ss45]

The air nomads didn't change at all ..... Because they were dead 10:10 I couldn't stop laughing

[@PainHarbinger]

I know right? I laughed more than I should have.

[@KitKatHexe]

@@PainHarbinger my manly manperor

[@yusufkadri4972]

*because they were DIID*

[@sanityisrelative]

I felt bad for laughing so hard. Now at least I'm not alone.

[@ecogreen123]

LMAO IKR xD

[@gubjorgm.2259]

Finally someone who agrees with me that the progress wasn't so crazy. It made perfect sense to me. With all the stuff they already had, these things just seemed natural.

[@EvanOfTheDarkness]

I think we just misjudge the time gap. Its easy to forget that we skipped a generation between Ang and Korra, because Katara and Zuko are still around (and they look damn healthy for 85-90 year olds). Its a huge time gap. And it feels very jarring, because we come to think of Korra as the "next" generation, while in fact she is the one after. The more ridiculous thing is Varrick randomly inventing stuff during the show without having any of the precursor technology present. Real inventions didn't start out in their final form. Inventions got better in tandem with our understanding of the underlying science. And oh, boy there were mistakes made during that journey.

[@L0rdOfThePies]

Varrick is just goofy like that

[@TheDragonEmpress26]

You are not listening to me

[@huntergraham702]

It's 70 years apart so it's more like it skipped three or four generations.

[@shxmana]

Varrick is like the Leonardo Da Vinci of the Avatar world dont put him together with basic inventors

[@turtleme4811]

It’s the fact that Zuko is older than Katara and looks younger than her💀💀💀

[@geanvincentalmendras1559]

Most people don’t realize how much of the world TODAY still lives in a rural/agricultural livelihood, untouched by much industrialization. It’s literally like taking a step back in time

[@bboops23]

I have a friend who still can't get more than dial up internet at his house. He's not in the middle of no where. He's in a suburb of a major city in Virginia.

[@MerkhVision]

@@bboops23 wtf? What city? Lol most of Northern Virginia made the change to cable internet at least 12 years ago!

[@bboops23]

@@MerkhVision he's in an unincorporated part of Virginia in Powhatan County.

[@Krystalmyth]

@@MerkhVision Park City Utah can't get faster than 1mbps DSL. It's a luxury there. Mostly because there's only one provider in an area and if they don't want to run lines out there they dont have to since they have no competition. It's like that all over the US. They choke out competition then screw over entire swaths of people.

[@MrMoto655]

Yup. Madison county NC is like that. Just got non dialup internet about 3 years ago. Of course that doesn’t come around until after I left lol

[@Kevin-fj5oe]

Remember one of the wright brother that creates airplane still alive when the first atomic bomb explode, let that sink in. Less than half a century, from a small paper airplane to metal plane carrying bomb that can level a city

[@OnyxXThePunch]

It's always easier to build on the foundation then to create the foundation itself this has been shown in history very many times with your example being one of the very many examples

[@DrewLSsix]

@@OnyxXThePunch its eronius to say either was easy, it was a rigorous application of scientific principles and practical engineering that led to success in both areas. While it is relatively easy to build a working plane today with all the fundamentals laid out in books and even online for those wil8to learn we still see people doing things the wrong way and failing exactly like those famous movies of failing aircraft designs from the early 20th century. The people who designed the B29 or the bombs they dropped didnt have a cakewalk either, because they were pushing for an incremental advance probably even greater than the Wrights going from their controlled gliders to that first powered flight. AMD just like the Wrights they had to put in the unglamorous work to make the things happen.

[@Grimwalkerx]

“You may live to see man-made horrors beyond your comprehension.” - Nikola Tesla

[@DrewLSsix]

@Felipe Dumont first flew three years after the Wright Brothers, so no. He didn't invent the airplane. Though he is on the short list of people to make significant actual work in the field before the mechanics of powered flight were well understood.

[@jonathanshapiro6593]

Felipe Your point?

[@RandomMusik]

It's strange that they were so slow when they can literary control the elements stuff like terraforming or building huge buildings is so much easier in Avatar

[@magne7771]

Imagine being homeless, and an earthbender

[@starrynight7783]

My great grandfather was born in 1909 he died in 2005. When he was born there was no electricity in rural East Texas and only 10 years before cars came to Texas, but were so expensive that no one used them. So no car no electricity to the burgeoning information age in his lifetime. I'm actually surprised that the estimated 90 years from when ATLA takes place to the time LoK takes place there isn't more technological advancement.

[@radix4400]

I would actually consider Metalbending to be technology. It is a type of skill that can be used for industry and production. It is no different from pottery or the wheel.

[@danandchristineharbour2538]

Pottery and wheel are usable by everyone who tries to use them

[@matthewkalasky2891]

And then there's the spread of Lightning generation.

[@user-ed9qu5im2y]

Yes, the same as social technologies - like modern government systems, or even new social norms. Not that these are skills, but they are equally "intangible", but have a consistency in them that can be passed on and modified, or scrapped and reinvented - and have enormous effect on our material lives.

[@theyeastwiththeleast4718]

Well, it’s a liiiiiiittle different from pottery and the wheel

[@erikschaal4124]

It should be noted that traditional forms of metal working already exist. A) because the fire nation had metal ships and other creations long before Toph discovered metal bending. And B) because they were able to work platinum. (Which could not be metal bended. )

[@sharpshooter9407]

As usual, I absolutely loved the video. However I am incredibly disappointed that you didn't call Republic City the Big Cabbage.

[@lilygrey854]

This deserves more likes

[@logosimian]

Most underrated comment.

[@moonlight4665]

Can we start a petition to make this nickname cannon?

[@AnarchHive]

O.O Damn, that's a good one....

[@chaosherald8879]

This comment wins the internet today.

