Legend Of Korra: Will It Bend!

[Kobold-Bard]

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I did watch the episode. Also, that Tharlock guy is extremely suspicious.

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My current favourite idea is that the flashback was to the incident that the councilman mentioned in the council meeting. Specifically angry Aang was due to Toph dying there, which is why Lin has such issues with Korra; she blames the Avatar for her mother's death. As for why it showed those three specifically, I don't know.

But yeah, Tarrlok is a bit too power-hungry . Probably won't be a villain, but I can see him doing something for/with Amon "for the greater good" which will end badly.

[Gamerlord]

Not sure if this has been posted yet, but I was re-watching the first episode and during Amon's scene there appear to be blueprints for something that looks rather interesting:

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Looks like someone has a steampunk robot army in the works....

[Seerow]

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I did watch the episode. Also, that Tharlock guy is extremely suspicious.

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My brother's got a bet going on for Tharlock as Amon. Which would be somewhat interesting, but I doubt it.

[Soras Teva Gee]

In the spite of what we've actually seen (not theorised this time), you're still claiming that chi blocking is not a threat.

The problem is you are insisting on this being a binary situation:

0- Not threat, shouldn't be banned
1- Threat, must be banned

I object to that entire dichotomy. A completely unarmed normal is still a threat to benders, by the determination you are proposing self-defense is not allowed.

No what I am proposing is that chi-blocking is not a sufficient threat to public order that it as a practice should be banned.

I'm not saying bending should continue to go unlicensed and unregistered - in fact it should as well. It's just that culturally and societally, the world of Avatar has some ways to catch up with this.

Which therefore represents an inequality (and reasonable objection) as long as this divide exists.

[Socratov]

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I dislike Tarlock. he knowingly uses him beïng ahead in the ways of politics and media handling to manipulate Korra into doing his bidding. it's just low, and I can't understand why Tenzin doesn't give her a crash course in politics. Especially in a place like republic city she need the training. She is just too sheltered to actually be able to stand on her own in republic city and now she is becoming a victim of it. Also, I thnk we have witnessed a bit of spiritual growth here. I do approve of Tenzin assuming a fatherly role here. She needs that. Tough girls always need a daddy figure.

[Flickerdart]

[Brother Oni]

Granted. But that is only black powder, which has no real non-military applications even in our world. It is, save for the fireworks industry, a technological dead end.

It was just an example and while I agree it's a technological dead end, that technology has been fairly dominant in our history.

Yes, but the guy making the money will be the architect, who won't need to be a bender. Earthbenders will be reduced to being cheap labour, which was my point. They may be the elite now, but soon that will change - as in the next fifty years, if not sooner. After that, bending will be like learning marksmanship for us. Outside the military, only useful in exceedingly rare circumstances.

Out of curiosity, is there any reason why benders can't adapt and pick up the necessary skills to function in the developing society themselves?
It's not as if 'once a bender, always and only a bender' applies and training to be a better bender doesn't take up all their available time.

You make a number of references to bending being 'only' useful in military applications - you only have to look at various countries' defence budgets to see how much vested interest people in power have in wielding big sticks today, let alone our history over the past century.

Even if there are some avenues they do not explore, non-benders that dedicate their time and energy to making do with machines rather than benders are clearly gaining the upper hand in the society.

Why are only non-benders are capable of making new innovations? Why can't benders make discoveries and development themselves? They have easier access to the various 'raw' materials than non-benders and have an innate understanding of them.

The equalists certainly disagree with you on the point that non-benders are steadily gaining the upper hand in society - even if the two car manufacturers are currently doing well, what's stopping a large powerful organised crime group muscling in?

The convenience of a machine in your house doing it, rather than having to go shopping for ice or bothering the waterbending neighbor will eventually take over, just like cars took over taking care of a flightless bird-horse, and electric trains took over earthbending ones.

And what's stopping a water bender making their own competing company to make ice, or even manufacture 'fridges themselves?
They could even market it as the 'natural way it's always been done' in comparison to the 'new fangled machines'.

Waterbenders may last a bit longer, but at the end of the day, human labour is always orders of magnitude more expensive than machine labour, and in Avatarverse, bending labour is even more expensive.

China and India would disagree with you on the human labour cost.

There's also little to no information on the wages of benders compared to non-benders, unless there's a information source I'm not aware of.

The problem is you are insisting on this being a binary situation:

0- Not threat, shouldn't be banned
1- Threat, must be banned

Except I conceded that it shouldn't be banned way back in post 848, yet you're still insisting I still have a banned/not banned stance.

