Which superhuman's powers would you NOT want?
By
Ang_Rui_Shen,
Posted on: 2010-09-04 04:46 in Comic and Hero-Villain Culture
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You could turn your creations over to people who do understand this sort of thing (after patenting it, which might prove difficult, but there are workarounds) and have them explain it to you. Reverse engineering is several magnitudes easier than engineering. A real world Forge could do a lot to advance the human race, even if he doesn't understand what he's doing during the creative process.
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Originally Posted by synthozoic
Okay here is a weird one: I would not like to have Forge's power. Why? Because he makes all these wonderful gadgets but has no real understanding how he does it. I'd really, really, really hate that. At least Mr. Fantastic understands the stuff he makes and can share his knowledge with others.
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Okay, good point, with one slight caution: Provided I don't bang together something so advanced that it takes us centuries to reverse engineer it. I'd be dead before others could figure it out and explain it to me.|
Originally Posted by SMerc
You could turn your creations over to people who do understand this sort of thing (after patenting it, which might prove difficult, but there are workarounds) and have them explain it to you. Reverse engineering is several magnitudes easier than engineering. A real world Forge could do a lot to advance the human race, even if he doesn't understand what he's doing during the creative process.
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But mostly I agree with your point.
I'll put out my own disagreement with the people who are unhappy with immortality. Real immortality, where nothing can kill you, is pretty much impossible. But aging could be cured one day and if it is, I want to be ageless and rejuvenated.
I don't think that will be bad because, if it's medical technology, eventually everyone will be able to afford it and most of my peers and friends will be ageless too. And if I get bored of life, I can snuff it. Voluntary and accidental death are still possible. I really don't see a down side to being ageless and rejuvenated given my criteria above.
Another superpower I view as more a curse than a blessing, being the Hulk. No real off switch and the power keeps on changing as mutations manifest.
"Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking of them."
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I'm not sure why more time would make you crazy... unless your personality has REALLY changed over the past 20-30 years |
Originally Posted by Scarlet Shocker
I see what you're saying there but the biggest problem with immortality is that as finite beings we are not designed to cope with it. People change in attitude and thought quite dramatically over their three score and ten, and I notice in myself as I get to the half-century how differently I perceive the world compared to 20 or 30 years ago. Multiply that by a factor of even a couple of hundred and you'd have one messed up person
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My worldview has remained rather constant over my lifetime. I'd imagine it would continue to do so, as just being able to see what happens next is one of my main interests in life. Heck, even the outliving friends/loved ones wouldn't bother me. I already am doing that. Its sad, but I think the possibility of watching your entire family tree move forward down the eons would be awesome. Immortality would be a dream come true for me. Of course, I'd like an "exit" button. Don't want to just be sitting on a dead earth for billions of years. I'd imagine you'd forget a LOT. Just thinking of my own life, so many details are gone. I don't recall any of my grade school teachers for instance. Only a few Junior high and high school ones. And I spent a LOT of time with those people. Of course, my great grandmother who died at 101 could recall many events from her life with clarity right up to the end. Be interesting to see what at age 1000 or more you'd remember of the pre 100 years.
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Invent a device that figures out what your last device was and maps out how it works and why.
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Originally Posted by synthozoic
Okay, good point, with one slight caution: Provided I don't bang together something so advanced that it takes us centuries to reverse engineer it. I'd be dead before others could figure it out and explain it to me.
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"I do so love taking a nice, well thought out character and putting them through hell. It's like tossing a Faberge Egg onto the stage during a Gallagher concert." - me
@Palador / @Rabid Unicorn
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I can just imagine all the needlessly specialized devices people would make if they lacked imagination. Granted all the offensive and scary things they would make if they did have it and no morales is worse heh.
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Originally Posted by Rabid_Metroid
Invent a device that figures out what your last device was and maps out how it works and why.
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In the first Wild Cards book there was an article about how ace inventors would create devices that didn't actually work by the laws of physics as we understood them: their powers made them work.|
Originally Posted by Rabid_Metroid
Invent a device that figures out what your last device was and maps out how it works and why.
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Imagine the kind of wealth you could earn if you had a "mad science" power where you could invent devices that no one else on Earth could duplicate. Mass production has its place, but "one of a kinds" could be neat too.