[@Draxynnic]

Somewhat late to the party, since I wanted to actually get to see LoK myself before watching this video, but you've pretty much said what I would have. I think a large part of the "problem" comes from the different perspectives. Most of A:TLA is from the perspective of the relatively primitive cultures, while the most advanced culture in the world is the antagonist. With tanks and airships and ironclad cruisers, the Fire Nation was clearly sneaking into the 20th century, technologically speaking - but given that the REST of the world feels like a typical fantasy setting, it's easy for the casual viewer to overlook that and just see the Fire Nation stuff as being big and bad and evil and industrial without really registering just how advanced the Fire Nation really was. This is probably especially easy because we don't see conventional guns in TLA (or LoK, really - the 'guns' we see are essentially energy channels) - because bending is used instead. For a lot of people, presence or absence of guns is a shorthand for how advanced a setting is, and not having them makes a setting a medieval fantasy, even when the fantastical elements make it so that guns are much less likely to be developed. You can see additional signs of this when the gang infiltrate the Fire Nation - the Fire Nation school, for instance, probably wouldn't have been that out of place a century or so ago. One can think of how much of our world was still essentially agrarian (feudal agrarian, even) as late as the First World War. Heck, one could view the Hundred Year War as being comparable to what might have happened if the Europeans had actually tried to conquer China during the Opium Wars rather than just using their military superiority to extract concessions. So if you take the Fire Nation, which is at the very least on par with late 19th century technology, and advance that by seventy years... frankly, if anything, I'd expect LoK technology to be MORE advanced. Meanwhile, in LoK, most of the series is from the perspective of the most advanced or second most advanced (it's notable that we never really get to see the Fire Nation directly in that period) culture in the world, while in the rest of the world, technology has spread to multiple relatively high-tech 'hubs' rather than it all being centered in the Fire Nation. So the different perspectives make it look like there's a big gap in technology. In reality, those, the Fire Nation was around 1900s technology when it came to military vehicles (tanks probably could have been invented around then if there'd been a big enough war on to justify them, rigid dirigibles, heavier than air flight in its infancy) while Legend of Korra is... really, not THAT much more advanced when you think about it, possibly sitting around the 1920s or 30s at the latest. So the REAL question should probably actually be... why was it so slow? And the probable answer to that was that the Hundred Year War had suppressed technological development that didn't show the potential for an immediate military payoff, so while military vehicles were fairly advanced, this hadn't filtered into civilian vehicles and the 'blue sky' research that ultimately led to things like the radio wasn't being done. So much of the period between A:TLA was probably marked by civilian technologies catching up - and some of which, such as radio, would turn out to also have military applications. TL;DR: The technological advance was actually relatively SLOW compared to the real world, it just felt like a big jump because we switched from the perspective of the relatively low-tech cultures to focusing on a relatively high-tech city.

[@mattwho81]

There’s 70years between them, plus Aang spent most of his life in rural communities while Korra lived in an urban environment. It’s like Aang lives in 1860 rural China and Korea in 1930 New York.

[@SamuelChac0n]

Fire nation: meiji restoration japan Earth Kingdom: late qing china Air nomads: tibet Water tribes: inuits

[@CrownofMischief]

@KRYMauL most of the nations pull from multiple cultures. In addition to Japan and Britain, there are also cultural examples of mayan/aztec culture like the sun warriors and Southeast Asia in the beach episode. The earth kingdom has in addition to Chinese some aspects of middle eastern culture in the desert, and possibly early Mongols with that one tribe in the canyon episode Water tribe is inuit for the southern water tribe, southern US for the swamp, and the northern takes from inuit and other native American cultures with a Venetian city structure

[@CrownofMischief]

@KRYMauL well fundamentally it's definitely more Japan than Britain

[@tesoh5349]

Tibet was a feudal slave owning nation but theyre the good right cuz “yellow man bad”

[@WrathOfHorus90]

Most of the words and names are in Hindi or Sanskrit or a blend of it. Guru Sanwhatshis name and Sparky Sparky boom boom guy are indians

[@gaoth88]

@@tesoh5349 Slavery happens in china as well...but Tibet isn't invading other nations and neutering the majority of the men...Just saying.

[@captmoroni]

13:55 BG = Before Genocide (of Air Nomads) Year 0 = Sozin wiped out the Air Temples AG = After Genocide

[@andrewdiaz3529]

Hit so hard, the calander felt it.

[@aiden_obj]

Thanks for this I was wondering what he meant by that

[@CharinVZain]

@@aiden_obj its supposed to be Glaciar, not Genocide

[@akumaking1]

I think the Avatar wiki has something different; prewar and postwar instead

[@alinatahir8326]

THANK YOU

[@andershusmo5235]

I agree completely with this analysis. I never saw the problem of the apparent jump in technology, it's literally a mirror of our own history. Plus, having benders would be immensely useful for an industrialization process, easily being able to speed up many aspects.

[@Xplojon]

To be fair, the fire nation had already built devices like that drill vehicle to pierce the wall at Ba Sing Se when Aang was still a teen. So roughly a hundred years took place between that and Korra being born. If they shared that kind of technology with the world, then it wouldn't be shocking that they'd advance that much in a century

[@LEEVHOLT]

Aang stands for A - after A - Air N - Nomad G - Genocide

[@superkamehameha1744]

nice

[@prince_nocturne]

Oh damn. That's good.

[@JonathanCrane1999]

Except he was born before it?

[@prince_nocturne]

@@JonathanCrane1999 But he doesn't come into his own until after. Still works.

[@larbmining]

Nah bro it’s stands for and a ********** gay

[@nirast2561]

Sony: *strikes all ATLA videos* Tim: *makes ATLA video* Sony: AM I JOKE TO YOU?

