"Normals" gaining superpowers: how would they change in terms of mentality?

[The Weapon]

Re: "Normals" gaining superpowers: how would they change in terms of mentality?

 

It would depend on how they got it and what the person who gets the power thinks of how they got it. Do people think mutants are weird and evil and wrong? Then having a mutation will make them ashamed, afraid etc. If it's seen as a gift of a god they're proud, maybe arrogant, maybe anxious about not using the gift well enough.

[wick]

Re: "Normals" gaining superpowers: how would they change in terms of mentality?

 

Telepathy. Reminds me of the Stephin King story "Dream Catcher" one of the characters can read minds and he is a Psychiatrist. You would think that be able to read minds would make his job easier but it ends up backfiring, becuase their are your true thoughts and then there are what you are what you want to openly admit even to yourself.

 

Regen would be nice. I think a regenerator would be a thrill seeker...hang gliding, climbing mountains etc....All the fun without the risk of death or permanent injury.

[Ragitsu]

Re: "Normals" gaining superpowers: how would they change in terms of mentality?

 

Regen would be nice. I think a regenerator would be a thrill seeker...hang gliding' date=' climbing mountains etc....All the fun without the risk of death or permanent injury.[/quote']

 

Nobody said anything about a lack of pain, though...

[Yansuf]

Re: "Normals" gaining superpowers: how would they change in terms of mentality?

 

Originally Posted by Ragitsu:

1. The ability to shoot lasers from one's eyes.

2. The ability to see through objects (X-Ray vision).

3. The ability to become invisible.

4. The ability to fly under one's own power.

5. The ability to alter luck to their benefit.

6. The ability to read minds.

7. The ability to conjure permanent items that weight up to ten pounds.

8. The ability to regenerate from even mortal wounds and ignore illness.

9. The ability to teleport (closely related to flight, but it differs significantly).

10. The ability to selectively enhance your senses at will: see vast distances, hear ordinarily inaudible sounds, function in the dark as if it were day, track by scent, and so forth.

 

OK, here goes.

1) Not worry about renewing my carry license.

2) Would be useful at work sometimes, but not often. I don't see myself using it much. Yes it can be abused, but why bother?

3) This comes with temptations; easy to abuse and tempting to do so. However I am confident enough in my honor that I wouldn't use it to steal, etc.

Could be useful for LARP. Potentially very useful if I found myself in a dangerous situation involving hostiles, but that hasn't happened to me this millenium, and I don't really expect it to.

4) If some other people had it, it would be very useful; but if I was the only (or first) person with it, I would hide the fact that I could.

5) Well, gambling just got profitable. I would take care to only win moderate amounts though, to prevent undue attention.

6) If controllable, useful in many situations.

7) Depends on what type of items.

8) If this would return me to perfect health, GR8! Would return to SCA fighting and Martial Arts.

9) Same as flight.

10) Neat, would get some use out of it; but probably not much.

[dmjalund]

Re: "Normals" gaining superpowers: how would they change in terms of mentality?

 

2) - you could watch tv from any room in the house

[Black Ops]

Re: "Normals" gaining superpowers: how would they change in terms of mentality?

 

Originally Posted by Ragitsu:

1. The ability to shoot lasers from one's eyes.

2. The ability to see through objects (X-Ray vision).

3. The ability to become invisible.

4. The ability to fly under one's own power.

5. The ability to alter luck to their benefit.

6. The ability to read minds.

7. The ability to conjure permanent items that weight up to ten pounds.

8. The ability to regenerate from even mortal wounds and ignore illness.

9. The ability to teleport (closely related to flight, but it differs significantly).

10. The ability to selectively enhance your senses at will: see vast distances, hear ordinarily inaudible sounds, function in the dark as if it were day, track by scent, and so forth.

 

As some earlier posters said depends on the psychological baggage.

But:

#1 It needs a lot of training/psychological damage to make a person use a deadly power, but who never whished that something was broken or no longer there ?

#2 Is highly likely to be used for mischief, so they might inhibit the sense of morals.

#3 Who did never want to wander into Areas where one was not allowed into ? I think It could quickly lead to theft.

#4 See #3, plus I think the person getting this power is a lot more likely to travel.

#5 Accidents happen sooo quickly....

#6 Dare I say it ? Always knowing what to say ? Being the perfect Sales Person ?

