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Study Finds Most Would Become Supervillians If Given Powers
It probably comes as no surprise, but researchers have found that most of us would gladly put on a mask and fight do-gooders if given super powers. From the article: "But power also acts like strong cologne that affects both the wearer and those within smelling distance, Galinsky noted. The person gains an enhanced sense of their importance, and other people may regard them with greater respect as well as extend leniency toward their actions. That combination makes for an easy slide into corruption."
Simply to avoid having to wear tights.
One man's villain is another man's hero.
Murphey's fighting Occam, and we're in the stands.
For the vast majority of people, the most heroic thing they could do if ever presented with Superman-like powers would be to immediately reject them. A real human presented with such powers would likely be a much greater threat to the rest of humanity than a help. Sure, he might start out rescuing cats from trees and people from burning buildings, but how long before he has a mood swing or a temper tantrum? How long before he succumbs to narcissism and the kind of arrogance and paranoia that god-like powers would bring. How long before he comes to resent humanity for not loving him enough, or worshiping him at the level he has come to believe is sufficient?
And all that's not even factoring in the reality that this is a human being with sexual desires, greed, etc. How would this real life Clark Kent react the first time a girl turned him down for a date, or he didn't have money to pay his credit card bill? You can get into some VERY dark territory there.
Again, such a superhero would almost certainly be way more of a threat to humanity than a help. Unless there was an alien invasion or giant meteor strike imminent that he could stop, he would be much more likely to cause us way more harm than good.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
What about those of us who already have powers?
What about those of us who are lazy and tired and just want to be left alone? Can't we just be left alone??
I would use my superpowers to do good things. And if I wouldn't I sure as hell wouldn't announce it before they gave me those powers!
For myself, I would want to be the villain since they tend to be more intelligent. Granted, they time to time do stupid things like killing the hero slowly and explaining all their plans.
It might be fun to say you would be a super villain, but I have a feeling most people aren't sociopaths. To do what it takes to punish people to further your agenda probably isn't in the cards for most people. Sure, you might not be the most stand up guy, given the powers, but you probably wouldn't be blowing up trains and taking school children hostage.
...what I'm pondering?
You can run
But you can't glide
Unicode in Slashdot
I would destroy ACTA, DRM, IP and all the rest monsters. Anyone with me?
Study? Did they grant super powers to a set of people and observe the results? I skimmed TFA and didn't see anything about a study. Just a bunch of reasoning about what would probably happen.
I would become a super-powered dude who fights people who misspell words like 'villain', 'weird', 'too', 'grammar', 'compatibility', etc. That would make me a hero to some and a villain to most of the Internet and the US. Maybe I would call myself The Spell-Checker. Maybe I wouldn't.
He has the power of a god, but deep down, he's still Clark Kent.
Obviously people will abuse power given the chance; but don't the fools know that you are supposed to lie about your motives until you have the power?
And this is why sheep are harmless, wolves go through a brief period of dangerousness before being neutralized by the cops, and wolves in shepherd's are genuinely dangerous.
I don't think a good proportion of us would go that far.
Give me superman-like powers and I'd be trying to drastically change the world, not protect it.
but shouldn't the bat boy be wearing a cape?
When we give people something of economic value they tend to monetize it. You don't need to become an altruistic weirdo or psychopathic criminal. Its just like talent. Some people have all sorts of talents and find a way to monetize them. Good singers try to get recording contracts, clever people go to college, etc. If you gave me super strength I would be performing feats for money. If I had super-smarts I would be cracking the stock market or starting a revolutionary tech company.
This doesn't happen in comics because its boring to read about guys putting on shows or starting business. Most superhero comics are nothing more than a sci-fi version of cops and robbers.
Power corrupts.
Doom is not a villain. Doom is a hero to his people and has done a far better job for them than anybody else. Doom notes that 99% of Latverians report complete satisfaction with the rule of Doom. The 1% remaining is a grammar teacher, but Doom is benevolent and did not have that person executed.
That's what you would start out doing. Are you sure that's where you would finish?
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
For the vast majority of people, the most heroic thing they could do if ever presented with Superman-like powers would be to immediately reject them.
What, and give up my chance to finally avoid all the traffic around here?
A real human presented with such powers would likely be a much greater threat to the rest of humanity than a help.
But, but ... even a mere meek mortal like Mr Magoo?
Sure, he might start out rescuing cats from trees and people from burning buildings
Not if that darn cat was the one who started the fire in that building.
but how long before he has a mood swing or a temper tantrum?
Would you like that in fractions of an hour or would you prefer CPU ticks?
How long before he succumbs to narcissism and the kind of arrogance and paranoia that god-like powers would bring.
Well, probably not long after reading that sentence.
How long before he comes to resent humanity for not loving him enough, or worshiping him at the level he has come to believe is sufficient?
I guess that all depends on how long it takes before they get an appearance on Oprah.
And all that's not even factoring in the reality that this is a human being with sexual desires, greed, etc.
You say that like it's a bad thing.
How would this real life Clark Kent react the first time a girl turned him down for a date
Who's going to turn him down after a quick 'flying lesson'? "I don't want to drop you ... so, your place or mine?"
or he didn't have money to pay his credit card bill?
He's a superhero, not a professional athlete.
Again, such a superhero would almost certainly be way more of a threat to humanity than a help. Unless there was an alien invasion or giant meteor strike imminent that he could stop, he would be much more likely to cause us way more harm than good.
Once the alien invasion starts, or the meteor is spotted on its collision with Earth, it's a little too late to make nice with Superman. Best pay it forward and hope for the best.
Those who are most unwilling to wield power are paradoxically the best suited to wielding it.
Conversely, those who are willing to do what it takes to gain power should not be trusted with it.
:Give me superman-like powers and I'd be trying to drastically change the world, not protect it.
Ever see the movie "Hancock" with Will Smith? Or for that matter, "The Incredibles". Both show how easy it is to fall out of favor when you have superpowers. Another good example is "Team America World Police", and while they weren't superhuman, they had super powerful weapons, and their attempt to "save" Paris from terrorists pretty much sums it up. The problem isn't about "doing good deads", it is about all the collateral damage you cause while doing those very deeds. And the fact that it is pretty hard to apprehend and detain you for that damage.
That said, hell yes I would love superpowers, and yes, I would want to do nothing but good. The problem is the other damage, and resisting the temptation of all the Lois Lane types throwing their bodies at you. You would have super babies all over the planet.
Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
the 'study' is some fiction/fantasy/continued death wish. we all already have (unused) 'super' powers.
fortunately, the creators' newclear power plan(et)/population rescue program/mandate is still on.
see you there? megasloth et al already has a more than sufficient replacement for our endless power needs, butt they have determined that it would not be good for them...., to tell US, as it might interfere with financing the glowbull warmongering crusades, if all of a sudden, we weren't paying by the mile/gallon etc....