[@merrittanimation7721]

*yes*

[@beccag2758]

Shoot me down, but I won't fall, I am VIBRANIUM!!!! (I know it's bad😂)

[@alfredb2036]

Dejan/Дејан Kojić/Којић I have never seen TLA or LOK before and I have now bought all of TLA on DVD solely thanks to this channel!

[@thalmoragent9344]

radu nicolae What does Sony even have to do with Avatar? Wouldn’t Nickelodeon be doing this instead?

[@Jemini4228]

Because copyright law and its enforcement are completely blinkered and ignore fair use entirely!

[@cwcpants140]

After the events of A:TLA, the Fire Nation shared its technology. Remember, the Fire Nation was very technologically advanced (it had tanks and airships) where most other cities were technologically void for the most part and functioned off of bending. We first get a glimpse of this in the last few episodes of the first Book, however this point is further driven home when we get to Ba Sing Se. Outside of their tram/train, the city's technology was pretty limited. For a more real-world application, look at the ORIGINAL Pokemon Blue/Red/Yellow era of Gameboy Classic graphics then look at the VR/AR we have today. Less than 50 years have passed but we have made AMAZING strides in that area. Now that's just 50 years. LOK takes place at least 50 years into the future because I think there's canon sayin that Aang lived to be in his 60's (the iceberg didn't HALT his aging, it merely slowed it) and that's assuming that as soon as the Avatar died, they're immediately reincarnated however this is not likely. There's a heavy Eastern presence in the show and reincarnation is part of most Eastern religions and it's generally agreed that reincarnation is not instantaneous. Using these facts, I posit that it's actually NOT too unbelievable.

[@chowyee5049]

Ba Seng Se did have a pretty effective public transportation system even if it was powered by Earthbending.

[@imperatorcaesardivifiliusa2158]

Chow Yee Lee the longbow was as effective, perhaps even more effective, than the early musket. Only problem was that there weren’t too many people capable of competently operating the longbow, it was just more cost-effective to switch to the musket, just as it would have been with the earthbending-based system and the steam-based system

[@mxspokes]

Omashu and Be Sing Se are basically the only places we see this because the rest of the Earth Kingdom is currently having to use benders in military positions, not industrial ones.

[@PizzaManager101]

M D or in mining/construction rather than in transportation and logistics

[@princessthyemis]

I would say BECAUSE of earthbending. A city powered by something the audience sees as magical yet almost has a "scientific" view of--we know how it works, just like the characters--makes a WAY more interesting city, compared to one run by something already considered old fashioned in our own time. :-)

[@josheydubs]

That's why they didn't have cars. Also, we know the rich people would rather watch people struggle to pull them.

[@AvatarTheLastPodcasters]

Metal Bending probably played a huge role in advancing technology. I mean Toph built the statue of Aang, knowing that I'm sure metal bending was used to build alot of structures.

[@AlexKnauth]

Yeah, and Toph was able to fix one of Satoru's machines when they were broken, and after that it's implied she was even able to repair them after they were sabotaged. Especially given her earthbending-sight abilities, she was able to see how it was supposed to fit together. Toph probably also taught earthbending-sight to her metalbending students, so those metalbenders would be able to repair and help construct some of those machines

[@oddeyes9413]

Probably goes up quicker and much sturdier than what we can build.😑

[@princessthyemis]

Oh yeah, great point!

[@GamerKey91]

@Alex Knauth: Yeeup. Imagine if an engineer could just lightly tap a complex mechanism with a finger to instantly pinpoint the fault in the system, and then concentrate for a bit to fix said fault without ever taking the device apart. :D

[@Rembanspellsong]

@@oddeyes9413considering there would be no need for weak points such as joints between bars since she could meld them together, it would be significantly stronger.

[@hiddendesire3076]

Just started the episode, but wanted to mention this, in one of the Wii games which was seemingly pre-firelord’s defeat, we do see a steam-punk “mech” like machine similar to the equalist’s ones. It was powered by a fire bender, water bender, earth bender, and a nonbender working together, a group who essentially provided the groundwork that became the Equalists, but with benders among their members.

[@mizu7662]

Yeah, never really understood people complaining about the tech jump aside from the skyscraper sized mech at the end.

[@eno2870]

Technology didn't advance all that quickly. I mean, the fire nation was using steam powered ships from like the very first episode of The Last Airbender. It's like going from the 1850's to the 1920's.. well, right up until that final season of Korra anyway, where they just decided to go straight up Sci-Fi.

[@brunoss.3273]

To be fair, they already had mechas in season 1, they simply made them bigger.... a lot bigger.

[@shadenox8164]

@@brunoss.3273 Then used an extremely potent fuel source which tends to be the one of the biggest limitations.

[@alyseleem2692]

@@brunoss.3273 Mechs themselves are a point of contention. They were first made by nonbenders from an unbendable material. That somehow sustained damage despite being PLATINUM!

[@ChewyPineapple]

@@alyseleem2692 why would platinum machinery be immune to damage? Pure platinum is not a particularly hard metal, pure iron is harder. And why would nonbenders with access to industrial-era technology not be able to work platinum easily, when metals were worked without metalbending before the Hundred Year War?

[@alyseleem2692]

@@ChewyPineapple I just said the opposite. It isn't supposed to take this amount of damage without issue, and yet it does. The Hundred Year War had firebenders work on such metals. As it was said,the industry of Avatar depends on bending,and therefore them having our equivalent of industrial level tech is questionable at best. Most importantly, WHY ARE THEY MECHS?!

[@GamerBoyDevin]

Quick answer before watching: Benders can bend things into specific shapes instead, reducing the need to develop machinery that makes other machinery.