I was advocating a monitored and regulated stance, like bending should be, for a while until I essentially shot my argument in the foot while comparing it with knives.

I object to that entire dichotomy. A completely unarmed normal is still a threat to benders, by the determination you are proposing self-defense is not allowed.

What I was (emphasis here, since you apparently keep on missing it) actually proposing is that chi blocking be regulated and monitored due to its potential threat to bender police officers.

I never objected to self defence (there's plenty of other martial arts out there) and you rejected my previous claim that chi blocking was a specific threat to benders.

Which therefore represents an inequality (and reasonable objection) as long as this divide exists.

Grey Wolf doesn't seem to agree with you that there's an inequality, or at least it's going to turn on its head once technological development gets going.

I just disagree with how far the development is going to go.

[kpenguin]

The Modguin: Just a reminder to everyone that linking to copyrighted material that has been hosted without the copyright holder's permission, such as leaked episodes, is not permitted on this forum.

[Kobold-Bard]

Not sure if this has been posted yet, but I was re-watching the first episode and during Amon's scene there appear to be blueprints for something that looks rather interesting:

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Looks like someone has a steampunk robot army in the works....

Seriously though, that looks awesome.

[Soras Teva Gee]

Took long enough for this pun to come up.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Out of curiosity, is there any reason why benders can't adapt and pick up the necessary skills to function in the developing society themselves?
It's not as if 'once a bender, always and only a bender' applies and training to be a better bender doesn't take up all their available time.

I think you are missing my point, Oni. Notice I keep using the word "irrelevant". I believe that the ability to bend will become increasingly irrelevant as tech improves. That means that, 50 years into Korra's future, whether you can bend or not will be as unimportant to the quality of your job as your ability to hit things with a spear is to the quality of your job in RL. An ability that was essential a million years ago, and made you a military asset in the roman times, is now, at best, a form of sporting exhibition that no-one cares about.

You make a number of references to bending being 'only' useful in military applications - you only have to look at various countries' defence budgets to see how much vested interest people in power have in wielding big sticks today, let alone our history over the past century.

And yet physical ability has gone from a requirement to being less and less needed by the gross of the force. Most of the modern wars are done through robot and planes, by people sitting bored before computer monitors thousands of miles from the war. Everything I read is that the percentage of this is only going to increase.

Why are only non-benders are capable of making new innovations? Why can't benders make discoveries and development themselves? They have easier access to the various 'raw' materials than non-benders and have an innate understanding of them.

As I said above, my point is that as much as bending seems important in the 1920s-like Korra world, within her (extended Avatar) lifetime, it will go from "important" to "utterly irrelevant". In 50 years, no-one will care if you are a bender or not when it comes to giving you a job, unless that is the kind of physical job (mining, bricklaying, etc.) that pays peanuts, its dangerous, and only people with no other options would go for.

Go ahead and perform this mental exercise: look at today's world, and try to think of any job that pays medium-to-high income that would be easier to do with bending. I can't think of any, save medicine. And even that, in today's world, is more about counteracting infection than fixing burns and broken bones which, as far as canon is concerned, is all that waterbending healing does (e.g. Katara and Sokka being sick).

The equalists certainly disagree with you on the point that non-benders are steadily gaining the upper hand in society - even if the two car manufacturers are currently doing well, what's stopping a large powerful organised crime group muscling in?

The equalist movement is clearly a bunch of sheep being guided by a masked guy with a hidden agenda. What the foot soldiers of the movement believe is not to be trusted, since they are malcontents blaming all of society's ills on a group that is not responsible for them. Unless, of course, you have evidence that benders are actively exploiting non-benders, rather than just having access to better jobs.

And what's stopping a water bender making their own competing company to make ice, or even manufacture 'fridges themselves?
They could even market it as the 'natural way it's always been done' in comparison to the 'new fangled machines'.

If they manufacture fridges, they won't be using bending to do so, and thus their bending or lack thereof will be irrelevant to their jobs - i.e. my point precisely. If they are using bending to create ice, they will inevitably be priced out of the market by the technology.

China and India would disagree with you on the human labour cost.

I could counter this (James Fallow is a good blogger to read on the topic) but that would run foul of RL politics discussion, so I will not continue this line of conversation.

There's also little to no information on the wages of benders compared to non-benders, unless there's a information source I'm not aware of.

Mako walks into a power plant, and immediately gets a good paying job. Clearly that is a source of income forbidden to non-benders that malcontents are probably griping about.