'vote' (walk instead of drive, etc...) with (what's left in) your wallet. ignorance is...... dangerous? sanity is.... properly applied military/industrial/political hypenosys/espionage/terrorism? literally killing the opposition?
you have the right to remain silent.
the search continues;
google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=weather+manipulation
google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=bush+cheney+wolfowitz+rumsfeld+wmd+oil+freemason+blair+obama+weather+authors
meanwhile (as it may take a while longer to finish wrecking this place); the corepirate nazi illuminati (remember, (we have been told) we came from monkeys, & 'they' believe they DIDN'T), continues to demand that we learn to live on less/nothing while they continue to consume/waste/destroy immeasurable amounts of stuff/life, & feast on nubile virgins with their self/evile worshipping 'friends'. they're always hunting that patch of red on almost everyones' neck. if they cannot find yours (greed, fear ego etc...) then you can go starve. that's their (slippery/slimy) 'platform' now. see also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisocial_personality_disorder
never a better time to consult with/trust in our creators. the lights are coming up rapidly all over now. see you there?
greed, fear & ego (in any order) are unprecedented evile's primary weapons. those, along with deception & coercion, helps most of us remain (unwittingly?) dependent on its' life0cidal hired goons' agenda. most of our dwindling resources are being squandered on the 'wars', & continuation of the billionerrors stock markup FraUD/pyramid schemes. nobody ever mentions the real long term costs of those debacles in both life & any notion of prosperity for us, or our children. not to mention the abuse of the consciences of those of us who still have one, & the terminal damage to our atmosphere (see also: manufactured 'weather', hot etc...). see you on the other side of it? the lights are coming up all over now. the fairytail is winding down now. let your conscience be your guide. you can be more helpful than you might have imagined. we now have some choices. meanwhile; don't forget to get a little more oxygen on your brain, & look up in the sky from time to time, starting early in the day. there's lots going on up there.
"The current rate of extinction is around 10 to 100 times the usual background level, and has been elevated above the background level since the Pleistocene. The current extinction rate is more rapid than in any other extinction event in earth history, and 50% of species could be extinct by the end of this century. While the role of humans is unclear in the longer-term extinction pattern, it is clear that factors such as deforestation, habitat destruction, hunting, the introduction of non-native species, pollution and climate change have reduced biodiversity profoundly.' (wiki)
"I think the bottom line is, what kind of a world do you want to leave for your children," Andrew Smith, a professor in the Arizona State University School of Life Sciences, said in a telephone interview. "How impoverished we would be if we lost 25 percent of the world's mammals," said Smith, one of more than 100 co-authors of the report. "Within our lifetime hundreds of species could be lost as a result of our own actions, a frightening sign of what is happening to the ecosystems where they live," added Julia Marton-Lefevre, IUCN director general. "We must now set clear targets for the future
.... nah, lets have fun.
Compared with that, why would anyone want to be a good guy?
You can learn a lot about a person if you just take the time to inject them with sodium pentathol
A real human presented with such powers would likely be a much greater threat to the rest of humanity than a help.
But, but ... even a mere meek mortal like Mr Magoo?
If he has Cyclops' eye-blasts, assuredly.
"Now where did I put my glasses?"
A real human presented with such powers would likely be a much greater threat to the rest of humanity than a help. Sure, he might start out rescuing cats from trees and people from burning buildings, but how long before he has a mood swing or a temper tantrum? How long before he succumbs to narcissism and the kind of arrogance and paranoia that god-like powers would bring. How long before he comes to resent humanity for not loving him enough, or worshiping him at the level he has come to believe is sufficient?
For me, about five minutes.
Maybe, but that's not what those studies say. You seem to assume that someone has a conscious choice to be hero or villain and intentionally choose villain.
Most people seem to have that kind of delusion. For them you're either clearly doing good and you know it, or you're aware that pillaging and burning is wrong but you deliberately chose evil. Their world has some people who basically chose to be villains and know they're villains.
You can even look at fictional organizations like SPECTRE (SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion) in otherwise non-parody movies. And it comes easy to swallow that someone would come up with a business plan like, basically, "I know, let's make an organization that's all about placing bombs and extortion, 'cause that market hardly has enough supply to meet the demand." And then a bunch of people would basically go, "yay, I always wanted to be an evil minion! Where do I sign up?"
In reality what these studies show has nothing to do with choosing to wear tights or twirl a moustache and cackle manically. They just show that most people, if given power, or even if role-playing a position of power, find it increasingly easy to rationalize bad behaviour. They're not choosing to be evil, they just rationalize being a complete dick as _good_ or at least excusable.
And not just business decisions. That's the fun part. Sure, you can rationalize evil business decisions via what I call an "argument from capitalism": being evil is good if it makes some investor money. But it extends beyond that.
E.g., in a study people role-playing some executive-level boss with a posh office would find a $100 bill. And most would not just pocket it and forget about it, but actually lie if someone came asking about it. Whereas those role-playing the peons would be less likely to.
Or like in that baker's statistic that folks on the executive level were more likely to take a sandwich without paying for it, than the peons on the cubicle floor.
The illusion that now you're above those pesky peons and their judgments extends not just deciding if to cut costs by dumping radioactive waste in the Mediterranean (actually happened, btw), but even to that kind of stuff. It's not even about fiduciary responsibility to the shareholders or anything, but basically about being a dick. Those in positions of power can rationalize it better and for being more of a dick.
It applies to heroes vs villains only in as much a case can be made that if they suddenly found Plato's ring and could be untraceable whenever they want, most people wouldn't think "yay, now I can do some serious good with this power", but rather "yay, let's steal some money from the bank" or even "yay, now I can take revenge on the boss/ex-gf/whatever".
Granted, as TFA points out, not all people. Some actually go in overdrive with applying higher standards to themselves when given power or an illusion of power. So I guess you'd get some heroes too. Most just start rationalizing more of what they want and now can take and be de facto villains.
But the fun part is that neither would actually consider themselves villains. Someone could be just in the process of leaving with a sack of cash from the bank and just think it's the due that society always owed them, or that they're actually doing a good thing because they might give a tiny portion of that to charity, or really whatever rationalization.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
I think you're too worried. With superpowers, I might be narcissistic but at the same time people generally only care about opinions of their peers. Conquering the world would be like owning one of those ant colonies you observe from the side via glass. Or going into Karate class with a bunch of 5 year olds and kicking butt -- a regular human adult can do that today but how many bother? With time, a real superman would shrug and find a more exciting place and head for an alien planet. People want a challenge.
It would go from Super Man to Apathy Man. Either that, or they become a tyrannical dictator satisfying his urges with sex and bloodshed. But even that would get boring if they can get off-planet, unlike the Saddam Husseins of the world.
And it might be heroic for a person to reject powers, but the entire story of humanity has been the search of greater and greater power to be the top of the food chain. Via more and more advanced weaponry since the club and spear, and now expanded abilities like medicine. Superpowers is nothing more than this search taken to an extreme and getting it quick and dirty. It may be that in 1000 years, a human possessing some of superman's capabilities (albeit aided with machinery) is a commonplace thing.
I think many of us here would go by the Drunk Tank (podcast) explanation of 13 year olds with superpowers: (paraphrased)
"For any given superpower, the question to ask is 'How many steps does it take to translate this ability into seeing naked girls?'"
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
Most people are barely responsible for themselves, as they are right now. Superpowers would simply make things soooo much more interesting, but not different.
Sliding into corruption? What rot. Most of us would run head long into it. I'd for one would be practicing my villainous laugh and strutting around in a black spandex faster than you could say "Superman is a mommy's boy".
Come on, own up, who here would use their powers for good, and who would go find their old high school bully and turn them inside out, or decide that they'd rather not listen to their neighbor playing "hit me baby, one more time" at top volume at 3AM, and actually go hit them?
I'm petty, and temperamental, and there are times when I'd really like to hit somebody and have them go splat. And I'm wagering that many people are the same. "Sliding into corruption" is an understatement. You get powers, you "abuse" them, and you like it. End of story.
Hold on a sec, champ. Just because I have super powers, you *expect* me to get the mangey feline out of the tree, or to extinguish the burning crack house? How about you step up to the plate and demonstrate a little discipline or ingenuity?
If one thing burns my super-bacon, it's the entitlement mentality shared by the lot of you. "Oh, I have done something irresponsible, and now I *demand* that you absolve me of responsibility for my actions." And when I don't? Somehow I become the bad guy.
(If you had gotten you cat declawed, it wouldn't be in the tree, now would it?)
That assumes that he is actually weak: afraid of goverment? afraid of being turned down on date? placing his self value to hands of others?
