system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[A:TLA/LoK] With technology progressing, how do you think the role benders in society changes?

In A:TLA, bending is used a lot as a martial art and also just in every day life of benders (Iroh heating his tea, Toph using it for sight, etc).  Benders were also seen as the powerhouses of society.  If you could bend, nonbenders wouldn't mess with you.  In LoK, to me it seemed like it was used less as a martial art (in the traditional sense) and more of just a tool (police metalbending) and a source of entertainment (pro-bending).  More advanced technology also helped level the playing field between benders and nonbenders.  As technology progresses even more in the bending universe, with the eventual invention of many of the weapons and machines we have in our world, how do you think the role of bending in society changes?

I think it'd still be largely used as part of a way of life.  Benders are going to apply their abilities to their everyday lives.  But I think that bending would be used less in battle with the invention of guns, tanks, etc, and if it is used in battle, it's in very specialized units to accomplish a specific task.  Also, bending may also be considered inferior to things such as guns, and people may not be as threatened by them.  I also think some people would practice the traditional martial arts bending as a hobby, similar to how many people practice tradition martial arts today.
gpt
Far from it, an elite squad of benders would absolutely rip into enemies during covert actions.

Air, Fire, and Water benders provide a nearly limitless source of energy. Air nomads would have massive wind farms around their temple homes. Waterbenders could direct rivers and other sources to power Hydroelectric dams. And we've already seen how Fire benders are used to power entire cities.

On top of that the entire environment is at the will of benders. Earth benders can level land for building, move massive objects out of the way for roads during landslides or construction, or instantly dig deep mines and have metal benders extract ore from stone.

Most benders will take on civil and mechanical engineering roles and allow the Avatar world to completely bypass the era we are in on harmful fossil fuel usage and energy shortages.