Grey Wolf doesn't seem to agree with you that there's an inequality, or at least it's going to turn on its head once technological development gets going.

I'll thank you not to put words in my mouth. There is inequality. There seems to be a growing group on malcontents who are either underemployed or outright unemployed that are blaming benders for their situation. My point is that, first, they likely have a point, but that the larger picture is beyond bender and non-bender control (i.e. like in any technological revolution, they are living through the churn while new industries are created and old jobs disappear) and that, nevertheless, that same technology that has cost them their jobs will eventually level the playing field to the point where the ability to bend will be irrelevant.

Grey Wolf

[Xondoure]

Off the top of my head? Firefighting, law enforcement, medicine, cooking, mining, construction, fishing, surfing, sailing, diving, piloting, military, engineering, carpentry, masonry, smithing, industrial manufacturing, waitering, janitorial work, plumbing, sports, painting, and hundreds of other potential jobs we don't have because nobody bends. Bending is incredibly useful and versatile and would give a huge edge to those who have it in countless professions. Yes it isn't much use behind a desk but even then minor bending could be used to make the office more efficient. (such as putting rings filled with earth and water around objects on higher shelves. Suddenly employees can pull stuff down with a hand gesture.)

[Soras Teva Gee]

And yet physical ability has gone from a requirement to being less and less needed by the gross of the force. Most of the modern wars are done through robot and planes, by people sitting bored before computer monitors thousands of miles from the war. Everything I read is that the percentage of this is only going to increase.

I find I lot to agree with in your posts but I most note this is factually not the case yet and there has yet to be a major conflict by remote. And there's plenty of lifting and hefting in the modern military, there are no robotic arms to load arms onto a plane for example.

Though tech will largely make bending irrelevant the military and police would also be hold outs for more then basic labor. Highly specialized but there.

[Anarion]

It seems to me that a lot of this conversation hinges heavily on how much time it takes to get good at bending and stay good.

If, for example, waterbenders can learn the basics of picking up and directing large quantities of water in a month or so of training, they would become quite useful as firefighters and in managing public works projects such as directing a river or making a new irrigation channel. And, even if those jobs weren't the best paying, if it only took a month to learn the skills, then that waterbender could still attend college and become a doctor and might get a bonus in the job interview when he can make some ice on the spot for his interviewer's drink.

On the other hand, if bending skills require a significant and continuing time investment in practice and physical conditioning, then good benders would become much more limited, since their jobs would basically be physical labor, military, thugs, or pro-athletes.

[Xondoure]

Oh and I neglected to mention agriculture and development. Which is huge especially in poorer areas. Imagine if we could send water benders to Africa so they could help construct wells and regulate weather patterns (which you could probably do with a large enough air-water bending network.)

Edit: oh and machinery could be made to run at much higher levels with a fire/water bender around to vent away problematic overheating. And if an earth bender was involved clay parts that would other wise be too heavy could be supported by the bender. Allowing say, flying vehicles that could only run if a trained earth bender pilot was on board which could be worth it if it means much cheaper manufacture.

As for bending use as a non martial art. I'd say a bunch of kids becoming masters points to how much time is necessary (not a lot, even if they are exceptions.) Plus look at the delivery/train system of Omashu/Ba Sing Se. Existing infrastructure is a pretty powerful argument against rebuilding the whole thing.

[Endon the White]

@Grey Wolf

I think your completely missing the point here. Ok, in modern America, the mind is far more likely to lead to success than brute force. But still, bending. One good metalbender could do in a day what would take a construction crew three. Airbenders can fly with a glider and nothing else. Waterbenders can heal and maybe bloodbend and bend plants and bend clouds. A firebender can produce high powered lightning on demand.

Do you see what I'm getting at here? Sure, a firebender might not get paid as much as a wealthy mundane executive, but bending will never ever become irrelavent. It just makes them much more powerful than a non-bender. We have had to go our whole lives without bending, and we can't do any of the things I mentioned above. And hey, we can only come close to matching that in North America and Western Europe. Imagine being a bender in Africa or South America. We know Republic City is a lot more advanced, but what about the rest of the world?

[BRC]

Oh and I neglected to mention agriculture and development. Which is huge especially in poorer areas. Imagine if we could send water benders to Africa so they could help construct wells and regulate weather patterns (which you could probably do with a large enough air-water bending network.)