Sound like a typical comic book nerd :) Yeah, such person should not get to power.
In reality, powerfull being would be asset that goverment will pamper and know better than piss off in any way. And he will know it too.
He will have no shortage of women in bed, and one refusal would be just "whatever, next in line please" because power is sexy, he will never be frustrated in this department.
No shortage of money or anything. Goverment would be smart enough to recognize that you need to have all your needs met because consequences of you being frustrated are not goign to be pretty.
Narcisism is not issue if you are going to get dedicated folowers - hypothetical "superman" would easily spring many cults, fandom and people ready to die for him. All it would that is little showmanship and good PR (given free by goverment that whats you to work for them), and possibly not even that.
Smart society will be able to handle powerfull human if he is still human. Of course, failure to handle him well would be ... most unfortunate. But people were able to handle Kings, Emperors and others just fine as well as those rulers were able to handle their power.
-- Technology for the sake of technology is as pathetic as eschewing technology because it's technology.
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." -John Acton (Baron Acton) This was all figured out 200+ years ago (I'm sure there are far older references to the same idea), but Hollywood came along to give us "hope" in the form of Superman, etc... that is, it came along to confuse us.
...is a 15 second commuting flight to work.
The thought of racing a fighter jet with Superman powers would be kinda fun. The other fun thing would be when governments BS about stuff and they say "Prove it!" and 5 seconds later you return with the proof. *zip zip* "Ok, here's the nuclear warhead I just snagged off your missile you said you didn't have. Nice lead door by the way, E for effort."
I think the biggest problem I'd have is just flying around without a care in the world. My luck I'd be hitting power lines, trees, planes, etc because super powers can't fix clumsy. >_>
~~ Behold the flying cow with a rail gun! ~~
Think about it, Batman has more than one foe he fights against. So does Superman, Spiderman, Wonder Woman and so on. It's nice to know that in real live the ratio of good to bad would be around the same. That insures a great story.
In other words, not well at all.
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
I was thinking about something along these lines just last month. Here is a question for you. Suppose you had the power to stop time for everyone else but not yourself. How could you use this power for your own benefit without doing anything imoral or illegal?
San Francisco Photographers
And in other news, studies confirm that water is, in fact, wet.
More at 11.
The meek may inherit the earth, but the strong shall take the stars.
Power is very corrupting (the more power, the more powerful the temptation to corruption). How many leaders start out as truly noble freedom fighters, believing in democracy and the people; only to end up as oppressive, paranoid dictators after they finally achieve power?
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Hancock went to the middle of cities and stopped car chases.
I think what GP has in mind is more of a Dr Manhattan "War is obsolete, have free energy, I sure hope there's no super-smart guy who can make this into a bomb" kind of change the world.
Consider that the only outcome at the end of both the film and the original graphic novel is indeed "world peace." Either under the guise of mutual self interest in stopping Dr Manhattan / alien race, or an end to world hunger and war brought about by free and abundant energy. Viedt's manipulation of Dr Manhattan, and his underhanded scheme was moot. Hence Dr Manhattan's last line to Viedt in the graphic novel.
In other words, to change the world you need to think big. Hancock failed at that.
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
Sure, he might start out rescuing cats from trees and people from burning buildings, but how long before he has a mood swing or a temper tantrum?
I think you're vastly underestimating how much self-control most people have.
The average person doesn't shake babies, beat their spouse, or steer their car up on to a crowded sidewalk just because they've had a bad day. Even accounting for a degree of entitlement from a sense of power, it just seems like a stretch to assume that anyone with Superman-like powers is going to devolve into a childish sociopath.
The most ethical thing to do when you are presented with power is to reject it. If you did not earn it, you are not prepared for it. And even then you're probably still not prepared.
Have you ever read a comic book before, let alone a movie? Almost every issue you've raised is addressed in some story or another from Superman rejecting his power (the world is promptly asked to kneel before Zod). The first thing Peter Parker does is act for self gain and he sees that his family is promptly met with demise. In the watchman, Dr. Manhattan quickly becomes indifferent, while Ozymandias quickly decides that the ends justify the means. Honestly, I think we already know all of the possibilities if we look at all of the alternate universes humanity has scribed that contain such people. In the end it really comes down to the personality of the person wielding the power.
It's really not so much different from becoming a public official. Do you vote to ban cable competitors from your district in return for Comcast financing your re-election? Well, you believe that the health care initiative you're trying to pass is for the greater good so you have to be there to get it through. So you take the money, but then they ask you to sign ACTA. But think of the children without health care. Some people will stick to their virtues and others will fall into corruption. If my both the study and my analogy are correct, then yes, the slide into corruption is slippery indeed.
I *know* I would lay waste to most of you tools given the powers.
Seriously, you lot think you *don't* deserve a mighty supervillian smackdown? How precious.
This seems spot on. The first thing I would probably do if I had superpowers would be to hunt down and take revenge on those people who have made my life hell since I was young. After that I would either grab a spot of land and tell the authorities that as long as they leave me alone, everyones fine, or just take over the world and finally unite humanity in its struggle against me.
In other words, to change the world you need to think big. Hancock failed at that.
Which made him human, like us. It is easy to say "think big" until you are overburdened with all the people who want cats rescued from trees, and want you to save them from the small stuff. It would seem you would get bogged down with minutia with no time to actually think big. "What good are you as a super hero if you can't even save us from the bank robber that shot two people!" kind of things. I dunno, it is an interesting thought game, but that is about it.
Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
I wouldn't spend my efforts trying to destroy mankind, but I'd probably rob a bank every now and then.
Sweet informative mod.
The study answers one of my favorite questions:
"Do I use my powers for good or for awesome?"
Awesome it is...
I dont think Id go so far as to become a mustache twisting supervillian bent on bank robberies and world domination. But thats not to say i would be a noble protector devoting my life to helping the downtrodden either, necessarily. Barring some emotional scarring like my uncle dying right when I got the powers, there is a high likelyhood that I would just use them for personal gain, monetary success, and whatever (legal) means i could find to capitalize on my powers to support myself and my own private little slice of geek heaven.
And besides, the study justified their statement by saying "The person gains an enhanced sense of their importance, and other people may regard them with greater respect as well as extend leniency toward their actions. That combination makes for an easy slide into corruption." That doesnt need eye lasers or flying, as that rationale applies to any celebrity, no matter what the source of their elevated social status. Are all actors, athletes, singers, high-end businessmen, models, inventors, noted scientists, politicians, and that guy in the you-tube video doomed to (super)villainy? Nope. They are still just people, with the same overall distribution of asshole to saint as any other sampling of humanity.
Common Sense isn't as Common as people think...
This is why the Ruling Ring had to be destroyed in Lord of the Rings. Even Caesar Nero started out as a good guy. Power corrupts and the more power the more corrupt.
I would not accept any superpowers that rendered me so stupid as to forget that there are an infinite number of ways to achieve sexual satisfaction without risking pregnancy.
So what, exactly, is the problem here? I don't get it.
Or, what I got out of The Watchmen, which is, the line between heroism and villainy is really somewhat convoluted towards the extremes. Most super villains I've seen in movies or books seem to, more often than not, believe that what they're doing is for the good of humanity. When you're so exceptional that the ability to challenge you isn't generally present in the population its easy to get full of yourself and think you have all the answers. Its then a pretty short hop to just feeling like everyone who can't understand your vision is either an enemy or just unworthy. Heroes and villains feed off of each other and often times are the only ones who really understand each other. The fact that they take opposing sides has always sort of baffled me, as they would seem to be natural allies, or at least friends.