#7 Is badly phrased. Any Object? But do I need to say that the Gold Market might be slightly destabilized afterwards ?

#8 Not much. But it is likely to lower the fear of taking risks.

#9 See #4 + #3

#10 Is likely to have not overtly much impact. (Expect for the Optometrist.)

[Beast]

Re: "Normals" gaining superpowers: how would they change in terms of mentality?

 

Nice Bone structure

 

 

That's one sexy skeleton you got there' date=' miss.[/quote']

[Ragitsu]

Re: "Normals" gaining superpowers: how would they change in terms of mentality?

 

#7 Is badly phrased.

 

Excuse me? No, it is not. There are no stated limits on the items.

[OddHat]

Re: "Normals" gaining superpowers: how would they change in terms of mentality?

 

1. The ability to shoot lasers from one's eyes.

2. The ability to see through objects (X-Ray vision).

3. The ability to become invisible.

4. The ability to fly under one's own power.

5. The ability to alter luck to their benefit.

 

As so many others have said, that depends on the person, how strong the powers really are, and circumstances (including how many other people have powers and if superpowers are a secret or well known). In a game, it also depends on how you see the campaign.

 

From my own POV, assuming "Real World with Secret Powers":

 

1) Unless you're already a killer, you don't change. It's not the fear of getting caught that stops the healthy people from killing, it's a mix of social conditioning and the capacity to feel empathy. Studies by the US Army suggested that only a very low percentage of recruits arived ready to kill, and even after completing basic training only a minority can be relied on to shoot to kill even when under fire. Veterans are a different story. Many men like to posture and claim that they're Stone Cold Killers Barely Held In Check. It's nonsense.

 

2) Most people would engage in lots of Peeping Tom stuff for a while if they could choose which layers to strip away. That stops fast if what you see really is just an X-Ray, unless you have a fetish. Naked people would stop being much of a turn on pretty quickly once you could see them whenever you liked. You might find it pretty tempting to use when playing cards.

 

3) Not that useful for most people. Good for avoiding people you don't like on the street, and you might use it to get into places for free and commit other victimless crimes, but you're not going to start using it to become a jewel thief or perfect killer unless you're already so inclined.

 

4) Saves on airline travel if it's fast enough, great for getting to work, not so good for grocery shopping. Fun. Would probably do wonders for depression, might encourage risk taking behavior, might cause you to be late more often as you over-estimate how useful flying really is in areas where you might be spotted.

 

5) Tons of risk taking behavior begins now that it's no longer risky. Gambling of all sorts, participation in sports where luck plays a role. Could cause interesting problems in situations like addiction, where you could argue that "luck" only looks like it's part of the process when it may be predisposition that determines how vulnerable you are.

[Ian Mackinder]

Re: "Normals" gaining superpowers: how would they change in terms of mentality?

 

4. The ability to fly under one's own power.

 

For some reason, I now keep thinking of Hancock. Birdstrike would be a problem - and you'd REALLY need to watch out for other traffic in most areas. Colliding with a low-flying helicopter or getting slurped up by a jet engine could REALLY ruin your day.

[Ragitsu]

Re: "Normals" gaining superpowers: how would they change in terms of mentality?

 

11. The ability to time travel under one's own power.

12. The ability to foresee the future (Precognition).

13. The ability to view the past (Retrocognition/Psychometry).

14. The ability to summon creatures to do your bidding.

15. The ability to exert far more force than is normal (Super-Strength, which would include straight up damage).

16. The ability to manipulate things from afar (Telekinesis).

[Hermit]

Re: "Normals" gaining superpowers: how would they change in terms of mentality?

 

At lot depends on how much control they had, how 'comic booky' the physics were, etc.

But, speaking for myself

 

1. The ability to shoot lasers from one's eyes.

IF another side effect of this were a cure to my near sightedness, then I'd be delighted right there! The lasers might be used for cutting firewood or some such, and if very fine, I might try to learn to carve or something. Still, I don't see too much use for it, and would hope I never had to defend myself with them. If it doesn't fix my near sightedness, I'm firing blind or frying my glasses.Which would suck

 

2. The ability to see through objects (X-Ray vision).

If it can be varied so I'm not just looking at skeletons, I would hope I'd respect others enough not to invade their privacy. Doesn't mean I wouldn't be tempted. I'd study more about bones and such to get better use out of the ability.