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Unless I'm immortal and doubly gifted with a photographic memory as well, I can't imagine I would remember much at the 1,000 year mark of my life either. I could see myself being immortal and just sitting around on my couch watching TV...what a waste.
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Originally Posted by mrfurious76
I'd imagine you'd forget a LOT. Just thinking of my own life, so many details are gone. I don't recall any of my grade school teachers for instance. Only a few Junior high and high school ones. And I spent a LOT of time with those people. Of course, my great grandmother who died at 101 could recall many events from her life with clarity right up to the end. Be interesting to see what at age 1000 or more you'd remember of the pre 100 years.
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The worst from that series would have to be the powers of the Burning Woman. Who burned, and burned, and burned without dying, until someone mercy killed her.|
Originally Posted by Local_Man
Wild Cards!! (For those of you who don't know, George R. R. Martin has edited a long running series of books (with various authors) about an alien virus that gave people super powers. 90% of the people who get the virus die -- called drawing the Black Queen. Of the remaining 10%, 9% become disfigured -- they are called Jokers. The last 1% get super powers -- they are Aces unless the power is minor. Then they are called Deuces.)
I don't know . . . the one I would least want to be is Snotman, or maybe Bloat. |
Of powers that don't harm you directly, one bad one would be the power of a character from Spider Robinson Callahan's Place story Fivesight; "just a little bit better than foresight." He can see future disasters coming, but can't do anything to stop them. He basically has two choices; do nothing and feel horribly guilty, or show up with what he needs to help with the aftermath, in which case people start suspecting that he's somehow arranging all those accidents to look heroic.
Arc #40529 : The Furies of the Earth
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You mean the devices we call scientists and engineers? Heck, we already have those! I don't have invent those, just raise a few.|
Originally Posted by Rabid_Metroid
Invent a device that figures out what your last device was and maps out how it works and why.
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If we could speed up the process of science and reverse engineering something then we'd be getting somewhere but, I don't know if that's possible.
Is it possible to speed up science and engineering? That's really a deep question.
"Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking of them."
I would have to say The Hulk. Mainly for the fact that I turn into an indestructible, uncontrollable wild man and rampage through out the town whenever I get mad. That would suck when playing video games.
"SERIOUSLY?? How on earth do I beat this stupid boss!? What kind of insane person designed this?!?! I... hate.... *mutates* THIS GAME!!! HULK SMASH!!!"
And about a million other situations where I would get mad. Pretty much wrecks your day. Quite literally.
Arc ID: 348998 - Becoming a villain
Arc ID: 373341 - To Save a Hero
Got Inf?
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I think people would adapt just fine. I perceive the world more or less the same after 43 years myself. The biggest change is that as your body changes, people treat you different. The other is that aging impacts your body chemistry, which impacts your brain and therefore your personality. If you didn't age and your metabolism and body stayed younger, you wouldn't get stodgy. |
Originally Posted by Scarlet Shocker
I see what you're saying there but the biggest problem with immortality is that as finite beings we are not designed to cope with it. People change in attitude and thought quite dramatically over their three score and ten, and I notice in myself as I get to the half-century how differently I perceive the world compared to 20 or 30 years ago. Multiply that by a factor of even a couple of hundred and you'd have one messed up person
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But who can say for sure either way?
Lewis
Random AT Generation!
"I remember... the Alamo." -- Pee-wee Herman
"Oh don't worry. I always leave things to the last moment." -- The Doctor
"Telescopes are time machines." -- Carl Sagan
Number one on my list would be... Positron's powers.
Every power he has to 'save the day' causes irreparable damage to organic life. Blast a villain to save some civilian? Just gave them both cancer. Granted, Primal Earth and Praetorian Earth probably have some sophisticated medical technology that can remove the harmful side effects from being in proximity to said radiation powers... But it's still an omnipresent worry that whatever you do to save the day causes long lasting, physical harm.