Even Dr Evil was more sympathetic than Captain Hammer, though. Its not always easy to say who is "good" or "bad"
...to get what you wanted. Anything you wanted would be given to you anyway. You'd be showered with acclaim, access, women, riches, and political power if you were a superhero. If you had the patience of a goldfish, you wouldn't have to go around using your super strength to break into bank vaults. About the only thing I thing you'd have to worry about is those currently in power being intimidated by you and trying to knock you off or extort you to control you.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
You would have super babies all over the planet.
Providing a woman could withstand your shotgun blast to her uterus.
"Lame" - Galaxar
And it doesn't matter if they like it or not.
That is the scary thing isn't it. After reading many of the posts on Slashdot over the years I can say it is pretty likely that I would be one of the first people to start work on a Kryponite gun.
Is there that large of a number of people that really feel they have the wisdom and the right to rule with God like powers?
Now that I think about it using super powers like that to stop oil spills, floods, fires, plane crashes, and all the other seemingly trivial things really is the wisest choice.
You can not "fix society" society must fix it's self. You can fix physical problems people must be educated and convinced.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
I would not be the nice type super hero flying to rescue everybody, that's for sure ! Maybe under LSD ...
I would certainly be a "I just came to kill you because you and/or your action makes me puke" type ...
Funny how most people think of using superpowers for frivolous things like saving people caught in bad situations (certainly noble to do if you happen upon them, but not something to spend your life pursuing). If I had the powers of Superman, I would ask that someone construct a gigantic energy sink, which I would expend some of my unlimited energy into, and sell it at an ultra cheap rate to the whole world. No need to use superpowers for much of anything other than that, as the money flowing in from that would let me do anything I wanted to without use of superpowers (though traveling through the galaxy/universe might be fun). With enough cheap/free energy, you would raise the standard of living of the whole world, and could do so in a manner that does not cause over-dependance on you (ie, much of that energy could go into research on how to generate cheap/free power without having superman charging up a giant ultracapacitor once a day--think automated factories that produce nearly free solar cells from sand using the vast amount of free energy from Superman).
Of course, if you couldn't control your power, and an angry table pounding cracks the Earth in two, then of course you should refuse them, or commit to living out in space.
Mark Waid did a better study of this in "Irredeemable"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irredeemable
You're way more optimistic than me. I've never once seen a politician who "stuck to their virtues" or who acted in any way but in their own self-interest. I've seen a lot of them who were very good at projecting the illusion of being virtuous, but the truth always came out in the end. AFAIC, politicians and CEO's are just a bunch of sociopaths with ties instead of knives.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
I've read a little about psychopaths. From what I recall, in today's society, we have no place for them, but a long time ago, such people would become warriors. Their kings trying to vie for territory would use them as soldiers.
To be honest, I think I'd probably become a super villain for a while. Then grow tired of it and start trying to help people.
Look at Bill Gates. "World's Richest Man" (super power of economic amazing-ness)
At first (and as part of Microsoft) he did all sorts of horrible things (according to the general Slashdot population... all sorts of we hate Bill Gates sentiment on here. Even a photoshopped photo of him as a Borg). Compare to today, the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation has taken on the task of completely eliminating malaria from the world & improving american education.
Bill has teamed up with Warren Buffet and other Bajillionaires to "Pledge to give away the vast majority of their fortunes"
Of course it remains to be seen if their hopes for the follow through is as solid as the words behind it... but the hope is there.
Villian to Superhero.
What about Mark Zuckerberg? $100 Million to Education. Sure, there's a douchebag past ... but signs of hero in the making?
Your phrasing is poor, if they were truly noble to begin with they would resist the corruption from the power. If they don't resist the corruption, then they weren't truly noble.
What you mean is how many freedom fighters that seem to be doing it for the right reasons end up power mad.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
Yes, it comes as no surprise:
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely"
-- Lord Acton, 1887
...bringing you cynical quips since 1998
It's like the old saying goes, "Power corrupts, absolute power is effing awesome".
How long before he succumbs to narcissism and the kind of arrogance and paranoia that god-like powers would bring
Case in point ;)
I'd become evil in an eye blink. Deep within my lair I would tie people to by horrendously over engineered table and unfold my nefarious plots to educate people about how bad their sense of editing, spelling, grammar and story selection are.
"No Mr Samzenpus, I expect you to learn"
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
For the average person, there are consequences for negative actions. For Superman, there are no real consequences. No one is going to take him to jail for beating his wife, he can drive a car down the sidewalk and no one of is going to dare criticize him for it to his face, people will applaud him everywhere he goes (because they know what might happen if they don't), there is no one either willing or capable of threatening him. Of course, he wouldn't start out acting badly. He would start out as a good guy. But the more he becomes used to the fact that he is all-powerful, the more dangerous he becomes. Someone cuts him off in traffic, a boss comes down on him at work, someone doesn't say "thank you" after he saves them--these are the frustrations that will wear at him. The temptation to go beyond the boundaries that have always constrained him as a human will become greater every day, especially since he knows damn well he can do anything he wants.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
If I had mind control, I'd use it to become rich and have tons and tons of women.... I guess that makes me a supervillian but I wouldn't go conquering the world or anything. Just living in a nice house with tons of girlfriends.... And able to do what I want at work...
If I could be any imaginary person with superpowers, I'd be God.
The only way to do this study would be to give someone "super powers". So who did they give these super powers to? Unless you give someone supermans powers you can't test to see if they are a supervillan or not. What they probably tested was how people respond when given things like affluence and political power, and yes those powers do make us evil since those require lies and deception in order to be powerful. Otherwise you just end up with another sparkely boy band. Sure they have influence and "power" but with out lies and deception its worthless.
It's not difficult at all. The robber stealing a few k's from the post office is nothing. Head to Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and all the other places OBLaden is supposed to be hiding, fish the scumbag out and deposit him in the arms of the UN. Next, head over to North Korea and destroy their nuclear program, as nobody that mental should have the capability of destroying an entire country at the push of a button. Once they're fine, use your super-awesome power to take a nuke blast to the face, pronounce nuclear weapons useless and get everyone disarmed. Invest the tech in energy supplies, probably more into fusion research, free energy for everyone, life is great, travel to the moon, colonise the moon, fly to mars, colonise mars, bla bla bla.
Jesus, I can't be the only nerd kid to have thought of this!
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
How many leaders start out as truly noble freedom fighters, believing in democracy and the people; only to end up as oppressive, paranoid dictators after they finally achieve power?
There's a Soviet Russia joke coming on here... How many leaders start out as near dictators, making false promises to the commoners in order to raise an army while knowing full well that they don't plan to hand out aid once they achieve power, only to die and have the history books one hundred years later demagoguing them as good, honest men who only wanted the best for their country? After all, in order to start an army, you usually need the funding and training to do it, and you don't get a whole lot of noble orphans with that kind of experience.
Libertarians somehow believe that private businesses should be stronger than governments but weaker than individuals.
The problem is the other damage, and resisting the temptation of all the Lois Lane types throwing their bodies at you. You would have super babies all over the planet.
Actually, if you were Superman, having sex with Lois Lane would be a very bad experience for her.
Sig this!
"Noble" isn't a quality that you're born with and keep forever. It's a temporary quality that can and does change. There are no born heroes in the real world. There are people that do heroic things, for good reasons, at a given time. Just because a firefighter risks his life to save a bunch of schoolkids doesn't mean he isn't going to be arrested for beating his wife a few years later, nor does that arrest make his heroic action in saving those kids any less noble.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
If you used your superpowers to fight evil, you would probably be called the second-coming of whatever diety is currently worshipped.
That is just wayyy too much pressure for a mere human.
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
Magoo's superpower is that no harm ever befell him. His super weakness was that he never knew!
