Talk:Anti-bending Revolution/@comment-4662143-20120422215817

I understand that there is social inequality in Republic City at this point, much in the same way that rapid industrialization created an income gap between the rich and poor in our world during the same period. What I don't understand, however, is how benders would remain on top in this society. Surely, in a more modernized society, nonbenders would have more opportunities? In the largely medieval world of the first series lack of bending power was very much apparent. With the exception of the Fire Nation, the world was mostly a low energy society. By that I mean, with that the only sources of energy with which to do work were human and animal muscle. In such a society, bending power is an invaluable means of getting work done. So it makes sense that benders would become powerful individuals. However, it is precisely nonbenders' lack of bending power that makes them develop more intellectual capital than their bender counterparts. In the first series, it is almost inevitably Sokka who comes up with the plans. Recall that the rest of the group is listless and doesn't really know what to do without Sokka there to plan the schedule or think outside the box. This makes sense; without having any bending power of his own, Sokka has to come up with new and clever solutions to problems. He can't just burn things or throw rocks and ice at them, or blow them out of the way. That is not to say that benders are dumb, but they have less of a reason to be innovative.

Hardship breeds creativity. The reason the rocky, volcanic archiapelago of the Fire Nation was able to outperform the vast, expansive Earth Kingdom with its abundance of natural resources, rich soil, and large population is because the Fire Nation, lacking resources, invested in science and technology and built up human capital. Look at the Mechanist; a nonbender who, despite being a refugee, was able to use his genius to more thoroughly revolutionize the planet than any other single individual in the series. I say single individual because Fire Lords operate with large armies, and have the entire resources of the state behind them to produce military hardware and promote scientific research through an educated population. They don't personally do any of it, but merely direct the specialists in various fields, and utilize their creations to lead armies, for instance, or build up infrastructure to give the population a higher standard of living. Ozai and his predecessors were expert military tacticians; they only knew how to burn things to ashes using the things that their scientists and military engineers came up with; they wouldn't last two minutes in an actual science lesson. The Mechanist, in contrast, operated using the opposite system. He personally came up with all of the innovation himself, while using his people as unskilled labor to carry out his grand designs.

It is the latter type of people who should be thriving in Republic City. Now there are all sorts of gizmos and gadgets that make energy much more plentiful. The benders don't have that much of an advantage anymore. The future is with the innovative nonbenders and their critical thinking skills, which is what produced cars (made by nonbender Hiroshi Sato) and airships (made by nonbender the Mechanist) and other cool stuff. So how exactly are benders still on the top of the social hierarchy?