Most would become supervillains if given superpowers, study says.

Hehe. Interesting article.

If I ever acquired a decent level of superpowers, while materialism is always fun, and I have no problem with fascism as long as I'd be making the rules, I'd actually set out to make the world a better place. The problem would be those that disagreed with my methods.

good luck D.B.B.

I'm thinking most people would be neither hero nor villain but would simply seek to profit from their powers without necessarily breaking the law.

#1. flawed conclusion...

"power corrupts" but not always! No sir, it never corrupts. If you can remove something from the equation and get the same result then it has nothing to do with the results. Power enhances ones ability to enact their already corrupt ways.

#2. Stupid study. According to most theists if it weren't for a god telling them killing is bad they'd go kill someone, but most theists that become atheists become more moral according to all studies I've seen so...


if we combine the two it's actually inverse. If you gave powers to most people they'd generally be "heroes" but most people would also take advantage of their powers in ways that we would find illegal but not huge crimes... like if a guy had x-ray vision he's likely use his powers for police work, but he'd also use it to look at women through their clothes... Telepathy would likely result in the person helping the police with info, but they'd also likely use it for getting brownie points with people and manipulating them

Oh what the hell I'll help GG out.

Assuming you are a legally authorized hero, like you said you would want to be previously in the thread, you should have the ability to contact police dispatch. Grab a coin designate heads and tails, flip it, then let dispatch know your going after 1, and give them the location of the other while making your way to unlucky winner of the coin flip. Odds are there will be a police car near enough. As soon as you finish dealing with the first 1 then go assist with the other.

The point of the situation described is to make it impossible to do both at the same time. When such a situation exists you do your best and hope for the best. Thats all any reasonable person can ask of you.

By the way a slippery slope arguement assumes that the slippery slope exists. You just want GG to fall of her Moral Mountain. She is not going to do that. She'll simply refuse to acknowledge your arguement. Also your arguement assumes a perfect situation in an imperfect world. In no real situation are you going to be exactly equadistant to two seperate crimes, occuring at the same rate at the same time. The variables involved are just too unpredictable. I'm not saying that difficult decisions don't exist. They do.

Also on the arguement of Morality versus Selfishness being the natural thing your both going to the extremes. It is natural to be a morally good person because your success in life depends on others opinion of you. Therefore being a morally good person is inherently partially selfish. Its why you don't see the guy who stole from his previous employer getting hired for most positions. I said partially because a morally good person might throw themselves into danger to save a child from an oncoming vehicle or some other good action that is done with little or no time to think about the consequences.

Oh and because its funny.

Superheroes have always seemed reactionary to me. Only some of the superheroes' alter egos actually acted first towards some goal. It is always save the planet from this threat or save citizen from this mugger and not solve some of the world problems by figuring out how they generate so much energy. For example, analyzing Superman for a few years could give humanity a starship since he is almost invulnerable, can move faster than light depending on which Superman, and has an amazing efficient solar energy system.

Something to consider is how does Superpowers affect people based on location and circumstance. Would a starving child in a war-torn country of Africa be more likely to try to help his people or would he ditch them and head to somewhere where he can obtain fame and fortune.

The problem with the coin flip solution, to me, is that it robs the problem of any morality, good or bad. You aren't deciding anything, you are letting "fate" do it. You aren't thinking at all, right or wrong. Is Two-Face more moral than Batman's other villains because he let's a coin decide whether or not to rob a bank?

I believe, in real life, one will reach an equilibrium (as Crim says): when faced with the difficult decisions, one will try for the best outcome, not necessarily the most moral (killing a hostage taker, for example). The one that would be somewhat self-preserving. The slippery slope would be more prevalent in the real world, because when you are the sole person responsible for action (as a superpowered person would be. They would be above the police in that they would be able to do more and hence, be relied upon more heavily), there is no one there to really regulate you if your worldview starts to change in terms of what is "acceptable" when a difficult choice emerges.

Now, if there was a cadre of supers, it would be different. But one lone supers, by himself or herself, who could do more than the police, who would they answer to? And how would the reality of actual having to face those difficulties day in and day out color their experiences? Would they make the same decisions later in their career that they would in the beginning? I think most people would try to start off like Superman and be a Boy Scout, but end up more like Batman, while still good and basically moral, does some questionable things.