[@chancellorally8766]

@GamerBoyDevin but why would they find the need to build that machinery at all if they have *benders?*

[@GamerBoyDevin]

@@chancellorally8766 Because people are lazy and if you can build a machine to do something for you then you're probably going to do it

[@jacobbartlett331]

Chancellor Ally it’s also way more efficient because machines don’t really need food or time off,they can work day in day out

[@aceofspace14]

@@jacobbartlett331 also by that point we had seen the near extinction of the Air Nomads and the Southern Water Benders relying solely on bending to maintain your technology means that if the benders disappear or are killed off you lose that technology.

[@noratrevalyn5582]

@@GamerBoyDevin Read the comics where the UR was even formed. Benders where attacking non benders because they were building a machine that basically took the benders job away, but made non benders less reliant on benders.

[@darkraysofsunshine3113]

The advancement in tech makes sense to me because i can see the other nations wanting to flatten the curve. The Fire Nation has had exclusive access to these advanced weapons, and even though the war is over they'll definitely still be on edge and want to use this time to catch up so they won't be at such a disadvantage again

[@henrychen310]

Come to think of it, it’s really interesting the level of technology they had in avatar without electricity. They had metallurgy, presumably figuring out how to insulate heat in furnaces and fire bending into them to smelt iron. Then someone started experimenting with heating and cooling water and realized that they could convert the heat from fire bending into kinetic energy by using a steam engine. Then someone must have figured out how to implement that into ships and tanks. The fire nation knew how to mine coal, so that became an effective fuel source for them. A fire bender presumably would get tired heating a ship for hours on end, but coal wouldn’t, not after it gets that initial heat to start burning. I wouldn’t be surprised if before the hundred year war, airbenders and earthbenders worked with fire benders to make steel.

[@BigMastah79]

Also I think that Korra’s decision to leave the Spirit Portals Open started another technological revolution, where the crazy Spirit Energy did some crazy shit.

[@carso1500]

It's basically nuclear energy, so yeah the avatar world is at the cusp of a nuclear age

[@aprilk141]

The plot of nearly every final fantasy game is capitalists using the spirit energy and twisting it until the whole planet is twisted and at the brink of collapse. Nothing similar in real life at... /s

[@carso1500]

@@aprilk141 thats just the plot of 7...

[@alyseleem2692]

And that is why I pretty much hated it. Spirituality doesn't work like that. Ever.

[@BigMastah79]

@@alyseleem2692 Yeahhhhh, they complicated it a bit too much

[@CLozs]

“Random earth kingdom village number 45” 😂😂😂

[@peterviglianco136]

I remember hearing that in Republic city was based off of Japan after the Meiji restoration. They didn’t have a industrial revolution. They were just caught up really quickly to the rest of the world.

[@flora_7719]

the effort that goes into these videos is just amazing

[@openminded4751]

I mean to be fair when Toph invented metal bending it had to be a major step forward especially being now on the same team as the fire nation with their steam power. Also in a way Katara knowing blood bending, with her overall character, could turn that into a medical breakthrough to help with quality of life. Also you end up having their inventor friend getting to invent for peace instead of for war.

[@jackrabbit3472]

Great points all around

[@Talon323]

Huh, the ability to have INFINITE POWER and BEND METAL AND EARTH TO YOUR WILL makes industrial development faster. Who would have thought

[@bluesbest1]

Not "INFINITE". "UNLIMITED".

[@yamiyomizuki]

@@bluesbest1 not even "UNLIMITED" jut readily accessible.

[@bluesbest1]

@@yamiyomizuki "UNLIMITED POWER!!!!!" Do you get it?

[@ThereforeIAmHim]

Dadycoool not everybody is of culture

[@bluesbest1]

@@ThereforeIAmHim I realized that. My second reply was me desperately grasping at straws, but fish won't bite in an empty lake, no matter how sparkly a lure you use.

[@BJM_1916]

People complain about how the world evolved so fast but ignore the fact that we went from horses and carts to landing on the moon in 70 years

[@MasterCookies]

Becaus of minor events like 2 WORLD WARS AND COLD WAR.

[@leonartu3756]

The question is actually very easy to answer: They would take materials with earthbending, then Model it with metal bending and Fire bending, make fuel with firebending, and make fabrics with earthbending

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

_We're not cavemen! We have technology... [proceeds to smash the computer]_ *~ Patrick Star*

[@theomegajuice8660]

I really like that Legend of Korra advanced technology the way it did. Too many fantasy worlds just keep technological development as a fixed state for centuries or even millenia.

[@teddyfield2164]

It was smart but I just preferd the world of atlab a lot more but it doesn't obv stay the same

[@teddyfield2164]

You could really say everything changed

[@chingizzhylkybayev8575]

Rapid advancement into 20th century tech level is just as lazy as keeping it fixed.

[@IkeOkerekeNews]

@@chingizzhylkybayev8575 How?

[@chingizzhylkybayev8575]

@@IkeOkerekeNews by the virtue of being just as easy?

[@Borgcow]

Reminded me of that joke in one of the Hitchhikers Guide books about this one like 8-armed alien species that invented aerosol deodorant before the wheel

[@wondermenel2811]

Satoru became the first ever man to be forklift certified, what a legend

[@TooHandsome]

18:36 There is also the fact that people in the Avatar Universe can literally bend the elements, something that people in our world cannot do. I feel like that's the best reason as to why technology was developed quicker.

[@NetherTaker]

Yep. Not hard to harness electricity when you can just bend it. Building a lot fast is easy when you can manipulate the earth at will, too.

[@helenwalter6830]

I think honestly that would have made it worse- humans survived as a species because we were worse than other human-like species but had bigger brains. We had to build weapons and tools so we built them to survive. Bending makes everything much easier- so why progress? "Necessity is the mother of invention after all" People are lazy and don't do things they don't have to do. They could've easily developed technology but take one look as Ba Sing Sae and you see why they didn't (at least until LOK)

[@JEvans-wy9ln]

I think thats stupid. even if you have a power to possibly make something you still need to come up with the idea for it and the blueprints in your mind. its not like having the power to bend elements makes you an automatic genius.

