If I had a superpower would I want to fly...or be invisible? That's the question, right? Everyone wants to know if you'd rather fly or be invisible. The safe answer is "fly." Everyone knows that. If you say "invisible," you're a Peeping Tom.
The truth is there's so much more you can do invisible than you can do with the ability to fly. The benefits of flying aren't really that great. You can get to school a bit faster and you'll never have to take a taxi...so what? With invisibility you'd be able to go anywhere, do anything. Nobody could ever keep you out of anything. But that implies stealing things or listening in on people or doing something clandestine. That's the inherent stigma of invisibility.
Honestly, I'd rather be invisible.
Here are a few other superpowers I'd enjoy having:
- No need to sleep: I'd love to not have to sleep, unless I wanted to, when I wanted to. Along with this I'd also never be tired and could also dream at will, awake or asleep.
- Total recall: I would like the ability to recall any information I'd ever learned, anything I'd ever experienced, seen or heard at will and as easily as if I were pulling up a file on the computer...and not just with visual, but with all my senses.
- The ability to find things: I would want the ability to find whatever I put my mind to: lost car keys, loose change, missing children--plus an open parking spot close to the movie theater.
- Metabolism control: Think about it...I could sleep for hours at a low metabolism rate, fake dead, etc., while also being able to put give myself super-adrenaline-induced strength and speed. I would also have the added ability to maintain or lose weight at will.
- Ability to read peoples' minds: This one is a bit dicey. It is totally immoral and would also make your life boring. You would never be able to get close to anyone. An alternative power with some of the same effects would be the ability to detect lies.
- Speak any language: This needs no explanation.
- Control time: Same as above.
Some of these powers would have the same benefits. I'm not saying I would want ALL of these powers. One or two would be fine.
Part of this entry stems back to a conversation Dan and I had at dear ole' Davis High. We decided we should design a program called Reality TM. It would entail god-like powers in a Windows format. You'd have drop-down menus and "administrative power" over reality. You could save things, back reality up, copy files (or people), etc. We decided it would be dangerous for both of us to have access to the program because, eventually, one of us would delete the other.
3 comments:
I was watching this crazy-cool Sundance Film Festival movie called "Primer" while I watched this. In it, these two guys invent a time travel machine and then you get to watch what they do with it. It really makes you think, but you would have to see a timeline to be able to make any sense of it past midway in the movie. I stopped trying to figure it out by the end. It touches on some of the morality issues hinted at here. See it, if you have time.
"Primer" was an amazing movie...., and what really impressed me was its success. It goes to show that if your idea, editing, and suspense building tactics are creative enough, you can really make a home movie hit. All they used were cheap digi cam corders!
As for the superpowers, I've heard NPR give the whole invisibility vs. flying debate several times. It annoys me, however, that they always conclude that those who would choose to fly are dishonest. (They really get psychoanalytical on this one.) The truth is, I would really prefer to fly! I've always wanted to. I've always had dreams in which I am flying, and those are the dreams I never want to wake up from. Granted, I would not mind the opportunity to sneak onto global flights, tag along invisibly with various friends and see what they're like when I'm not around, et cetera. Those things are all well and good, but there is NOTHING to compare with flying. I went skydiving once and it was the thrill of my life... Please, O lord of superpowers; grant me the ability to fly!
Shasta
I've got to agree with Shasta: the ability to fly trumps everything else in my superpowers list. This, even though I'd have to agree, it's far from the most practical power. If everything was determined by practicality, I probably wouldn't own a GameBoy or read books for fun. Flying, to me, would just be the most fun.
In fact, maybe a year ago, I was hiking back down a trail, and the desire to fly, just to cruise through the canyon, was nearly overwhelming. I even jumped in the air, willing myself to fly. It didn't work, though.
Cool ideas for powers, though.
P.S. I was musing about Reality (tm) just the other day! Weird.
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