Waterbenders can't control the weather besides whipping up fog.
Earthbenders could dig wells, level land. clear land for planting, make Irrigation ditches, repair roads, break up rocks, construct buildings, ect.
Man, Earthbenders really luck out on the whole "Long-Term Impact" thing.

[pffh]

About the jobs don't forget medicine. You can bet that all hospitals will be staffed by waterbenders and their magical healing abilities.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Off the top of my head? Firefighting, law enforcement, medicine, cooking, mining, construction, fishing, surfing, sailing, diving, piloting, military, engineering, carpentry, masonry, smithing, industrial manufacturing, waitering, janitorial work, plumbing, sports, painting, and hundreds of other potential jobs we don't have because nobody bends. Bending is incredibly useful and versatile and would give a huge edge to those who have it in countless professions. Yes it isn't much use behind a desk but even then minor bending could be used to make the office more efficient. (such as putting rings filled with earth and water around objects on higher shelves. Suddenly employees can pull stuff down with a hand gesture.)

I said medium to high paying modern jobs. These are not it:
mining, construction, fishing, diving (for seafood, presumably), masonry, smithing, plumbing, and arguably firefighting, law enforcement and military.

These aren't even jobs:
surfing, sailing, sports, painting

These you'll have to explain how they are helped by bending:
engineering, carpentry, industrial manufacturing. As a (software) engineer myself, I know that the money is in the design, not in the construction. Even a bridge engineer will make money from plans, not from bending the metal to make the bridge. And industrial manufacturing is robots, as far as the eye can see these days. Cheaper and more reliable than humans. Oh, and carpentry is not available to benders. No-one can bend wood, so far. Besides, since when is carpentry a modern job?

And this ones I think wouldn't be helped by bending, but even if they were, pay peanuts:
waitering, janitorial work

Finally, cooking and medicine I've already mentioned and explained how bending is of little use. Have the decency of at least countering my points if you are going to give me back my own examples.

In short, either they are low-rung jobs, which I've already said are undesired in the modern world, or they aren't helped by bending. And no, 'Africa', which is even now behind the technological development of Liberty City, does not count as modern.

Grey Wolf

[Xondoure]

Waterbenders can't control the weather besides whipping up fog.
Earthbenders could dig wells, level land. clear land for planting, make Irrigation ditches, repair roads, break up rocks, construct buildings, ect.
Man, Earthbenders really luck out on the whole "Long-Term Impact" thing.

Yes they can. We've seen them move clouds. Get enough of them in the air (hundreds of thousands most likely) and you could really go all out with the manipulation of the weather. And yes, that seems like a lot but not at 21st century population levels.

[Brother Oni]

I think you are missing my point, Oni.

I think I did. I assumed you meant benders when you meant bending, although the two are quite hard to separate when bending is often tied up in the identity of the bender.

And yet physical ability has gone from a requirement to being less and less needed by the gross of the force. Most of the modern wars are done through robot and planes, by people sitting bored before computer monitors thousands of miles from the war. Everything I read is that the percentage of this is only going to increase.

I would say physical strength is less needed rather than physical ability. Sure you don't need to be able to hit someone hard with a sword, but you still need to be able to carry yourself and up to 40lbs worth of equipment at near full pace for hours on end.

I also disagree that most modern combat is done by drones and planes - if you want to capture and hold territory, you'll always need infantry, something that robotics is currently unable to match.
This may change in the future (the film Surrogates offered an interesting view of future warfare), but the basic premise of a body on the ground isn't going to change.

Go ahead and perform this mental exercise: look at today's world, and try to think of any job that pays medium-to-high income that would be easier to do with bending. I can't think of any, save medicine.

Post disaster emergency worker, security 'consultant' for a PMC, deep sea diver, geological surveyor, engineers (especially the people who climb up radio towers/antennas), firefighters, bodyguard, builders (ironically they are quite well paid due to our shift away from manual labour)... there's quite a few.

Admittedly they're all physical and/or military related, but that's the nature of bending.

If they manufacture fridges, they won't be using bending to do so, and thus their bending or lack thereof will be irrelevant to their jobs - i.e. my point precisely. If they are using bending to create ice, they will inevitably be priced out of the market by the technology.

Unless they use their bending know how to develop 'fridges and/or it requires semi-regular servicing by a water bender.

I'd also argue that even if they used bending to make ice and just used the machines to store it (like a glorified icebox) they'd be in business until somebody works out how to synthesise freon or its Avatar world equivalent.
Depending on how much bending retards technological development, that may take a while and even then, it may still be more successful than machine 'fridges - take a look at the betamax versus VHS battle, or any number of technological wars over the years.

