Sometimes, even I find myself hidebound by dogma, trapped in the boring mindset of an adult. That’s why I find it fascinating (and necessary) to experience stuff with my kid, who doesn’t have the same sort of baggage that I do. Our recent watching of ‘Jem’ together has given me a new perspective on a show that I never really gave a chance back in the 80’s, and half the fun of sharing a show like Power Rangers is in her reaction to it. This evening, the child offered me a deal: If I would put up a cool picture of the Holograms, she would give me a super-awesome Question Of The Day. I told her I’d have to hear the question first, and she once again completely tweaked my melon with her query…
Her MS-QOTD (pronounced, “misquoted”) is as follows: If you could have ANY super-power in the world, but only for ONE WEEK, what would it be and why?
19 Comments
Hmmm, This is a tough one. How about transmutation? I could go up to the upper peninsula of Michigan. Buy the mineral rights on a bunch of land that had gold at one point but isn’t there now. Then create good gold deposits. Then get start mining. I might have to make some costume jewelry into real gold, silver, whatever in order to fund the mine. I could make a lot without destabilizing the economy. This could work for other elements too. Copper, Silver, etc.
That’s a surprisingly tough question. Please congratulate your daughter on crafting this introspective exercise.
I think they key question comes down to “Do I want to use this power for selfless or selfish purposes?”
If I was to go the selfless path, I believe I’d want a healing touch. The amount of good I could perform to the terminally ill would be completely worth it.
If I chose to be selfish, I’d want the badly defined Kryptonian power set. I want to be able to propel myself into space and directly behold and grasp the majesty of the universe.
This is an awesome question!
:D As you can see I went right for selfish.
I actually put a lot of thought into this…I would pick Forge from the X-Men. I would spend the week inventing prototypes and drawing plans for things I could build when the power lapsed. I guess if I cobbled together plans for a cold fusion reactor or some sort of sustainable energy source, some medical equipment, and a way to terraform land, the week would be well spent…giving me just enough time to re-invent one of those special pans Pizza Hunt used to make those awesome Priazzos back in the 80s….
Something that allows me to be in all the places I need to be as well as being able to see and hear what’s happening somewhere else. Not exactly being able to “be” in two or more places at the time, but be aware of multiple places with my physical body in only one place and fully operative.
Is there anyone who has that power? Has that power a name?
Omnipotent awareness?
Clairvoyance
That is not to be confused with anomalous cognition (“seeing the future”). Clairvoyance would be the ability to perceive someplace other than what the present location of your physical senses would allow.
I’d want to be invisible for a week.
Spy on a bunch of people and then, once I’m visible again, call them out on the stuff I’d seen. Or to know what people really think about me, or just to see what people do when they think no one is watching.
This question was outrageous. Truly, Truly outrageous ;-)
Future sight. If it’s going away at the end of the week, I can use my week of superness to better map out the rest of my unpowered life. :) (And I could help people if I wanted to, or be selfish about it if I wanted to. Or a mix of both! Yayyy for variable moods!)
No-rules use of a Green Lantern ring. Why no rules? To bypass the “personal gain” rule and selfishly use it to both “fix” myself (clear up all my health problems as well as restore my hearing to that of a normal human, something it hasn’t been since I was 4) and to sorta “download” a bit more knowledge than I currently have. The second selfish reason also ties into what else I would do with the ring’s powers, which is to set up not only an advanced communications system but also to build a series of semi self-sufficient habitats on the moon and Mars (and possibly a couple other planets) to help jump-start the human race’s expansion outward in the galaxy. That way we still have to develop the tech to get there reasonably, we’ll just have a nice place to stay when someone finally arrives.
The sad thing is I’ve actually had this plan in my head for years (I have WAY too much free time to think about weird stuff on my frequent hospital visits).
Wow! All the posters really put a lot of thought into this.
I was just going to say ‘Flying!”
But after all that brain work, I better come up with something more elaborate. Like flying while investment banking or something. How’s that?
Flying while investment banking in my new favorite power set :)
You could join the Legion and be Buy Lo Sell High Lad :)
I’m going to be THAT guy and ask for the power to stop time.
That way the week doesn’t ever have to end.
Plus I could make a mint from picking pockets and burgling houses.
I would take the Reed Richards level super genius route and invent and register all kinds of patents for amusement, profit, and the betterment of mankind. I would also be working on a way to keep the intellect going full time. When time was up, and if i couldn’t figure out a way to keep my new found brain power, I would be happy with the knowledge that i have given back to the world (and more importantly myself). Also my giant mech would be a great consolation prize >;).
Teleportation. I’d BAMF in and out of some banks and travel the world. Or I’d want mind bullets.
That’s telekinesis, Ryan… But how about the power…
…to MOVE you?
I wonder how these conditions interact with time-traveling powers.
Or various conceptions of omnipotence….
For example, if you adopt theological omnipotent (rather than philosophical omnipotence) you would have “all powers that exist”- minus the power to have the power beyond a week- without running into the nonsense paradoxes of philosophical omnipotence (like creating rocks your power can’t lift). If you adopt philosophical omnipotence, then you would have “all conceivable powers, even if paradoxical” meaning you could, inside the terms of your 1 week, then change the terms to go beyond the week.
Then again, what is a “week”? Who or what defines a week in the face of omnipotence? Under either model what is to stop the omnipotent being from reshaping the entire universe such that an eternity is packed into a week making the restriction irrelevant?
Not that I have any particular interest in omnipotence, but it seems like a lot of the Spoilerites are looking for maximum exploitation of the powers so it raises the question in my mind.
I can’t decide between super-venriloquism and “Split!”