3. The ability to become invisible.

I'd be too worried about getting hit by a car or something to use this one often. I would, however, use it if I ever needed to avoid unwelcome guests etc.

4. The ability to fly under one's own power.

I'd enjoy it a great deal but the most common use? Reaching high shelves and other things. Any other use would depend on how fast I could fly and how tiring it was. If I could somehow survive (in comfort) going over 100 miles per hour, I might become a traveler if I dared. Then again, maybe not. I'm not too far from an airport. Who needs to be sucked into a turbine?

 

5. The ability to alter luck to their benefit.

Oddly, this one would make me nervous on a spiritual level. I'd keep expecting the karmic backlash to kick in. Still, I won't lie. I WOULD try the lottery without any real guilt. I wonder if my friends would ever trust my die rolls again?

 

 

6. The ability to read minds. Yikes. This one might get abused as I gave into temptation, then never used again if I found out something I didn't want to know. Sometimes filters are there for a reason. I'd wrestle with the ethics on this one even for good uses (Is this suspect the real murderer? etc)

 

7. The ability to conjure permanent items that weight up to ten pounds.

Are we talking creation or simply moving things to me? Creation or recreation? Assuming it didn't require my innate knowledge, I'd have a fantastic comic book collection back (Lost some in a fire) . Summoning stuff up? Handy if I lose my cell phone or feel too lazy to get something downstairs.

8. The ability to regenerate from even mortal wounds and ignore illness. I'd love it. It wouldnt make me want to put on a costume, but I'd be bolder than I had been I think.

9. The ability to teleport (closely related to flight, but it differs significantly).

Better than Flight in some ways, and I think I'd prefer it. Assuming it was accurate long distance, I WOULD become a traveler. I'd go to parts of the country or world I'd never been before. Even if it could only be places I'd been before, it would be handy.

10. The ability to selectively enhance your senses at will: see vast distances, hear ordinarily inaudible sounds, function in the dark as if it were day, track by scent, and so forth.

Goodbye glasses!

I'd have to remind myself not to eavesdrop.

Tracking by scent? I might actually offer my services to the cops. I'd be like a helpful bloodhound that could talk

[Asperion]

Re: "Normals" gaining superpowers: how would they change in terms of mentality?

 

11 - This power actually has more against it than it has for it. Since one could go back in time and correct things that they did wrong, they could gain the god-complex where they officially have never made any mistake and been ahead of any favorable trend in any industry or part of society. In addition, money would never be a problem since one could always take what they currently possess and time shift to make that amount grow then repeat until they have the proper amount.

 

12 - Depending on the nature of the vision, this could either be a big headache or the most powerful weapon that one could possess. If a blurry vision of a possible future that one has little control over, then it would be a big headache. If one can see the future at any time clearly, then it will make the most powerful weapon that exists. That is because they would in any possible combat situation see exactly what the opponent(s) will do and develop the proper response before the action is taken. As with #11, money would never be a problem since they could go to any game of chance and know what will come up and gamble in that direction, making extreme amounts of money.

 

13 - Detectives would be the main users of this power since they could look at the scene and see exactly what happened. These people would then have the problem of finding a way to convince others of what they will know - who the guilty party is.

 

14 - The biggest question here is how powerful the summon is. If local creatures only then at most it will be an aid to the summoner. Since most of the time people are in cities, they will only gain city animals (dogs, cats, rats, various small birds) they will be mainly a nuisance to the target. If any real-world creature could be summoned instantly, then the creature that would be of greatest value to the situation would be brought in and they could be a real threat for the target. It would get even worse if any creature from the great depths of human imagination could be summoned.

 

15 - The main use for this would be in occupations and sports that use strength in its more raw form. Such occupations would include police, wrestlers, MMA, fire fighters, among others.

 

16 - Same as #15 except that one could manipulate things from a safe distance.

[Dr. MID-Nite]

Re: "Normals" gaining superpowers: how would they change in terms of mentality?

 

Originally Posted by Ragitsu:

1. The ability to shoot lasers from one's eyes.

2. The ability to see through objects (X-Ray vision).

3. The ability to become invisible.

4. The ability to fly under one's own power.

5. The ability to alter luck to their benefit.

6. The ability to read minds.

7. The ability to conjure permanent items that weight up to ten pounds.

8. The ability to regenerate from even mortal wounds and ignore illness.

9. The ability to teleport (closely related to flight, but it differs significantly).

10. The ability to selectively enhance your senses at will: see vast distances, hear ordinarily inaudible sounds, function in the dark as if it were day, track by scent, and so forth.