[@BraveHeartedHero1]

@@NetherTaker Old comment but I hate how people ignore the fact that lightning bending in itself was something that could cost the user their life yet in Korra its just an average job. That is never explained how lightning bending became so common with so many people having no issue with a bending style that you know could kill you and at best just blow up in your face like Zuko.

[@waterpaper8372]

BraveHeartedHero1 The technique just became more wide-spread through schools. Before it was a technique that only royals and upper class Fire Benders learned. After the war Zuko spread the knowledge to the common citizens Also yeah it can cost the user their life if they don’t dispose of the lightning in time, but it shouldn’t be too hard. Most of the danger of lightning came with lightning redirection which involved passing the lighting through you. Plus in the factories we don’t see the benders building up a lot of electric energy. So they produce less lightning than you would in like a deadly fight.

[@TheSlasherJunkie]

11:00 The gunboat diplomacy was always seen that way from the American side, but the Japanese version was hilarious. They found the one guy in Japan who could speak English and sent him as their delegate- without at all explaining what their stance was. The Tokugawa wanted to remain isolationist, and were willing to fight a war to maintain that isolation. But the delegate didn’t know this, so he agreed to the opening. When he told this to the Emperor, he and the Shogun were FURIOUS. The biggest development in Japanese history came down to a misunderstanding that nobody outside the political structure understood the core principles of foreign policy. This, folks, is the importance of a well informed society.

[@mistushipper]

that’s actually really funny, haha! who exactly is this delegate, id love to know! :0

[@TeddyboyRnR13]

Prob commited Seppuku

[@jagnestormskull3178]

Tl;dr - the "rapid technological escalation" is mostly a viewer perceived illusion caused by most time in ATLA being spent in the Earth Kingdom and most time in LoK being spent in an incredibly prosperous and uniquely diverse formerly Fire Nation city, with the Fire Nation being the most technologically advanced nation in ATLA.

[@totallytravicious5919]

You said "upside down picture of scandanavia" and my brain immediately pictured an upside down LANDSCAPE picture.... took me a minute...

[@placeholdername3818]

I'd like to also point out that just because theres technology being used somewhere. That doesn't mean its widespread. My grandmother grew up during the depression. Cars existed in bigger cities(New York, Chicago, ect) but in the country side(Kentucky) where she lived they still used horse drawn carriages.

[@lizardlegend42]

I'm Irish and until very recently we were always far behind other western countries in technology. Widespread electrification didn't come around until the 30s. My Dad grew up in the 70s/80s and they were the some of the only ones in the area with a (black and white) television.

[@jacobsmollet1871]

Definitely Not Michael he said that in the video

[@jeangenie9597]

lizard ledgend lot of european countries didn’t have running water before the 50’ if they lived in the countryside. There are even cases of village with no well in it where running water fountain were installed in the 30’

[@Luka1180]

This world is way smaller and more connected than ours though. It really makes no sense in my opinion at this point.

[@btonyh5878]

@@Luka1180 The Fire Nation(the most technologically advanced) was at war with literally every other nation. That shit doesn't spread without spies or some shit.

[@valentai_777]

I like to imagine Zuko released the secrets of lightning bending to the public as an act of good faith to republic city, knowing that it could be a great power source for developed cities.

[@yabada7866]

and I like to imagine he didn't or wouldn't do that, thinking that it can be exploited.

[@sputnikmann6541]

@@yabada7866 Acting as if bending as a whole couldn't be abused and exploited. As if a 2-ton rock or a blast of fire to your face isn't going to kill you just as easily as a lightning bolt.

[@yabada7866]

@@sputnikmann6541 it's not like a book which anyone can access. You as a bender of any element would probably have a chance to defend yourself from a basic attack. Defending the lightning was not something everyone knew. Apart from that, I'd like to imagine some special subs like lightning, metal, flight should be special. Something that only special people can achieve. If anyone can achieve in that short amount of time period, then it's not special and it's something that can be invented by people who lived in the past. It kinda invalidates the value of the episodes we saw in ATLA, like the one Iroh teaches Zuko redirecting or the one Toph first metalbends. Somethings need to stay special, not common. But that's my opinion and you're free to disagree.

[@sputnikmann6541]

@@yabada7866 All sarcasm aside, and I am caffeinated now, so I apologize for being rude, I do think that avoiding death via lightning would eventually become the same as avoiding death via gunshot IRL. The first person, likely the first army, to die to a firearm-armed military would've been extremely surprised, having never encountered anything like that. But as time goes on, people learned how to avoid them (not getting in the shooter's line of sight). It would be the same with Lightning Benders. The first people to die from a rogue Lightning Bender would be surprised, but not nearly as much since the Royal Family have demonstrated the ability. Most of the _shock_ would be from someone other than the Royals doing it. But as it becomes more commonplace, strategies would form to avoid the bolts (non-Benders and Air Benders avoid lines of sight, Water Bender's can redirect it with trails of water, Earth and Metal Benders can just put up a barrier in front of them). That's just how humans work. We discover something or how to do something, we find a way to weaponize it, it kills one of us, we find a way to avoid dying from it, rinse and repeat.

[@yabada7866]

@@sputnikmann6541 just to be clear, I'm 100% agreeing with you on as time goes on, people are more likely to be able to defend themselves. My point is, it shouldn't be a common thing, because it's something that is extraordinary from all other ordinary bendings. Try to think like the role of genetics in bodybuilding. Yes you can learn all about the technique and stuff, but you may never have perfect genetics like cbum or gigachad. If everyone look like those people, then there isn't anything that makes them special, they are ordinary people. Hope I made myself clear now.

