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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Think it is Chamber your are talking about!|
Originally Posted by Durakken
Very few powers are ones that I wouldn't want or be able to use to my advantage in some way...so really the only power i wouldn't want are those i couldn't control in some way or would harm me upon their first usage... like that one x-man power who had some sort of power that came out of his mouth and it blew his mouth away upon it's first usage,
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...and i agree with the others who have stated that they would want to be able to blend in on the city streets...however if i had enough pwr it probably wouldnt bother me...really what are they goona do? Laugh at me...might be an issue...for them
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I've thought a lot about this.|
Originally Posted by Forbin_Project
Did you even stop to consider what would happen if people stopped dying?
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Originally Posted by Forbin_Project
1. Overcrowding. Exactly where are all the people supposed to live if everyone is immortal?
[2, 3...] |
If you want to be ageless? You would be required by law to be sterile. Want a kid? Cool, but in exchange, you must age to death to make a place for this new individual.
"Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking of them."
The major problem I see with that initiative is I believe few, if any, people would elect to have children. While it may seem to one considering this proposition that having a child, or children, and going on to die in your natural time is the better alternative, it would be much different for a person actually in that situation, being presented with the option: live potentially eternally (not really true, but for practical purposes), or have children and die in a few decades. It would be extremely hard to bite that bullet.
I'd prefer a society that enforces birth controls. In any society that respects human rights, the choice to bring another human into the world affects everyone around you, not just you. If you fail to provide for them we all have to, through orphanages, welfare, healthcare, foster family programs, jails (in the case of criminal activity), and so on. So yes, it is the public's business whether you have children. Therefore the public is within its rights to have some say on your reproduction. So birth controls are not, in and of themselves, unthinkable. And in my suggested society, they would simply match the allowed births to the deaths that occur on average during a year. Even if you don't die of age there's still accidents, murders, suicides, diseases, and what have you. Couples who want to have children would file for license to propogate, and it'd go on from there.
I'm sure this sounds repugnant to a lot of us, but I think it's really our only option in a world where people have indefinite lifespans.
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That's certainly another way to handle it and there are many other ways as well.|
Originally Posted by SMerc
And in my suggested society, they would simply match the allowed births to the deaths that occur on average during a year. Even if you don't die of age there's still accidents, murders, suicides, diseases, and what have you. Couples who want to have children would file for license to propogate, and it'd go on from there.
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For example, if the birth rate were to plummet so low that we weren't keeping up the numbers to make up for attrition from accidents, murders and such, people could be paid to have kids, it could become something like jury duty.
But personally, I think our species could stand a little negative population growth, as long as it was voluntary of course, for a century or so--get ourselves down below a billion for example.
Probably won't happen though.
"Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking of them."
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I wish to never grow older than I am right now, and never die. Would that be considered two wishes?|
Originally Posted by Hero_of_Steel
What would be the correct way to word the wish?
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Of course any wish you could think of could be twisted by a being powerful enough to grant wishes in the first place.
(Sometimes, I wish there could be a Dev thumbs up button for quality posts, because you pretty much nailed it.) -- Ghost Falcon
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The you phrase it would likely get you turned into an indestructible statue. Any such wish would be twisted by a genie. |
Originally Posted by mousedroid
I wish to never grow older than I am right now, and never die. Would that be considered two wishes?
Of course any wish you could think of could be twisted by a being powerful enough to grant wishes in the first place. |
What you need to do is collect the 7 dragonballs......
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Unless there really are some immortals out there, everyone already has this power. I think the average duration of the self-destruct process is around 75 years or so. You probably won't ever see it CoH because the animation work would be a bear.
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Originally Posted by NeonPower
Spontaneous uncontrolable non-fiery self destruction.
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I think when listing terrible super powers I have to go with Cody Impossible from the Venture Brothers. His skin burst painfully into flames on contact with oxygen.
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Assuming a future where technology mostly eliminated death, then there could be technological answers to these other concerns too. People might significantly lower their birthrates if they were immortal and, with terraforming and eventually the creation of ringworlds or Dyson spheres, overcrowding would be a non-issue and food production would be no problem either. Cold fusion and similar technologies would make energy abundant and pollution non-existent.|
Originally Posted by Forbin_Project
Did you even stop to consider what would happen if people stopped dying?
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.... |
Of course, that's based on lots of assumptions regarding complimentary technologies all being available at the same time. A "cure" for aging is probably a lot more realistic than the engineering resources to actually create a Dyson sphere.
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Originally Posted by Manofmanychars
I have a collection of Giant-Size Man-Things, you know.
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Exactly. We'd need a whole set of advances to keep global/racial immortality from being a huge disaster.
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Originally Posted by Glowworm_Nexus
Assuming a future where technology mostly eliminated death, then there could be technological answers to these other concerns too. People might significantly lower their birthrates if they were immortal and, with terraforming and eventually the creation of ringworlds or Dyson spheres, overcrowding would be a non-issue and food production would be no problem either. Cold fusion and similar technologies would make energy abundant and pollution non-existent.
Of course, that's based on lots of assumptions regarding complimentary technologies all being available at the same time. A "cure" for aging is probably a lot more realistic than the engineering resources to actually create a Dyson sphere. |
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Originally Posted by Lastjustice
Very carefully. I'd consult a lawyer before making any wishes with a genie or Calypso from Twisted Metal.
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A lawyer would only want to be able to collect his fee. He would not have your best interests at heart.
There's a Greek legend about this that I'm working on from memory but IIRC it worked along the lines of a man wishing to be immortal and ageing so much that he eventually became a grasshopper, all wizened and brown and chirpy.