11. The ability to time travel under one's own power.

12. The ability to foresee the future (Precognition).

13. The ability to view the past (Retrocognition/Psychometry).

14. The ability to summon creatures to do your bidding.

15. The ability to exert far more force than is normal (Super-Strength, which would include straight up damage).

16. The ability to manipulate things from afar (Telekinesis).

 

Ok...well.....

 

1) The only real uses for this are violent ones. Too tempting to use when you get mad.

2) This power wouldn't change much.

3) The only good uses for this are less than moral...so..odds are good it'd be used for such.

4) This power would be cool...very cool. Practical considerations aside, it'd be difficult to resist using this ability.

5) If this is a subconscious ability, not much i can do about it except enjoy the benefits. If I have to "wield" the Luck...well yeah...this is going to be used to make my life easier...no doubt.

6) I would NOT want this power. Nuff said.

7) Let's face it...this is going to be used to create instant cash or other material goods.

8) I wouldn't be looking for trouble, but yeah...probably a bit more reckless. The immunity to disease is a bonus.

9) Awesome power. I doubt I'd abuse this(no breaking into banks or anything like that), but I'd sure use it...all the time.

10) Interesting. Not sure what I'd use it for that'd be practical, but I'd try it out.

11-13) All of these would be abused to high heaven by me...for sure. I'd screw up the time stream so bad I'd implode reality. LOL

14) Not much practical use for it to me...except to harm others.

15) Superstrength. Hard to resist showing off.

16) I'd love this power. Even if I could only lift what I could physically lift. Very useful, but again...too hard to resist showing off.

[Tasha]

Re: "Normals" gaining superpowers: how would they change in terms of mentality?

 

Originally Posted by Ragitsu:

1. The ability to shoot lasers from one's eyes.

2. The ability to see through objects (X-Ray vision).

3. The ability to become invisible.

4. The ability to fly under one's own power.

5. The ability to alter luck to their benefit.

6. The ability to read minds.

7. The ability to conjure permanent items that weight up to ten pounds.

8. The ability to regenerate from even mortal wounds and ignore illness.

9. The ability to teleport (closely related to flight, but it differs significantly).

10. The ability to selectively enhance your senses at will: see vast distances, hear ordinarily inaudible sounds, function in the dark as if it were day, track by scent, and so forth.

11. The ability to time travel under one's own power.

12. The ability to foresee the future (Precognition).

13. The ability to view the past (Retrocognition/Psychometry).

14. The ability to summon creatures to do your bidding.

15. The ability to exert far more force than is normal (Super-Strength, which would include straight up damage).

16. The ability to manipulate things from afar (Telekinesis).

 

1) Beyond the obvious things about hurting people. I could see using this in both metal working, and woodworking for cutting material. In metalwork it might be possible to use it for welding parts together. So doing the Johnny storm thing about using the ability to work on custom vehicles or for various sculpting. I would be very afraid of hurting someone by accident (or in a pique of temper).

 

2)X-Ray vision would be awesome for all sorts of metalworking (it's how they test for cracks and metal fatigue), also hanging stuff on walls would be great. Probably wouldn't change my life much, but the hidden stuff that I would be able to see (behind walls, inside of cabinets etc). I might to on vacation to a dinosaur bone quarry and see if I could use the vision to find some cool fossils.

 

3) Invisibility. It might be fun at first, but get boring in the long run.

 

4) Flying all around might be fun and It would be easy to get over acrophobia if you really couldn't fall. If it was a form of fast flight I might use it a bunch, but it's a kind of flashy power. Flying INvisible would be the best way to get around

 

5) Lucky all of the time would be interesting until life got boring due to no challenges. I think that this one would lead inevitably to depression and lack of zest for life. Yeah, I would be rich. and have everything that I wanted, but then what would be left to do.

 

6) Reading minds, would also get really old. I don't think that I would really want to know the garbage that goes though other people's mind. Not sure that I would want an unvarnished version of what people thought of me.