Maybe, but what fascinates me even more is stuff that's actually not even tied to taking this or that position as part of their job. I can imagine how a politician would think mandatory insurance is right or the opposite is right or really any other nuance or position. That's what they're asked to do. But what I was getting at is that they also start finding it easier to rationalize when they accept a bribe, or accept some vacation at some luxury resort paid by some lobby group and rationalize it as a fact-finding trip, or let company X build them a new mansion in exchange for support, or really whatever. There's a difference between just having some good (if misguided and poorly thought out) intention to try to get through Congress, and being a dick and corrupt. Feeling powerful seems to make it easier to rationalize the latter.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
I assume that you're joking, but I want to tell everybody about my blog.
I have a blog to share my experiences in wearing shorts and hosiery [i.e. pantyhose; tights; nylons; etc.] in public. I'm trying to bring this style into the mainstream man's wardrobe, to test my ability to bring about societal change.
Please take a moment to read through some stuff.
testing out my trending skills
The one big question would be which to trash first, New Jersey or Iran.
What's a supervillian? Is that an enhanced civillian? Or is it a villain with extreme spelling problems?
Just watch traffic at any intersection and you can see many abuses of power.
When did Bill Gates become evil? How about Buffett?
How about Henry Ford? How about Winston Churchill?
Eisenhower?
Lots of human beings gain great power and use it for good and are not corrupted by it.
If anything, our current CULTURE is the issue. I'm not religious but we are developing a culture which celebrates violence and evil.
---
It depends on how many others have super powers and how strong your super powers are.
You can fly 20mph? Is that going to turn you EEEEVVVVIIIILLLL?
Being superman would be corrupting- but being Aquaman, Black Canary, or Reed Richards isn't.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
I disagree.
I think 80% of people are corruptable. But 20% are wired good.
The social experiments to corrupt people get similar results.
Actually I suppose the break down is like
5% wired bad, 75% corruptable, 15% wired good, 5% incorruptable.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
This is exactly what happens to politicians like Bush and Obama, they get power, and they become villains.
I'd choose hero. But better don't give me superpowers, because I'd get hated. I'd change the world order for more fairness and less oppression and not everyone would like this. Would be a bad time for jerks abusing others, since I'd ruin it for them. So basically I'd f*ck everything up in the hope that the world becomes a better place in the end.
You didn't just say noble, you said "truly noble".
I'm sort of fine with the guy starting out noble and then getting corrupt, I'm not fine with him starting out truly noble and then killing people for sport.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
I have to agree. America was extremely lucky with our crop of 100 leaders who were men with base needs, greeds, and soon but who were still incredibly noble and incorruptible by world standards.
Washington had dictatorial power and gave it back on principle.
Then after two terms, he retired for the good of the country even tho he could have been president for life.
Franklin, Jefferson, and others were of a similar character. Even the "bad" ones like Hamilton were good by comparison to so many throughout history.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
Extinguish the burning crack house by beating it out with the mangy feline. That's two problems solved right there.
First off, I need to stress that I'm really not into American comic books. I knew nearly nothing about the Xmen before the movies came out. What I do know today is really only from watching the movies.
Once the background for Magneto was shown, I couldn't think of him as a villian. The line between a hero and villan isn't black and white, but indistinct shades of grey.
Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely
someone had warned Brett Farve sooner!
And given this energy, humanity would then breed right up to it's limit and reduce most to misery again.
We already did that, we should have stopped at a few billion people.
With truly unlimited energy, you start to add more energy to the earth than it can lose into space. That has consequences.
Still nice to have a noble goal. Nothing ever ends, every ending is a new beginning with new consequences that have to be dealt with.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
Good could be saving a cat, creating jobs, robbing banks to give to the poor, etc. Make a large list, and let people place 1 vote. Act on as many of the top things as you can.
Good & Evil are subjective definitions to each individual observer. Hopefully, over a large enough list, with enough voters, we could get a picture of what is good for society not just individuals.
Then, it's still subjective to the scorer..
NVM. we're all evil.
Not to mention the fact that if you're actively trying to be a hero and thwarting criminals, then they are eventually going to start figuring out how to hurt you. And, generally speaking, since you have super powers the easiest way for them to do that is to come after the people you care about. Best case, you'd be able to keep them safe but would be constantly worried, stressed, and high-strung trying to make sure nothing happened to them. Worst case (which would probably happen eventually), you slip up once and someone seriously injures and/or kills them. Then you've got a lifetime (which might be extended with your new powers) of guilt, regret, and anger to just eat away at you and turn you into the villain.
So say you realize this and you decide to 1) not get close to anyone so you never have that weakness, or 2) ignore your powers and never help anyone in need.
1) You're still human deep down, after all, and everyone needs some sort of social interaction to keep from going crazy. So... it's really only a matter of time.
2) This might be the best option to keep you from turning evil (or just straight up insane) down the road, but you'd still have to deal with a lifetime of guilt because you're essentially just letting bad things happen that you know you can stop.
In summary, having super powers just about universally sucks unless you're going to be a villain.
With great power comes great irresponsibility!
----------------------------------- My Other Sig Is Hilarious -----------------------------------
Sure, he might start out rescuing cats from trees and people from burning buildings, but how long before he has a mood swing or a temper tantrum? How long before he succumbs to narcissism and the kind of arrogance and paranoia that god-like powers would bring. How long before he comes to resent humanity for not loving him enough, or worshiping him at the level he has come to believe is sufficient?
And all that's not even factoring in the reality that this is a human being with sexual desires, greed, etc. How would this real life Clark Kent react the first time a girl turned him down for a date, or he didn't have money to pay his credit card bill?
Yeah, I saw the Spider Man movies too.
If I could cause people to die without any apparent cause, would that make me a supervillian?
Better think twice driving down my street with your thump-thump music cars or playing loud music after 9pm. Now get the hell off my lawn before I test my super powers on you.
We do have a place for them. It is called upper management. And the conquering warrior kings have become CEO.
Except some are hard to rationalize as "hero" by just about anybody. The decisions in this kind of studies tend to not be about political or economic convictions, but about plain old being a dick outside and beyond one's actual job.
Basically if you're a politician and push for some legislation, well, you may be someone's hero. If you're a politician and take bribes, that's a bit hard to justify as heroic.
If you're a CEO and use sweatshops in China to cut costs, well, you may be someone's hero. Wall Street's for example. If you're a CEO and cook the books to defraud the investors, a la Ken Lay and a few others, that's a bit harder to spin as heroic.
Heck, even the example they use with Plato's (one) ring of invisibility, that's the kind of gist. Most people wouldn't use it to, say, kill some mafia boss who's untouchable by the police. (Which is arguably immoral, but more than one comic book hero passed for a hero with exactly that kind of vigilante approach.) Most people would just go steal all they want, stalk their ex, play some cruel prank on that guy or gal they hate, and stuff like that. I doubt that those can be argued to be someone else's hero.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
Funny, this quote was just at the bottom of some pages yesterday:
Power corrupts. Absolute power is kind of neat. -- John Lehman, Secretary of the Navy, 1981-1987
I guess you could call it a 'pre-dupe'.
Never shake hands with a man you meet in a fertility clinic.
No no no... wanting to take over the world is a newbie mistake. If the world is your private garden, then next thing you know, you're responsible for everything from unemployment to the last leaking faucet. You'll want all the fun and no responsibility. You'll want to RENT the world ;)
(Credit for that idea goes to the Evil Inc comic, but I'm too lazy to find that strip.)
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
Here's my thing. How much of myself am I supposed to give if I am
1. the only super hero ever.
2. a member of a small super hero population
3. a member of a large super hero population.
What I mean is, even if you are a super hero, are we to allways give 100% and not take care of ourselves?