Next on the list: Tony Stark (AKA, Iron Man)
I could say that Tony's powers are being a massive jerk to everyone... But i'll focus on his intelligence. Every single brilliant machine he makes is a target for someone to steal, patent it all you want... Super villains have a thing they do called being 'illegal'. You whip out a new armor system, it's a target to be stolen and turned into a mass production weapon. Make a new miracle drug that cures every known bacterial or viral infection? Stolen. New metal alloy that deflects lasers? Stolen. Even in recent outings (Iron Man: Armored Adventures and the Iron Man movies) people seem to gravitate toward stealing his technology... Whether it be the armor itself, or the arc reactor technology.
From the Wildcards series: Snotman, a guy who oozes snot from his pores and is covered in it from head to toe.
You can keep that one.
"I never said thank you." - Lt. Gordon
"And you'll never have to." - the Dark Knight
American Maid......stillettos? ouch
As much as I love the My Way parody on him, I think being the Juggernaut would be the worst. If he cannot be stopped once he starts moving, what happens when he trips?
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It's only by choice. If he wills to go in that direction then he does due to his reality warping powers.(whether it's thru air or space.) Not that someone can't use his momentum against him as World War Hulk sidesteps him and causes him to fly forward at high speed when he shoves him from behind. (if you're unstoppable...Then keep going!) Cain can stop but due to the timing of him trying charge the hulk and his extreme lvl of strength he could use it against him. Cain can stop himself once he realized what happened, but he probably was a good distance away by the time he did.|
Originally Posted by Failure to Sense
As much as I love the My Way parody on him, I think being the Juggernaut would be the worst. If he cannot be stopped once he starts moving, what happens when he trips?
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If he gets sent too far away he can always contact cyttorak to teleport him back. (It's always been implied Cain has the power do more than he does he just doesn't due to his own ignorance and he's lazy.)
Aside from being like 10 feet tall and weighting 900 lbs that's really the only down side to having Juggernaut's powers. I just imagine you accidentally break alot of stuff as the one guy did in the one episode of Xmen the animated series when he stole Cain's powers with the Ruby of Cyttorak.
- Justice
Lastjustice- lvl 50 defender
Leader of Eternal Vigilance.
- Freedom
Lastjudgment - lvl 50 corruptor
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Beware:NERDS ARE THE WORST FANS!!
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Originally Posted by mrfurious76
I'm not sure why more time would make you crazy... unless your personality has REALLY changed over the past 20-30 years
My worldview has remained rather constant over my lifetime. I'd imagine it would continue to do so, as just being able to see what happens next is one of my main interests in life. Heck, even the outliving friends/loved ones wouldn't bother me. I already am doing that. Its sad, but I think the possibility of watching your entire family tree move forward down the eons would be awesome. Immortality would be a dream come true for me. Of course, I'd like an "exit" button. Don't want to just be sitting on a dead earth for billions of years. I'd imagine you'd forget a LOT. Just thinking of my own life, so many details are gone. I don't recall any of my grade school teachers for instance. Only a few Junior high and high school ones. And I spent a LOT of time with those people. Of course, my great grandmother who died at 101 could recall many events from her life with clarity right up to the end. Be interesting to see what at age 1000 or more you'd remember of the pre 100 years. |
Christian Walker... he forgot all his memories from all his "lifetimes" - and stayed the same age physically. But we don't... and as Lewis said below that impacts us. You may be lucky that you feel fairly constant and your world view hasn't changed much but mine has - personality has a huge environmental impact on immortality I imagine.
Of course... we'll never know
Thelonious Monk
If you ever read Mark Millar's "Wanted" (not that awful excuse for a movie based on the comics) there was a character in there who was composed of fecal matter from the worst people in history - Hitler, Ghengis Kahn etc... his name was kind of appropriate but his purpose of existence just seemed to be aimed at revolitng people
Thelonious Monk
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Did you even stop to consider what would happen if people stopped dying?|
Originally Posted by synthozoic
I'll put out my own disagreement with the people who are unhappy with immortality. Real immortality, where nothing can kill you, is pretty much impossible. But aging could be cured one day and if it is, I want to be ageless and rejuvenated.
I don't think that will be bad because, if it's medical technology, eventually everyone will be able to afford it and most of my peers and friends will be ageless too. And if I get bored of life, I can snuff it. Voluntary and accidental death are still possible. I really don't see a down side to being ageless and rejuvenated given my criteria above. |
1. Overcrowding. Exactly where are all the people supposed to live if everyone is immortal?
2. With overcrowding comes diminishing food supplies. As more and more people need places to live the amount of land used for food production will get smaller and smaller. Animals used for livestock will become extinct in the face of ever growing demands to feed a population that never dies except by accident or suicide.