[@jaymartin8273]

Very interesting video. One thing I've noticed with a lot of fantasy stories like The Last Airbender, is you never see technology going on past the 1920s, but never more. Meaning you never see late-20th, early-21st level technology in these kind of stories, and I always found that interesting

[@jonathansands7799]

I still have one major problem with this world building is that a lot of this technology has little reason to be invented. I mean depending on your nation you wouldn’t have a reason to invent certain tech. I mean what use is electric lights when you’re almost entire population can summon and control fire with their hands. As well some tech hasn’t even been made possible in our world like mech suits.

[@kanalkanna]

They can't control the fire all the time and many cities were destroyed in fires during pre-modern times like London, Rome, Aachen etc.

[@anny8720]

Inventions like electricity benefit the many non benders in the fire nation, it's not a guarantee that every household will have a bender and non benders like the self sufficiency brought by the new tech that also helps level the playing field

[@srofv7805]

"Yeah, I know from all the people you took to prison camps." -"Now that's what I call established infrastructure. You're welcome."

[@Warriorbob-im5py]

Um, do you re realize how quickly technology progressed in the real world? In 75 years we went from horse and buggy to space exploration .

[@megalampz]

Exactly

[@thekhans2823]

@ Warriorbob07 07 , Ok yeah but for hundreds maybe a thousand years in the avatar universe it was like avatar the last airbender, and to advance like that so quickly and to get Americanized like that, I mean cans t consider it even Avatar

[@megalampz]

The Khans well I mean I’m sure republic city was more developed then than any other place. We didn’t really explore the world in LOK like we did in ATLA

[@kingmerck1538]

@@thekhans2823 what are you talking about? There were multiple technological breakthroughs in The last airbender; book 1: fire nation were on top of the food chain because they had developed giant steel battleships, book 2: fire nation develops gigantic steel drill in order to break through the wall of ba sing sei, book 3: team avatar develops sub marines and tanks that could fit about 10 soldiers and the fire nation develops giant war blimps. All of these advancements took about a year

[@thekhans2823]

@ King Merck , Ok but Avatar the last airbender is like a LOT better then the legend of korra

[@drackestalentorgen166]

" You don't want to find out what happens when you don't trade with me"

[@jo4210]

I’m so glad you made this video!! I question the technological timeline all the time so I’m grateful there’s someone who knows so much about the avatar universe and is able to explain it!!

[@kingwilliam1964]

The fire nation controlled and stifled everything for 80+ years. A technological boom made sense in legend of korra. The Metal bending phenomenon as well as lightening bending would have played a major role and helped further technology in a faster way.

[@masons.4489]

"And the Air Benders didnt evolve at all in this period. BeCaUsE tHeY wErE dEaD!"

[@RenTran1]

10:11

[@PyroMancer2k]

The other problem with trying to comparing our advancement vs another world's advancement is thinking the physics of the worlds are identical. I mean in Avatar you have a world where basically magic exist, so they can rely on a lot of things we can't. For example the need to setup large coal mines and such when you can instead use human labor to generate fire to power those machines. Or the abundance of electrical energy that people can make and the potential need to store it might give rise to a quicker advancement on electric batteries and electric powered cars. Earth benders being able to move massive amounts might reduce progress in heavy machinery used in mining. In other examples say you have a Fantasy world in which healing magic is present. It might end up reducing the development on medicine because what need is their to research advance medications when you can just go to a "healer" that will cast a spell on someone who is sick to heal them. Or in a more sci-fi series they have an alien who is studying human advancement wander how we managed to advance so quickly as the spread of disease is a major hurdle to the rise of early civilizations as the more crowded it becomes the greater risk of rampant disease spread by pest. And while most other species took centuries to millennia to accomplish proper containment methods to prevent this humans did it in a fraction of the time all while still not meeting some of the current galactic standards on containment. In it they end up speculating it was the domestication of animals like cats which kept the pest under control that allowed humans to thrive where other species had struggled and suffered from a slower urbanization rate. So until we have more real world examples to compare ourselves to we can't really be sure how fast or slow our progression rate was. Because we don't know what sort of advantages or disadvantages we have. For example the majority of fossil fuels are not from the dinosaurs as people tend to think. They are the result of trees during a time before bacteria were able to eat them and thus when a tree died it just laid there not decaying as it slowly got buried. So you have whole forest full of piled up trees that got buried and eventually turned into fuel for us today. If this oddity of nature had not happened we would not have tons of coal around to fuel the rise of the industrial revolution.

[@cherryjello777]

I love how we have such parallel analysis of the development of technology between the two shows.

[@mariapazgonzalezlesme]

I noticed that the Legend of Korra's world shares some characteristics with Dieselpunk, Steampunk (flying balloonships) and Techno-Magic (Kuvira controlling the energy of the vines from the Spirit World through the Mecha's cannons)

[@lukatomas9465]

How is ships using coal diesel punk?

[@mariapazgonzalezlesme]

@@lukatomas9465 Got it confused, I was reffering mostly towards Industrialism and cars.

[@trustinfaith9778]

@@mariapazgonzalezlesme That's not really dieselpunk though. Dieselpunk is more like Mad Max.

[@Tarvok]

@@trustinfaith9778 Like that scene in Korra with the motorcycle rebels/thieves?

[@patrickfrost9405]

@@trustinfaith9778 Deiselpunk is high-tech WW1/WW2 era. Mad Max is post-apocaplypse and not punk at all.

[@trapdontaris]

Sony: Claims all of the avatar videos Tim: Uploads another Sony: *surprised pikachu*

[@btonyh5878]

since when does Sony own ATLA/TLOK ip? Isn't that all with Viacom?

[@Snow-xd4rv]

Bolt+ Since when does Sony have claim to Avatar the last airbender?

[@willhunt8506]

F*cking savage

[@Cosmo_P0litan]

Those New York and Hong Kong photos looked like the 1980s, not the 1920s. This was a great discussion regarding the enormous amount of inventions mentioned from the past two centuries, and thanks for clearing up some mysteries in the series.