I want to do what I can to help mankind, but I just don't know how I can spend more than a few hrs a day doing it (with occasional long days for meteors & allien invasion), especially when I still have to work a regular job to pay my bills.
I'm not taking endorsements, I don't think it's ethical. I'd like to have other hobbies and a vacation on occasion.
How much is your data worth? Back it up now.
I mean, it really depends on what kind of super power people are given. Like Meg in family guy was given the super power of growing long nails instantly, all they can do is to scratch people.
Ewww! TMI!
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
Nah, I'd just become the benevolent dictator of the world. Then the galaxy. Then the universe. Then the multiverse.
Benevolent in my own eyes of course.
While we're at it, I'd make the argument that the 5% of "incorruptible" are just as bad as those on the other end of the spectrum. There's a strong component of anti-authoritarianism and inflexibility built into that mindset which might be great and all from some kind of absolutist moral standpoint, but is really disastrous in a leader or anyone who has to achieve goals bu working with and convincing other people.
Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
From TFS: "The person gains an enhanced sense of their importance, and other people may regard them with greater respect as well as extend leniency toward their actions."
It reminds me of something my sociology professor told us back in college: You are what you perceive others to perceive you to be.
A superman that takes money and things from the rich and give to the poor.
he is a hero in the poor people's eyes...
he is the ultimate villain in the rich eyes...
Flip the sides... A superhero that fights against all the homosexuals and other undesirables...
The radical Christan right holds them up as heroes....
So what is the definition of hero and villain? From my point of view, the definition is pretty darn vague..
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
I would go further and destroy all DMVs as well.
Yes! We call those individuals enron officers, congress, house and senate members. For Uber criminals and masterminds we call them Leaders.
Ah, I see you've chosen to go with the No Real Scotsman fallacy today.
Protecting the people they love is why superheros wear masks, or at least glasses.
That's still not a perfect solution though. Glasses only work if everyone you know is an idiot or a reporter. Otherwise, they'll catch on.
A mask works better, but then you have to endure years of people pointing and laughing at your dorky mask, and you'll eventually crack and become a supervillain anyway.
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
The question was probably was not phrased as if you AND EVERYONE ELSE could have superpowers, would you be a villain or a hero? This notion is similar to the following question: "If you knew everyone was carrying a firearm concealed, would you be a good citizen or an armed robber?"
I guess if everyone had 'super' powers, then there would be nothing super about them. So the situation breaks down into just a few categories:
1. Immoral Ideologue - How many people are amoral and/or greedy enough to abuse their powers if they matched everyone else's? This would require some kind of fervent ideological belief or insanity. Thankfully there are seemingly few of this type of people.
2. Immoral Opportunist - How many people are opportunists but not brave enough or ambitious enough to carry out the supervillain role unless they had superpowers - powers which exceeded those of the common person?
3. Moral Sympathizer - How many people put up with injustice because they feel they are not empowered to change the situation?
4. Moral Ideologue - The counterpart to the Immoral Ideologue - someone who will take an active role in ensuring justice and equality. What is dangerous about this is that their zeal may cause them to make judgements that are ill informed or have unintended consequences.
No, stupid. You get enough energy and you start colonizing the stars.
Take your disproven Malthusian crap and stick it up your ass. You don't know better than everyone else. Compared to the aggregate of individual choices made by everyone, each individual person is just plain stupid, which is why central planning can never work.
If you have enough energy, you can grow an infinite amount of food with grow lamps. You don't even need the sun anymore. Energy is the ONLY limit to life. The amount of energy that exists is practically unlimited. We need only develop the technology to exploit it. That is what Malthus failed to understand when he called for forced abortions and "human downsizing" to prevent a "mass starvation" that never came.
As long as I don't have to keep a musical blog of my evil doings...
In other words.. you're saying you think a majority of the population are latent psychopaths, ready to strike if given the opportunity in the form of power, or the perception of physical power and would attempt to force other people to comply with their will.... what a horrible thing to say about civilized, intelligent beings.
Intelligent beings who have gone past the need for monarchies and developed democratic societies where individuals in power or authority, for example, congressman, the police, the president, corporate CEOs, are not narcissistic, arrogant, or paranoid, nor do they resent humanity for not 'loving them enough' or worshipping them.
Posing the idea someone suddenly given superpowers would most likely automatically become the ultimate criminal seems like a huge insult to humans everywhere....
... this is the principle behind business schools.
Have gnu, will travel.
What I'd probably do is act to protect people from their own government (police) which kill & beat innocent citizens every single day via their unconstitutional raids & just general ineptitude.
Why not overthrow the government with your newly found super powers, and create a better and more just government? Why in the words of Dr. Horrible, 'treat the symtom'? Take a page from Dune, and become a benevolent tyrant. Don't bandy about chasing around a few corrupt cops.
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
Bill Gates
Steve Jobs
Larry Page and Sergey Brin
Mark Zuckerberg
et al.
Yeah, but is it the cat's fault? Doesn't he deserve your help?
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It would be "Study Finds Most Would Become Supervillians If Given Balls/Spine"
That's basically the problem, most people don't have the balls to do anything, good OR bad.
The average person in certain limited geographic places, maybe. The average person is the world? Yes, yes they do. Especially men, if statistics are anything to go by.
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No, I'm arguing that the test for 'true nobility' needs to account for the subjects entire lifetime.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
In the JLA Earth-2 graphic novel, the Justice League has "evil" counterparts in a parallel universe. Called the "Crime Syndicate of Amerika", they are almost identical to, but the complete moral opposite of our Justice League. Lex Luthor is the sole "hero" of that world. In that universe, evil literally is good, while good is evil. Their Luthor fights a losing, but never-ending battle against the forces of evil, just as our Lex is destined to lose in a "good" universe. Crime, greed and corruption are lauded while heroism is a dirty word over there.
Their Luthor successfully crosses over to our universe and temporarily recruits our Justice League. Their attempts to "set the world right", (from our point of view) is ultimately rejected by their society. The mission ended in apparent failure. That is of course, from our perspective.
You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.
http://cltracker.net -- powerful craigslist multi-city search
In other words, to change the world you need to think big. Hancock failed at that.
Which made him human, like us. It is easy to say "think big" until you are overburdened with all the people who want cats rescued from trees, and want you to save them from the small stuff. ...
Kind of like being an IT support guy. You start with grand visions of documenting the entire network, getting all software installed properly and up to date and so on. You end up bitter, cynical and overworked from answering too many calls from people who accidentally pressed the Num Lock key, while your bosses have no idea what needs to be done so they assume you have nothing to do.
My super ability is to be able to read the minds of earthworms. I think I'm in no danger of super-villainy.
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
So it would give me a headache and make me feel nauseous? Phew! Lucky I'm powerless! But seriously, the phrase 'power corrupts' has been around for a long time. What is new here? We knew this already, right?
http://www.acetonestudio.com
Go in a sandbox game, turn on god mode. I don't think you'll be helping old ladies across the street. Personally, when I have a massive amount of power in a game I'm pretty much a dick unless there's the incentive of more power. Black and White 2 for instance, I'm always Good aligned until the end of a map, then I just don't care and start chucking people around I rule the map bitches. You can see this in everyday life too, people with quite a lot of power being pretty close to what one would define as supervillainish.
iburnaga.blogspot.com
Superman - Has a day job
Batman - Has a day job
Super villan - no day job
There's an issue going unaddressed here: the idea of a "superhero" is based upon the idea of a "hero," and that is an explicitly aristocratic and anti-egalitarian idea.
The classic hero is a legendary figure who is also supposed to be a group's ancestor, and aristocrats are traditionally direct descendants of heroes. Take the heroes in the Iliad and Odyssey, for example: they are explicitly aristocrats, the ancestors of aristocratic lineages, and they are specially connected to gods and have abilities that set them beyond ordinary people.