3. Jungles and forests will be decimated to make room for an ever growing population which will result in there being less oxygen produced that is essential to support life.
4. Pollution will constantly get worse just because the need for natural resources will increase to meet the demands from en ever growing population.
5. When the food and fuel resources get to a critical point governments will start fighting wars to grab as much of the stuff for their own people. Or they might institute state run breeding programs. I'm sorry citizen but you need a licence to start a family, and you are only allowed 1 child per household. Governments could also run state euthanasia programs instead of retirement to help reduce overpopulation. Anyone remember Logan's Run? Everyone gets put to death at Carousel when they turn 30.
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I would think an exploding sun would do the job of killing you unless you can regenerate and reintegrate your incinerated and scattered atoms. |
Originally Posted by Shadowclone
I believe there is an X-Men character who's organs are giant leaches that act as his stomach. He can call them out to fight for him. Yeah.
Immortality, it would stink. You can't die, ever. Theres an earthquake and you get buried in the basement of a huge building. How long would you have to stay there till someone found you? Also, the world ends, maybe the sun explodes or something. This leaves you floating through space for eternity. You would see all of your friends and family, everyone you care for, die. |
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Reminds me of when Methos was introduced into the Highlander series. Joe Dawson tells Duncan, "imagine an immortal so old that he doesn't remember his first quickening". Methos I think even stated that some of the centuries of memories tend to blur a bit in his head. |
Originally Posted by CrazyJerseyan
Unless I'm immortal and doubly gifted with a photographic memory as well, I can't imagine I would remember much at the 1,000 year mark of my life either. I could see myself being immortal and just sitting around on my couch watching TV...what a waste.
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But then again, he has all the chronicles and journals he's written over the years to jog his memory.
Methos also once told Duncan that he can easily produce the paperwork to prove that he is a lawyer, a doctor, even an indian medicine man....... just imagine all the knowledge and skills that he would possess.
He's also a great example about how a long lived immortal does become a bit apathetic over some things "civilizations rise and fall, I've seen it many times."
He's also a great example about how a long lived immortal would not likely to be a "good person" for all his years. "Your friend rode with Kronos! Killed and ***** alongside him! He WAS one of the Horsemen!" Methos later tells Duncan "I didn't just kill 100 or 1000, I killed 10,000, and I was good at it! It wasn't for greed or for land it was because I LIKED IT! Do you know which one I was? I was DEATH! HAHAHAHA! That's right, DEATH ON A HORSE! When mother's warned their children of the monster that would get them, that monster was me! I was was the one that kept people awake in terror at night!"
Immortality without agelessness would suck.
-np
I see myself as witty, urbane, highly talented, hugely successful with a keen sense of style. Plus of course my own special brand of modesty.
Virtue: Automatic Lenin | The Pink Guy | Superpowered | Guardia | Guardia Prime | Ultrapowered
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Aye, Stateman and Recluse and the immortals of the Highlander franchise have the Immortality without the aging. Main difference is that Statesman can have kids and the Highlander immortals cannot.
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Originally Posted by NinjaPirate
Immortality without agelessness would suck.
-np |
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Originally Posted by NinjaPirate
Immortality without agelessness would suck.
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I remember a short story involving a genie and a wish that did a twist on that.
Genie: What do you want? Riches, Women, Power? I can even give you immortality.
Man: No! You’ll twist the wish so I keep growing older, but never die. My body will fall apart.
Man: I know how to beat that. I wish for Eternal Youth.
The Genie turns him into a 3 month old infant (Eternally), with full awareness of what has happened to him, but unable to move or speak.
Genie: You have 2 more wishes; you could undo this wish, if only you could still speak.
Another person wished for Agelessness & got turned into a statue.
What would be the correct way to word the wish?
Jackie pretty much can't have sex, and he has one of the easiest to come by weaknesses ever (light). It pretty much only works if you're already kinda badass, like Jackie, before you get the power.
The first step in being sane is to admit that you are insane.