Thelonious Monk
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Originally Posted by mousedroid
I wish to never grow older than I am right now, and never die. Would that be considered two wishes?
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"You are frozen in time experiencing this exact moment for eternity"
Thelonious Monk
"I wish to have the form of immortality that I desire at this moment."
The phenomenally cosmic entity could tell exactly what your desire is, and by the law of the wish would have to enact it. My best stab at it without going through it exactingly.
Another idea: If nothing else, make your first wish of three "I wish for all my wishes to be enacted in a form consistent with the intent behind them rather than the words used to express that intent." So wishes 2 and 3 have to give you what you actually mean, not the genie's own interpretation of what you say.
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Sure he/she would if I turn into stone or an animal they don't get paid. If I can successfully wish for everything I want they get their cut. (power cosmic baby..I don't need 3 wishes then hehe. ) | A lawyer would only want to be able to collect his fee. He would not have your best interests at heart. |
As far as powers go that I wouldn't want to have. I wouldn't want super hearing to the degree super man has. Even if loud sounds didn't hurt your ears like Daredevil, just constantly hearing everything going on around you would drive you nuts. Every bad thing that takes place is always in ear shot, and you can't do much about it.
Cosmic awareness without all rest of power cosmic is in the same boat.I think it ultimately would be much more rewarding once you learned to control it since unlike super hearing it has an off and on switch. Just all the info coming in could easily crash your brain as it's all too much. It's not on the absolutely no side like super hearing but it's a risky power to have since not everyone can handle it. (it caused Genis to snap.)
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Originally Posted by Forbin_Project
Exactly. We'd need a whole set of advances to keep global/racial immortality from being a huge disaster.
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But here's the thing, there are researchers working on cures to aging and rejuvenation now so at some point we are going to confront this. Personally, I think we'll figure out ways to deal with it. And having said that, I want it. I want to be rejuvenated and ageless. I hope I live to see it.
But this is taking us far afield.
"Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking of them."
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i don't see what's wrong with not being able to die but healing at normal speed. as long as the healing includes the complete regeneration of any and all body parts that might be cut off, destroyed, ect. this power would be fine by me. sure it's not as good as invulnerability or super fast healing, but the not-being-able-to-die part is better then what i have now. |
Originally Posted by Balanced
The only thing that might be worse is Sidekick Girl from the eponymous webcomic. It's not established that she's immortal, but she's apparently unkillable. No invulnerability, no fast healing, She just doesn't die, and eventually she gets better. Slowly and painfully.
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Matter Eater Lad: The power to eat anything.|
Originally Posted by Castle
Wildfire -- "Hi, I'm a being made of superheated plasma contained in an environment suit." (Legion of Super Heroes)
Mr. Immortal -- He can die, over and over again, in horrific ways. Basically, any power that made it impossible to have a nice, relaxing easy weekend. |
"We kinda have this indestructible object and we need you to dispose of it."
Same issue where Wildfire flipped his visor open and released ALL of his energy in one blast, trying to stop an unstoppable demon that had already defeated Superboy. The demon was created by the device in question, and Wildfire was the last line of defense while Braniac and Matter Eater Lad were inside.
Eating the device drove Matter Eater Lad insane.
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Maybe for the first few thousand years.
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Originally Posted by Daystar_NA
i don't see what's wrong with not being able to die but healing at normal speed. as long as the healing includes the complete regeneration of any and all body parts that might be cut off, destroyed, ect. this power would be fine by me. sure it's not as good as invulnerability or super fast healing, but the not-being-able-to-die part is better then what i have now.
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Man I could get rich off of you. Keep you in a chemically induced coma and use you to harvest organs and body parts. |
Originally Posted by Daystar_NA
i don't see what's wrong with not being able to die but healing at normal speed. as long as the healing includes the complete regeneration of any and all body parts that might be cut off, destroyed, ect. this power would be fine by me. sure it's not as good as invulnerability or super fast healing, but the not-being-able-to-die part is better then what i have now.
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I was, actually, thinking the same thing.
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Originally Posted by Forbin_Project
Man I could get rich off of you. Keep you in a chemically induced coma and use you to harvest organs and body parts.
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Holy $%^#, my job is a superpower?!?
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Originally Posted by Castle
Basically, any power that made it impossible to have a nice, relaxing easy weekend.
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And then there's Snotman. Well. Before Croyd re-infected him and he got better.
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Originally Posted by Wayfarer
Croyd Crenson who's powers change every time he goes to sleep, more likely to draw a Joker than an Ace, and then there's the constant fear of one day pulling the Black Queen.
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Assuming you could regen completely from any one has to imagine that the coma isn't necessary as it wouldn't increase the process and as long as you can't die you could will yourself through most things if you really wanted to. I mean losing all your internal organs wouldn't really be a bother to someone who is immortal save for the whole being a bit messy thing... I'd personally be up for plenty of experiments and such if I knew the wish covered it to the extent that i wished it to...for example I'd be up for exploratory brain surgery if i knew that any cutting or damage would heal to a pre-op state, I'd cho off arms and such at a whim for people in need. But only if i knew it would grow back. |
Originally Posted by Forbin_Project
Man I could get rich off of you. Keep you in a chemically induced coma and use you to harvest organs and body parts.
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Sure there would be pain or hunger or something like that, but I'd be curious to see what it felt like honestly. The coma itself is worthless if you have someone like me because the regrowth rate isn't helped by the coma and i'm willing so no point ^.^
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