The egalitarian ideal posits that people don't vary that much in ability. Not, of course, that everyone is actually equal in ability, but that people don't vary so much that one person should be absolutely elevated over another. When one person has significantly more power than another, it's a morally perilous situation; the person with more power is expected to express humility and restraint.
For every Einstein, there are hundreds of thousands of graduate students who understand Einstein's theories, millions of college students who understand them in outline, and countless high school students who have a cursory understanding of energy-matter equivalence and the twin paradox. Shakespeare had many contemporaries, scarcely known now except by students of drama and literary history, who wrote plays with similar themes and styles. While there are differences in abilities, we tend to oversimplify history and exaggerate those differences.
The egalitarian ideal is based upon the defeat of the aristocratic ideal -- superhero stories, like a lot of fantasy fiction, include aristocratic ideals trying to slip back in.
Stories about "superheroes" have premises that make for ongoing internal and external conflicts: how can you reconcile egalitarian ideals with the existence of individuals with extraordinary power? Thus, the general insistence on secret identities, Superman's discipline of self-restraint, Spiderman's ethical agonizing, the X-Men's struggles with democracy and its subversion. What doesn't seem to be acknowledged is that the egalitarian ideal has a fundamental premise that (super)heroes don't really exist. Consequently, taking the superhero stories literally, the struggles of "good" superheroes to maintain ideals that are premised upon their non-existence fundamentally don't make sense. They only make sense as storytelling because the "good" superheroes keep struggling to support our reality, not their own.
So, yes, if someone is asked to imagine being a superhero, they're imagining themselves as figures that are presumed not to exist, in a real world context -- they're imagining themselves as beings that, by existing, break established social rules. Thus, the choice is between villainy, and a hidden aristocracy -- the latter not actually making much sense. But, imagining a world in which superheroes actually exist, in a self-consistent way, means imagining a world in which aristocratic ideals are valid -- which immediately strikes most people as loathsome.
I would say convoluted toward the middle, with some extremes. The characters varied and were shown with various character traits and flaws. Some were basically heroic, others dubiously so, others not at all as long as the ends justified the means. Avoiding spoilers, Rorschach is interesting in that he is morally the "good" character, as he is unwilling to sway from his morals at the end, but his methods aren't necessarily good (he is essentially a film noir detective character). The villain had good intentions but his solution to the problem is anti-heroic. Other characters were willing to look the other way in the end, even though they had intended to find and stop the villain.
The Comedian from that one always reminds me of the spoof on him though.
Just like most if not all of you, I've dreamt of what I'd do if I were given some sort of incredible powers, powers at least great enough to keep from being taken down by modern police/military means. Essentially powers to step above the law. I have a few different ways I would handle it, but none of them would be inherently "evil". However, I think most of my intents would be "against the law", by the word of the law. And again, that depend a LOT on what country you're in too. I would probably do many things that would land me in jail in the US, but get me lauded as a hero in another country. I would gather physical evidence against any corporation or government official that was doing something to intentionally line his own pockets while harming the greater public in order to bring them to court... but we all know that using superpowers to do that would probably get said evidence thrown out along with the case, and would get me wanted for invasion of privacy and trespass, at least. And eventually I would wind up having to hide and take matters into my own hands, such as harming, if not outright killing, those "bad people". Very Batman-ish, I know, but that is exactly what I would do with such powers. Does this make me a super villian? I think so, technically, by the definition of the word... but how many people would secretly call me a hero?
See what I mean? Most of my "if I had the power" fantasies run in such directions. Never have I considered using it to harm other people, and no one can possibly convince me that I could/would. And I'm sure I can't be alone there.
Will you use your powers for good, or for awesome?
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Even "endless" energy doesn't break the speed of light. Even with "endless energy", only a few stars are within reach within centuries.
If you have enough energy, you turn the earth into a brightly radiating cinder. You can't grow without limits.
We've already reached a point where we are all having to sacrifice quality of life for each new human crammed onto the planet.
We are killing the soil, the ocean, reducing the quality and taste of food, restricting access to vacation areas, raising the price of real, high quality objects to insane levels.
Throughout history, nothing bad ever happened to civilizations who pushed their environment to the brittle edge ... oh wait, it did, repeatedly.
The next major war, the largest number of people will die from just in time systems failures, not from combat.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
I'm pretty sure I'd end up in that gray zone that a villain like Magneto occupies. Yeah he's done some pretty terrible things, but his motives for seeking ever greater power are based on protecting his people so he's not all bad. I don't think it would be worth the effort though to try and actively govern the whole world as a super tyrant though. Too easy to get bogged down in the minutia of ruling a personal empire, I think it would much easier and more effective to let the world govern itself most of the time and just come out of your lair from time to time to eliminate problems.
If I suddenly woke up with super powers tomorrow I'd start tackling big, pet issues right away. I'd apply my own very effective regulation on the financial sector, remove the most toxic personalities from the US political and media scene, curb pollution and green house gas emissions in a variety of industries, stop mountain top removal mining and clear cut logging. My preferred method would be just gather up the people responsible for all these evils and hurl them into space or drop them into an active volcano, assuming I had superman like powers where I just go in fast and heavy and get the job done.
After cleaning up the U.S. I'd work on the rest of the West before worrying about external threats. Finally when I thought the most dangerous internal enemies to Western Civilization were effectively removed I'd expand globally and use my super powers to take out nuclear installations and other sources of WMDs and probably work on some regime change. After that the world could go into maintenance mode and I could just watch out for new bugs to pop up before troubleshooting them.
The only problem with this that in my mind I'd be the great savior and protector of the world (with a very strong bias towards the Western world's ideology and way of life) and a good portion of the population would probably be happy with what I was doing, at least the portion that shares my political and moral outlook. Secular, environmentalist, socially liberal people that long for a competent government that bases policy on actual facts and evidence over superstition and cronyism would be delighted in the changes I'd make (even if grousing about my sometimes undemocratic space ejections.) However religious fundamentalists and other conservative people around the world would view me as a super villain. Also the people I flung into space would probably see me as a villain.
Just like Magneto sees himself as the hero and protector all mutants in the X-Men movies. I think most people would end up like that, a hero of sorts to their own constituency but a villain to others.
"Listen: We are here on Earth to fart around. Don't let anybody tell you any different!" - Kurt Vonnegut
So your super power is destroying ideas/concepts?
The Japanese figured this shit out in the 80s.
How does it feel to be a liar with pants constantly on fire?
I used the Watchmen as one example, but not the only one. For instance, take a look even at Beowulf (not the cluster), who may or may not be heroic. There are definitely moments where he and other characters, in order to prove how awesome they are, take exaggerated risks and put everyone else in danger. Oh, but hey, they fixed it in the end, so what does it matter that it was dude's fault that the dragon was out in the first place?
It's the only reason I suffered through the 1st, 5th and 6th seasons of smallville.
Though, (I can't believe I'm admitting it) I actually liked seasons 1-4 :)
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corrupts absolutely
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Right now, the corporations have some kind of human rights.....so why not also kill them, just like a regular human being???
Well, nothing villainous. I mean, sure, first by necessity I'd have to knock over a few big banks, like some wall street banks, to get some funding to set up my secret bunkers. Then there's advanced stealth transportation needs...have to jack that from some military bases... And of course I would need a large brainwashed army of cyborg hot women.....then a million or so normal henchmen...I mean well paid loyal employees, heh heh heh, err ummm...Then, well, a wardrobe and some normal stuff so I can "pass" for non super during the day. And some normal mansions...and yachts and "normal" jetliners....have to do some money laundering there for that....but nothing villainous.... ;)
I'm curious how that makes you anything BUT evil.
Women are people too.