 

7) In the long run, this would lead to unhappiness. Also something that one would have to be careful with. the IRS would be very interested in where all of the precious stones and metals were coming from. Also I would be a bit concerned that the summoning of stuff was stealing the items from somewhere/someone.

 

8)Regeneration would be interesting. Esp if it was fast Wolverine style Regen. Yeah stuff would hurt when they happened, but the body would heal quick enough that the pain would fade quickly. Coupled with the brains ability to forget pain, some of my other phobias would probably go away. I would take more chances, feel a bit more invulnerable (like I was 20 again LOL)

 

9)Teleportation. With Xray vision to make sure that I didn't TP in to solid objects. No door would be a locked door. No way to be trapped somewhere I didn't want to be trapped.

 

10) Senses would be fun esp if I could also see microscopically It would enchance the xray vision in so many useful ways. Could also be fun to see stuff with my naked eyes that others need enchancement for. I would love to explore the night sky with super telescopic vision and with other vision modes.

 

11)Time travel. Be very tempting to use this one, but I would be afraid of changing something that would hurt people. (ie Go back in time to Kill Hitler. Sounds good, but does your fix make things worse when his successor is more competent and less crazy. What happens if that successor wins the war?) I wouldn't want to Change time. Too dangerous. No safe way to experiment.

 

12) Precog: Seeing the future would be a very tempting power. Though working ones way though all of the various probabilities to find the best outcome would be as bad as plain time travel.

 

13) Retrocognition: This could be quite fun. Who wouldn't want to go to the places of antiquity and see what they looked like when they were shiny and new. How about being able to study Dinosaurs and describing behaviors, what they ate, what they really looked like (what ones had feathers and what kind of feathers were they, what colors where the animals etc). Being able to follow an item back and see if it's real or a fake. Hearing ancient and forgotten languages. All would be quite fun.

 

14) Summoning creatures: dunno if it would change my life or not. It could be nice in an emergency (ie summon a big Cat if someone was threatening me). DOn't think I would use it much

 

15) Superstrength: That would be a good thing to have for customizing vehicles. I wouldn't worry about hurting myself when I was moving stuff around.

 

16) Telekinesis: very useful. I would love it for working on cars, computers basically any place where it's hard to get fingers into the spot. Be good for unclogging drains, pulling rings and earrings out of drains. I would use it all of the time. I would be like Anakin during the 3rd movie and using it to move anything that isn't in my easy reach. It would be a very useful power and one that would be hard to resist using.

[megaplayboy]

Re: "Normals" gaining superpowers: how would they change in terms of mentality?

 

Come to think of it, #7 would be pretty awesome, particularly if coupled with a photographic memory--think about all the cherished or desired stuff you've had and lost, or wanted but never got, and any of it that weighs 10 pounds or less can be yours again. That would include nearly every toy I ever played with as a kid, every wargame and rpg supplement, all my old character writeups, any book i ever owned or wanted, etc. I could surf amazon and ebay and stockpile the awesome.

 

Thinking about #11, Groundhog Day comes to mind. You can get away with all kinds of stuff, and compile a dossier on any person you want to get intimate with(coupled with mind-reading, this would become child's play), sufficient to net you a huge advantage, should you be unethical enough to manipulate them into sleeping with you. If you had #12 and #13 as well, you could literally push the limits of causality, by knowing in advance what choices will yield what outcomes, and how to counter-balance any adverse outcomes--you'd have to become like a master chess player, thinking multiple actions in advance.

 

The big question of #8 is whether the side effect of "recovery from any injury and immunity to all illnesses" encompasses aging. If it does, you effectively have eternal youth, which has its pluses and minuses...on the plus side, you will eventually become, thanks to compound interest, the wealthiest person on the planet, have tons of connections and be able to learn more than any human ever. On the minus side, everybody you know and live will grow old and die, including all of your children and grandchildren and great-granchildren(unless your ability is hereditable, in which case you may have to worry about accidental inbreeding once your progeny overrun the planet). Also, constantly having to adapt to new social conditions may grate on the nerves after a few centuries, and boredom may be a real problem after a few millenia.

[Ragitsu]

Re: "Normals" gaining superpowers: how would they change in terms of mentality?

 

Hm...not too many people here have turned to evil. Then again, perhaps those kind of folks are either not here, or not very vocal.

[OddHat]

Re: "Normals" gaining superpowers: how would they change in terms of mentality?

