One of the things I really liked about Avatar was that, in addition to not being anti-technology, it stood firm against easy temptations to go down the anti-science route as well.
So many films propagate the false stereotypes that scientists are cold-hearted, or amoral, or lacking in a sense of wonder, or somehow fundamentally limited in their understanding of reality due to what promoters of various types of woo often characterize as "scientism". In particular, Hollywood generally seems obsessed with old dualist notions of reality, portraying the evidence-based materialism of science as a hindrance rather than as the intellectual shovel with which we dug our way out of the dark ages.
So it was a nice surprise to see that in this film, for a change, the scientists were the "good guys". The scientists' experiments with Pandoran biology allowed them to understand the true significance of Eywa and all the other trees in the forest, and this knowledge drove them to fight against Eywa's destruction. Science didn't make Grace unfeeling and amoral; anthropology caused her to fall in love with the Na'vi people, and ultimately die to protect them.
Among Grace's last words, on seeing that she had been brought to Eywa, was that she wanted to "collect some samples". But this wasn't some pot shot against "scientism". It was a warm reflection upon Grace's character, showing that for her, the sense of awe she felt of the universe was best expressed through and addressed by science.
Whether it was conscious or not, I really have to commend the attitudes toward science conveyed by Avatar. Perhaps if more films were willing to show science and scientists in a similarly positive light we could begin to see a turnaround in attitudes among society at large.