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If I had a super power, could I control it? Could I use it within the bounds of the law?
I can't even stop my self from speeding w/ a fastish car how could I stop myself from taking what I want.
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Getting involved in a war would be even more of a thorny mess for superheroes. Whose side do you believe in a war? Governments lie all the time, and use propaganda to deceive their people. Taking sides means picking a truth to believe in, and often you'll find out later you picked the wrong one. In one decade you're helping Saddam and Osama Bin Laden, the next you're fighting against them. At one point you're fighting against the Indonesian government because Eisenhower tells you they're godless commies out to threaten the world, a few years later you find out that was just a bunch of CIA horseshit and you were actually fighting the good guys.
There was an interesting take on this in a short story I read many years ago. Übermensch! by Kim Newman tells the story of an alternate history Superman whose rocket landed in 1920's Germany instead of Kansas. It's a harsh new look at the Man of Steel and how easily our environment can influence who we are, who we become, and what we decide is right or wrong.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
I'd just try to live under the radar and have a simple life. Think more the protagonist in Next than Dr. Manhattan.
Most people wielding power eventually turn into corrupt bastards. If you set-out to be a corrupt bastard right from the get-go, you save a lot of wasted time.
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Miracleman/Marvelman by Alan Moore
Supreme Power by JMS
Black Summer by Warren Ellis
I suppose there's a reason why they refer to Superman as a "boy scout". Anything less will become...messy.
Not to mention the fact that "incorruptible" can be a horrid thing if your moral ideology is flawed at its heart. There are many religious zealots and die-hard terrorists who are incorruptible. Most of us certainly wouldn't look on it as a good thing if one of them got superpowers. Many a noble hero has valiantly faced death for causes that were horrific at their core.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
I'm saying that humans are simply not equipped to be gods. That kind of power could warp even the best of us. It's way too dangerous to ever be handled safely by such a flawed race.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
How did the cat get up there?
And, no, he doesn't DESERVE anything from me or anyone else. If I do help, I deserve at least his gratitude.
Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
And I for one welcome your benevolent and wise leadership, your majesty.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Head to Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and all the other places OBLaden is supposed to be hiding,
What if the superhero is a Muslim? Or Atheist? Or Communist?
Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
Reminds me of the OOOOLD Johnny Carson skit, where Superman jumps into bed with his new wife, turns the light off for 1 second, then back on smoking a cigarette. Then she says "Wow, you really ARE faster than a speeding bullet!". Classic. :)
Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
I would think the "pro"s of eliminating all the golfers would far outweigh the "con"s.
There is no right to feel safe thru security vaudeville at the expense of everyone's freedom, privacy and tax money.
I didn't mean they weren't people. Just like instead of conquering the whole world, I'd only enslave like a dozen people :-P It's all in perspective!!! I'm a super villian but not of the Lex Luthor class.....
:-P Basically like the Oracle Larry there, in fact maybe he has these powers....
Anyway just a thought LOL the point is to be a villian
The mental image that statement conjures perfectly reflects your username.
Thank you. The "cat is entitled to my assistance" mentality is the reason I stopped using my super-powers to help people. They were completely ungrateful, and I found that it just created a dependency situation where everyone work-shifted or blame-shifted everything onto me. When I refused to help, they branded me "villian." So be it. At least the headaches don't happen as often as they used to.
It's been a while since I caused any mayhem. If it weren't so damned labor intensive, I might consider it.
You're right, and what's scary is that the same applies to everyone, not just superheroes. Just look at politics.
Stopping disasters may seem noble, but is it really? There are always unintended side effects of every action. A superhuman has the ability to cause super side effects.
That said, hell yes I would love superpowers, and yes, I would want to do nothing but good. The problem is the other damage, and resisting the temptation of all the Lois Lane types throwing their bodies at you. You would have super babies all over the planet.
Or not!
You will not drink with us, but you would taste our steel? - Walter Matthau, The Pirates
...of perfectly usable workforce that owes a debt to society.
Since most disasters I am speaking of are man made I would say that isn't a big worry.
The bigest concern would be dependence. People not trying to save themselves because you will do it for them.
Stopping a hurricane would probably be risky. Stoping a dam from breaking or delaying it long enough for people to get away would be safe.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
I just read this book in its entirety in the space of about 36 hours, and it addresses just this (problem?) situation. Excellent read. Extremely basic synopsis: Lack of structured rites of passage for modern adolescent/child males results in immature adult males.
Dr. Moore goes into a little more detail.
Only if that tabloid thing with Rorschach's journal doesn't sucesfully expose him.
Thank you for using that word so I don't have to.
New Frontiersman is a small, local, right-wing rag staffed by two people. A paranoid right-winger and a proverbial fool.
Also, Rorschach was not really a kind of person anyone sane would listen to or take seriously.
Him mailing his journal to New Frontiersman is kinda as if your local homeless "crazy person" would mail his/her findings on who killed Kennedy to his/her favorite fanzine.
Never forget that Watchmen is a critique of the entire genre.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
Psychopaths make poor soldiers. They often kill the wrong people. Much better are highly moral patriotic citizens who truly believe that they are defending their home and country.
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
and resisting the temptation of all the Lois Lane types throwing their bodies at you. You would have super babies all over the planet.
That's what super condoms are for!
"Be particularly skeptical when presented with evidence confirming what you already believe." -
Who needs to be in favor when you have superpowers?
Resisting? Why? It's a tough job, thankless pretty much like techsupport, so at least enjoy the perks.
That, and disclose the dark dealings of the international diplomacy. It will likely turn out that there was no war in recent history that was not started because of a lie.
God from the machine.
If given powers most would think & act in terms of priorities and not what is right or wrong.
I'd like to buy homeland for our 10 million people. http://twitter.com/mahadiga
God doesn't have a religion.
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
Newsflash!
Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
And drollishly. Power corrupts but we need the electricity. See man fortune .
Or the human impulse for eros and thanatos. Life, self destruction.
These human condition insights have been available for millenia; where's the (new) beef?
You would have super babies all over the planet.
Providing a woman could withstand your shotgun blast to her uterus.
Oblig. smbc: http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1363
Ignore the haters, Eugene. I think you're great :)
Thanks for your support. :^) I appreciate it. There tons of trolls on Slashdot, but there are a lot of great gems, as well.
testing out my trending skills
Larry is even worse than a supervillain. He's an aspiring lich who steals others' souls with his cold touch and will save his spirit in a redundant phylactery.
He was apparently born in the Bronx so I might need to run very quickly should he return to perform his lichdom rites. I'd rather run headlong into a hundred zombies than live a mile from the dungeon of an undead billionaire that can teleport into my house!
You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
I am sure it has nothing to do with the fact that with the strength to open up bank vault doors and speed to dodge bullets,
that most would not take that as the selling feature...to join the dark side.
Personally (I'm a male BTW), I think the sheerer stuff looks terrible on a man. I'm not a huge fan of it on women either, but I think they can pull it off much better than a man. The heavier, opaque tights (50 denier and up, 70-100 is the best) I think are much better for men. It's solidly opaque so it hides leg hair, and they're much more durable too. Men don't want something that gets a hole or tear in it on the first day they wear it, requiring them to throw it away after only one use. Heavier tights can easily last dozens of wearings or more. They're also much warmer.
"A 20-year-old may go to the locker rooms and look through the walls," Rosenberg said. "I don't know that a 50-year-old would."
Be seeing you...
I mostly agree. I think that both can pull it off, but women are more suited to wearing the sheer stuff. The opaque stuff is more suited to the way that we live and the way that we look at ourselves.
testing out my trending skills
No need for super powers, sadly there is plenty of those around.
I didn't even read your post right, so no worries. But your response was FUNNY AS HELL, thanks!
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