[@nothingiseverperfect]

Your videos are always so great and interesting and always help expand the avatar video. THANK YOU

[@Igor_servant_of_Philemon]

14:50 "Rise of the melon lord" good to see you implemented the most important event in that year.

[@tgfs238]

"And the air nomads didn't advance much during this period...because they're dead"

[@dr.rodabthicc]

True.

[@gravitydefyingturtle]

I had a much harder time with the apparent cultural and technological stagnation during the 10,000 years between Wan and Aang. Wan's time should have been set in the stone age.

[@vampyricon7026]

Agreed, actually. It's been in stasis for 10000 years. In that time we went from caves to this.

[@leaholiver9418]

That probably happens because everyone was focused on war instead of building much of anything really.

[@Schlumbuo]

Gforce2424 wow it’s almost like wans entire story was complete garbage

[@donotcare57656]

@@leaholiver9418 That's how our world was as well.

[@15jewjew]

What made you think it was stagnant. Many nation's were built after the humans moved off the lion turtle.

[@laurelsilberman5705]

This is one of your BEST analysis videos on ATLA/LOK world building.

[@mal9369]

Okay, but Finland definitely could stand to make some changes to its map js

[@DankGank]

This basically makes me want to see a follow up to Legend of Korra where the world has developed beyond ours

[@deathrex007]

Imagine if by the time the next avatar is born, benders and non- benders have already colonized the moon.

[@Rabid_Nationalist]

@@deathrex007 or Mars

[@Robert-fc9xz]

I hope they don't, the Avatar Universe is already ruined.

[@djlaithie2525]

@@Robert-fc9xz nah it improved

[@bigmeech2731]

Heck yeah! I want to see benders fighting aliens and explore space. It would be so cool.

[@sualtam9509]

Remember, the industrial revolution wasn't all about rising wealth and prosperity. Most people horribly suffered under inhumane conditions. Life in early industrial working-class communities meant sweat shop work, diseases, no hygene in a post-apocalyptical wasteland where the air was filled with soot and the sun was being blocked by smoke. This would make so much more sense as a basis for a anti-bender movement, than what is presented in the show.

[@DrewLSsix]

You are ignoring the surrounding realities of the time period. People did suffer greatly but they mostly chose that over their old lives of subsistence farming. Dont imagine that things were just golden before the industrial revolution came along.

[@sualtam9509]

@@DrewLSsix When you study the period, you can see the huge resistance to industrialisation from farmers, craftsmen and workers. The Luddites in Britain, the Silesian Weaver Uprising in Germany and the Canut Revolt in France happened because most people lost their income due to cheaper industrial production and were starving or had to work in inhumane conditions and had to live in slums. Most of them had lives full of hard work before, true. But hey had houses, gardens and healthy air and water. Now they got ramshackeled huts, no fresh food, soothed air and cholera infested water.

[@auhng]

No actually think about it. Benders would be hired over nonmembers for these industrial jobs. It kinda does make sense, but Korea didn’t execute it well.

[@johnmartins8462]

And then, the Anti-Bending Manifesto was born

[@simonl4657]

@@sualtam9509 People living better prior the industrial revolution is not true at all. Industrial revolution didn't just start with the machines. There were several conditions prior that helped to bring the industrial revolution about. It started with the Columbian exchange and the improvements in farming efficiency that caused an explosion in population growth and less hands needed on farms. People were naturally moving into the cities as a result. This create a huge labor pool that fueled the growth of factories. In fact without the industrial revolution these people would have suffered under perpetual destitution and starvation. The productivity increase brought about by steam engines, machines is what saved civilization from perpetual cycles of malthusian trap

[@oBethGorman]

I enjoyed the critical analysis of the assumptions behind world building. Very refreshing and would love to see this explored within the context of the avatar world. The books go into far more detail into the cultures, languages and peoples of the world and would love to see the way they perceive their worldfrom their cultural and historical perspectives explored.

[@jorgeraimondososa2438]

In a normal situation I couldn't care less about what you are talking about. But you make it so interesting, I can't stop watching your videos.

[@docrussojr]

The city of Ba Sing Se and even the Lion Turtle city of the first Avatar were relatively modern. Katara and co lived in villages that were sheltered from the world.

[@alyseleem2692]

That's another problem... Wan lived ten thousand years ago. How does that work?

[@oniricfantasy6687]

@@alyseleem2692 Bruh, you didn't hear about Kyoshi?

[@alyseleem2692]

@@oniricfantasy6687 So? What? She's a few hundred years ago. Her age's tech is reasonable. I don't mean age. Wan died ....Well. It's the tech. It's too good for a time like that. They're supposed to be still inventing agriculture!

[@oniricfantasy6687]

@@alyseleem2692 O, you meaned that

[@alyseleem2692]

@@oniricfantasy6687 Yes.

[@shingshongshamalama]

The thing you've got to remember is that technological and scientific advancement is exponential. The more technology develops, the faster we tend to develop new ones, as each enables the process in various ways.

[@DrewLSsix]

Not really, its certainly possible to an extent but we see technology rise and fall several times in our own history, steam power seemed to occur back in ancient Rome but never rose beyond table top doodad.

[@IkeOkerekeNews]

@@DrewLSsix But did they have the energy output to use it? No.

[@Username-le4eq]

@@DrewLSsix and also do they really need it at that time?