Mako walks into a power plant, and immediately gets a good paying job. Clearly that is a source of income forbidden to non-benders that malcontents are probably griping about.

We also have no idea what exactly he did or what 'good' is. I concede that it's probably something that non-fire benders can't do.

I'll thank you not to put words in my mouth.

I apologise. As I said, I mis-understood your point.

I said medium to high paying modern jobs.

Well to be fair to Xondoure, you said 'look at today's world' with the implication that it was an occupation that currently being performed today.
Stacking the odds against the usefulness of bending by limiting to 'modern' post technological revolution jobs is a bit unfair.

That said, I've got one - demolitions expert, specifically with weapons destruction and landmine clearance.

[pffh]

Finally, cooking and medicine I've already mentioned and explained how bending is of little use. Have the decency of at least countering my points if you are going to give me back my own examples.

Sokka and Katara became sick before Katara learned she could heal with waterbending so we have really no idea if it can cure illnesses or not but given that it's magical healing in a fantasy setting my bet is on that it can.

[Anarion]

I said medium to high paying modern jobs. These are not it:
mining, construction, fishing, diving (for seafood, presumably), masonry, smithing, plumbing, and arguably firefighting, law enforcement and military.

These aren't even jobs:
surfing, sailing, sports, painting

These you'll have to explain how they are helped by bending:
engineering, carpentry, industrial manufacturing. As a (software) engineer myself, I know that the money is in the design, not in the construction. Even a bridge engineer will make money from plans, not from bending the metal to make the bridge. And industrial manufacturing is robots, as far as the eye can see these days. Cheaper and more reliable than humans. Oh, and carpentry is not available to benders. No-one can bend wood, so far. Besides, since when is carpentry a modern job?

And this ones I think wouldn't be helped by bending, but even if they were, pay peanuts:
waitering, janitorial work

Finally, cooking and medicine I've already mentioned and explained how bending is of little use. Have the decency of at least countering my points if you are going to give me back my own examples.

In short, either they are low-rung jobs, which I've already said are undesired in the modern world, or they aren't helped by bending. And no, 'Africa', which is even now behind the technological development of Liberty City, does not count as modern.

Grey Wolf

I still think you need to take into account the level of difficulty associated with bending. If every bender kid spends a summer or two at bending camp and can use his/her element competently, then bending will provide a competitive advantage on job interviews. Consider a psychiatrist who would be able to handle more violent patients while defending himself with nonlethal force. Or a lawyer who applies for a job at the EPA and tells his interviewer that he's so dedicated to the environment that he doesn't own a car and flies to work every day. It could even be a simple conversation item, like talking about playing tennis in a real world job interview or something of that sort.

[Xondoure]

I said medium to high paying modern jobs. These are not it:
mining, construction, fishing, diving (for seafood, presumably), masonry, smithing, plumbing, and arguably firefighting, law enforcement and military.

No but they would be for benders. Which is the point. A single bending laborer could render obsolete 25 non bending workers. And since there are fewer benders their demand will be quite a bit higher. Plus you're setting up a false dichotomy asking only for medium and high pay. If benders are eating up all of the medium and lower income brackets than the overwhelming majority of people will be out of work entirely with no where to turn to. Economically that's a nightmare.

And deep sea diving is for a lot more than sea food. Such things as scientific exploration for example.

I've heard plumbing pays quite well.

These aren't even jobs:
surfing, sailing, sports, painting

Really? Because I'm sure there are people professionally involved in all four. Huh, guess I was wrong.

These you'll have to explain how they are helped by bending:
engineering, carpentry, industrial manufacturing. As a (software) engineer myself, I know that the money is in the design, not in the construction. Even a bridge engineer will make money from plans, not from bending the metal to make the bridge. And industrial manufacturing is robots, as far as the eye can see these days. Cheaper and more reliable than humans. Oh, and carpentry is not available to benders. No-one can bend wood, so far. Besides, since when is carpentry a modern job?

Engineering isn't so much designs as what bending opens up for the designs. Entire branches of development depending on the ability to bend are opened up.

As for carpentry, all a water bender has to do is dip the wood in water and suddenly it will move to their every command. As for it being a modern job it is admittedly in lower demand but there are still those who do it for a living.

And industrial workers could exist in harsher work environments (such as hotter ones) more safely as well as help keep the machines in better working order.