I imagine there would be more factors to whether or not people become a villain or not than simply receiving super powers.

- What powers do you have? Just how high do they go? If someone gets amped up to above captain america physical stats I'd picture them wanting be professional atheletes rather than super villains. I see someone with far greater power to say super man or captain marvel range more likely to abuse it or stick their nose into the world's affairs. I'd definitely want to know my limits before I tried doing anything dangerous.

- Is there anyone else with super powers? Like in no ordinary family, the bank robber who could teleport said "Did you think you were the only one?" That's a really good question to ask yourself. Just because you haven't seen anyone else with powers, doesn't mean there isn't. Who knows if there's been some long running secret order of metas running the world and you publicly showing off is rocking the boat. I'd proceed with caution before slapping on tights and assuming I'm truly the only one with powers. Also does the world's governments know about you? There's alot worse things they can do besides force you to register. (like use your family as leverage or disect you in a lab.)

- Does your power set shut off or are you always in super mode?(or the origin of your powers for that matter.) I picture people who power down like Green Lanterns keep a better sense of what it's like to be human still than people who'd always be powered up like Wonder woman. Power begins to alienate you from others. Just like people really high up in a company don't understand the considerations of what it takes to do a job at the lowest level since they haven't done it recently or ever; people with powers would take for granted just how fragile humans are and all their needs to survive.

- Do you have an exploitable weakness? Is it something common? I think this would be a major factor to how people might react. If you are powerful as martian manhunter, but are weak to fire you might not want to get too uppity with the rest of the world since they can still take you out with something fairly common. There's a way to keep you on your leash. If you are like Black Adam and immune to anything the rest of the planet can do to you, the only thing stopping you from being evil is you. There is no deterence to keep you honest.

- Does your power extend your lifespan? The urges of someone who's been around the block a bunch of times might not be the same as someone who's been newly minted as a super being. Even if your initial schemes and plans were all petty may be you grow out of it. Or may be you were once noble but become sickened with humanity after years of watching us.


For me taking all that into consideration I'd be neither a villain or a hero. I figure the world's lasted this long without a super version of me getting involved it doesn't need me now. At very least doesn't need to know I exist. The first step to destroying something is to know it exists. You can then understand it if you can study it. Then you can control it and break it if you know how it works.

So I'd prefer to eliminate that option by making it appear I've done nothing at all.(if somehow I am discovered I disappear for awhile. I try remain an urban legend at best.) Just like in the episode of futurama where Bender is god to a small race and meets a computer who might be the one above all, (or superman returns people were crying for him to save then.) why allow for people to become dependent on you. If they don't know you're helping them you can give as little or as much as needed without upsetting the balance of the world.

I can think of tons of ways make money without robbing anyone with super powers. Anyone who's first plan is to do that simply doesn't think big enough. Besides the fact super powers remove much of the things you'd need money for anyways.

I've probably thought about this entirely too much for something that's very unlikely to happen to anyone at this current time. I think if it did I'd be well prepared.

The powers I am given would certainly be a factor in my choice.
Invisible Beam of Death, no Saving Throw, always fatal? Vigilante, give or take.

Healing Touch? Yeah, I'm heading straight to grandma's house to fix that Pagett's Disease and then off to the nearest NICU (Neo-Natal Intensive Care) to heal the babies. Because at that age, I know dang well that they haven't done anything to deserve thier condition.

Hello Kira.

lol

this is because the survey was conducted in America.

the america dream is basically compete to win in any way possible to get as much as you can, so of course everyoen is going to abuse the hell out of super powers

Depends on my powers, but over all, yes I would lean towards self gratification. COuld I be a villain? In the strictest interpetation, yes. I do believe in using one's powers to change the world for their own benefit, as well as the worlds benefit, and no, both are not the same.

It's a very Tyrant-style solution

I think most people would party like a rock star.

Of course people would be evil - How else could heroes fill out a season of villain-of-the-week-episodes!?