[@Qaosbringer]

@@IkeOkerekeNews Korra had many many problems including this technology increase. Yes, Avatar had "high tech weapons" like gas operated vehicles and steel ships. But such things can be caused by the benefits coming from the "bending". We don't have bending in our world, so creating a parallel between the technology of our world breaks the immersion. First steam operated machines came out in 1698. And the Industrial Age happens between 1780-1840. But Korra skips all of them and teleports us into 1920s of New York. Look, technological improvement is not just about inventing a single thing. To achieve a "radio broadcasting era", you need to invent a lot of things and encounter a few of cultural revolutions. We can say most of the world lives around 900-1000s while Fire Nation lives in their 1400-1500s. Yes, a technology from 1698 can be count as "very high tech", but you still need to pass Industrial Age before reaching to 1920s New York. One of the many flaws of Korra was this unrealistic technology skip. They didn't really care about the background and just wanted to make a cartoon in 1920s New York. There is no other reason behind it.

[@IkeOkerekeNews]

@@Qaosbringer Yes, Korra skips through all of them. Because they are literally first seen in the Last Airbender.

[@JayTraversJT]

I’m somewhat in the middle. I love the look and can still maintain my suspension of disbelief with no issue. But I still feel like they’ve shot themselves in the foot now that they must progress further than that roaring 20s kinda style. The ancient medieval theme just compliments martial arts perfectly and no one can tell me otherwise.

[@pamelabaldez4341]

EXACTLY

[@illidanstormrage4608]

I've always found the thought of aliens coming to earth and learning about our history and either being amazed or amused how fast or slow we developed certain things fascinating

[@_darkkstar_]

11:07 "Knock Knock, it's the United States. Open up your country, stop having it be closed. "

[@seanrea550]

No! proceeds to be bombarded from out side retaliation range. also it was not just the US that did that but the colonial powers as well.

[@mrmcawesome9746]

@@seanrea550 r/woooosh my friend

[@delgado.adrian160]

r/unexpectedbillwurtz

[@VincentGonzalezVeg]

r/RandomTitsAreFairAndBalanced

[@Lardum]

@@delgado.adrian160 bill wurtz is always expected

[@JacobSmith462]

Also, in avatar, a significant portion of the population can literally affect the bare elements at will. Imagine how much you could advance with metal benders, not to mention water, Earth, and fire? It would accelerate stuff so much. Xao Fu, a mega city entirely made of metal, practically surfaced overnight.

[@alyseleem2692]

No problem with that... Just the mechs. And lightning bending.

[@joshuarubenstein2298]

But i thought metal bending and lighting bending were supposed to be incredibly hard and only the absolute best could do it. Hell, Azula had to be a prodigy in order to lightning bend and toph had to be blind in order to "see" the flaws in metal that she could exploit.

[@alyseleem2692]

@@joshuarubenstein2298 Exactly! They're not anymore. Deal with it.

[@joshuarubenstein2298]

@@alyseleem2692 thats literally the answer to every flaw in the legend of korra. Oh the airbenders are back, how? "Deal with it" Oh everyone can lightning and metalbend now, how? "Deal with it" Oh korra was able to bend fire, water and earth bend as a toddler when it took aang until he was a teen, how? "Deal with it" Oh korra got all her bending back after it was taken from her and she got the avatar state as well, how? "Deal with it"

[@alyseleem2692]

@@joshuarubenstein2298 Yep. You have been enlightened! Congratulations 👏.

[@megamiana-spaceforcecomman705]

Our real life worldbuilding is absolutely terrible writing, we got access to 2300s tech in july 16th 1945

[@sagacious03]

Great analysis! Thanks for uploading!

[@Artaee]

"and the air nomads didnt really advance during this time period, because theu were dead." that really got to me

[@matthewmuir8884]

Short answer: the co-creators of the show thought that 1920s America meets steampunk China would look cool.

[@hauntingstarfish149]

The actual truth 😂

[@BVasquezp]

(Western) elemental magic through eastern martial arts seemed cool as well.

[@BelleFlower15]

"Yeah we didn't feel like using our imaginations to design the world this time."

[@BonaparteBardithion]

The only issue with that is that 1920's America is in the European style. If one of the nations previously had European influence in their architecture it wouldn't stick out as much. But we can't model it after 1920's China because Eastern Asia at the time was building everything in the European style. Bit of a catch-22.

[@bradsw206]

Actually any basic research can show you that it's based on 1920s Shanghai

[@bloonjitsu7148]

I love how it says "rise of the melon lord" at 100AG

[@Thaumh]

Hit 'Play' on your parallel times, and in less than another 70 years, *we* went from the Write Bros. first flight to Neil Armstrongs first steps on the lunar surface.

[@tuckerrobbins9592]

“100 AG: Rise of the melon lord” One of the many reasons I love this channel

[@Hannah-fe2oi]

me: *rewatching avatar the last airbender with my family* my dad: *stares at the world map on the Atlab wiki* *episode ends* my dad: I STILL DON'T KNOW THE NAME OF THAT EARTH KINGDOM VILAGE

[@VolatileViolet]

I'm imagining one of those memes with a grandma trying to use a computer, haha.

[@Deni-nl1ce]

Which village

[@MrPiccoloku]

"Vilage"

[@DisKorruptd]

@@VolatileViolet I was imagining something more like this upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Churchill_War_Rooms_-_the_map_room.JPG

[@Mr_Reaps25]

TBH, look at how fast we progress once we hit the industrial revolution, now look at the insane building capabilities of earth benders to make the factories and all that. To the nye unlimited energy of fire benders. And the insane magical energy sources. It makes perfect sense

[@Ilyak1986]

One thing people point out: the fire nation had *airships* in ATLA. Fast forward 70 years and while Korra has *biplanes*, in our world, we had *the F-15 Eagle fighter jet*, which is still one of the biggest, baddest, most nastiest and most vicious fighter jets that has ever flown.

[@gabrielat4031]

The "Rise of the Melon Lord" on the timeline lmao

[@helenwalter6830]

11:12 I love how your American accent is just a stereotypical Italian gangster

[@jeeseninala]

Its been a hundred years, imagine 1900 and 2000 but with magic powers