And this ones I think wouldn't be helped by bending, but even if they were, pay peanuts:
waitering, janitorial work

A waterbending janitor would have the easiest job in the world. And would again be much more efficient than ten non benders could hope to be. As for waitering. What are plates made out of? Ceramics? Oh right. In come your orders on flying trays.

Finally, cooking and medicine I've already mentioned and explained how bending is of little use. Have the decency of at least countering my points if you are going to give me back my own examples.

You're telling me a water bending healer wouldn't be of incredible use to any ER room? What of a metal bending army doctor pulling shrapnel out of his patients? As for cooking flash freezing, producing your own heat, moving liquids and vegetables without touching them all seem like things that could save time in the kitchen.

In short, either they are low-rung jobs, which I've already said are undesired in the modern world, or they aren't helped by bending. And no, 'Africa', which is even now behind the technological development of Liberty City, does not count as modern.

Grey Wolf

Low rung jobs are of equal if not more importance to the vast majority of the planet.
And as to Africa I... what? Modern has nothing to do with it. I'm pointing to our "modern" world and showing how bending could fix some of the mountainous challenges that face us today. So yes, I'd say benders ability to increase the standard of living rapidly is a perfectly valid point to bring up.

[Soras Teva Gee]

Sokka and Katara became sick before Katara learned she could heal with waterbending so we have really no idea if it can cure illnesses or not but given that it's magical healing in a fantasy setting my bet is on that it can.

Not being effective on infectious disease wouldn't be a real bar, we have effectively zero methods of actual wound repair so there it would be in demand.

[Brother Oni]

Not being effective on infectious disease wouldn't be a real bar, we have effectively zero methods of actual wound repair so there it would be in demand.

You'll have to define what you mean by 'actual wound repair', but stem cells can replace damaged tissue and there are a number of fast acting coagulants that will seal up fairly severe cuts in a few minutes (or just use superglue ).

[pffh]

Not being effective on infectious disease wouldn't be a real bar, we have effectively zero methods of actual wound repair so there it would be in demand.

Oh yeah after surgery care, during surgery care, being able to keep blood from coagulating or gathering in inconvenient places and repairing cuts as soon as possible while the surgeon is cutting and ER as Xondoure said would all be invaluable.

[dehro]

I'm starting to miss the point of the whole issue with bending on the work market.
even should bending become irrelevant from an economical point of view, even should it have to be regulated some way.. you still cannot take it away from people or discard it, or strive to diminish it's role in people's lives. you can't even separate it from people's identities, because it has intrinsec value to every bender.. it's pretty much a sixt sense, or an extra limb. so, now people get around faster in cars than by riding a.. tumbleweed made of wind or a moving hill.. that still doesn't mean people who can move on a moving hill will want to stop doing that. bending is intensely connected with the spiritual world, that despite all the machines you may like, still plays a predominant role in the avatar-verse. and therefore deeply affects not just benders, but everyone.
so, ultimately, who cares if one or the other job is better suited to a bender or not? it doesn't make a difference. also, let's not forget that since bending is so widespread, there's a good chance that the protesting equalist of today might find himself fathering a bender tomorrow..and what then? I seriously doubt that whatever Amon is doing to remove bending can actually remove it a few generations down..especially so since we know that reincarnation exists in universe..and we know that at least the Avatar, should he not be killed in avatar state (unlikely since she's never taken that leap yet), will be reborn, and keep his bending (or grow it back, so to speak)

it would in fact be interesting to know if the concept of reincarnation is true for people other than the Avatar.. the difference being that the Avatar gets in touch with his past lives and other people don't. maybe the benders of today are reincarnations of benders of the past. in that case, good luck to Amon trying to stamp it out every future generation

[BRC]

Not being effective on infectious disease wouldn't be a real bar, we have effectively zero methods of actual wound repair so there it would be in demand.

Waterbending was able to help de-brainwash Jet (at least a little), so it's clearly got some capabilities beyond simply closing wounds.
Dosn't mean it could fight and kill viruses or diseases (I suppose it would make it easier to treat wounds cleanly, thus reducing the risk of Infection).

At one point when Toph's feet were burned, Katara implied that she couldn't fully heal them because too much time had passed since the Injury was inflicted. So apparently that is at least some limitation. Still, I could see Waterbending EMT's being incredibly effective. Think about it. They can help fight fires (While healing burn victims), non-lethally break up fights/subdue violent criminals (While healing people who have been injured), ect.

[John Cribati]

And we're not even (or maybe just barely) considering the ramifications of a bender who actually studies something. Earthbender studies architecture, Maps out a house in a week to a week and a half, Builds it in two days.