 

Hm...not too many people here have turned to evil. Then again' date=' perhaps those kind of folks are either not here, or not very vocal.[/quote']

 

Depends on what you mean by "Evil".

 

Murder? Only about 3% of the population are sociopaths. The vast majority of people won't kill other people in any but the most extreme circumstances. The vast majority of healthy adults actively dislike causing pain ("healthy" is key there; situations and stress can change this, and there are always those 3%). Use of Superpowers to actively directly harm other people is unlikely to be any more common than use of weapons to do the same thing, and for the same reason. You can, right now, buy a gun or go through a training program that will let you become physically deadly; you're not going to turn into a thug or killer unless you already fall into that 3%.

 

Group violence is a different thing; people go with authority and follow leaders, and if the pack leader attacks an outsider, the pack will usually (but not always) go along, again depending on circumstances.

 

It's the powers that let you deny the harm you're doing that would be easy to abuse. Mind Control (so long as you could avoid seeing / admitting / understanding the consequences), Luck (so long as you didn't know who your good luck was hurting), Super Persuasion, etc.

 

It's fits into a certain set of stereotypes to assume that all of us are Thieves, Killers and Rapists held barely in check by the threat of punishment. It's also hogwash.

 

Of course, someone in that 3% with Superpowers, or someone close to that end of the spectrum, could be a serious terror.

[teh bunneh]

Proud to be part of that 3%!

 

Hm...not too many people here have turned to evil. Then again' date=' perhaps those kind of folks are either not here, or not very vocal.[/quote']

 

Well, obviously I haven't answered yet!

 

1. Abuse

2. Abuse

3. Abuse

4. Abuse

5. Oh, I am so abusing this one.

6. Abuse

7. Does furnishing your house with stacks of $100 bills count as abuse?

8. Abuse

9. Abuse

10. Abuse

11. All hail King Bunneh!

12. All hail Boss Bunneh!

13. Abuse

14. Abuse

15. Abuse

 

[megaplayboy]

Re: "Normals" gaining superpowers: how would they change in terms of mentality?

 

Well, if you can alter reality, does it count as "murder" if you simply "edit" someone out of existence?

[OddHat]

Re: "Normals" gaining superpowers: how would they change in terms of mentality?

 

Well' date=' if you can alter reality, does it count as "murder" if you simply "edit" someone out of existence?[/quote']

 

Count how?

 

From an ability to kill / PTSD point of view, it depends on how well you can deny to yourself your responsibility for killing your victim. It's always easier if you don't have to face the person you're killing, or can dehumanize your victim. If you have to watch the person you kill fade away, it will be much harder than sitting in your bed deciding that so-and-so never existed.

[Hermit]

Re: "Normals" gaining superpowers: how would they change in terms of mentality?

 

11. The ability to time travel under one's own power.

12. The ability to foresee the future (Precognition).

13. The ability to view the past (Retrocognition/Psychometry).

14. The ability to summon creatures to do your bidding.

15. The ability to exert far more force than is normal (Super-Strength, which would include straight up damage).

16. The ability to manipulate things from afar (Telekinesis).

 

Didn't get these:

 

11- I'm pretty sure I'd go back before 9-11, try to change it, and let the chips fall where they may.

12- I'd go for the lotto, and no guilt about it. I would possibly open a business as a REAL psychic though might be vague so folks would still have reason to doubt.

13- I'd tip the cops off to crimes, and on my spare time just ooo and aww over history unfolding before my eyes.

14- Depends on the creature. Is it sentient and sapient? I might instead just strike up a conversation, or might be too spooked to use it unless I had to.

15- Fantastically useful around the house. Not sure what I'd do with it otherwise... might take an act on the road "World's strongest overweight man!". Unless I was also bullet proof, I doubt I'd risk a costume.

16- Might have some fun with this at the mall, then just use it for this or that at home.

[megaplayboy]

Re: "Normals" gaining superpowers: how would they change in terms of mentality?

 

I agree with Oddhat that most people won't rape, torture or kill, except perhaps while following some group or herd mentality. But, if you create a slippery slope kind of opportunity--i.e., you can get away with doing this and never get caught--a lot of people would succumb to temptation, at least with respect to things that involved immediate gratification of basic human desires--money, power, sex, other forms of pleasure, popularity, inflicting misfortune on personal enemies, etc. For example, if you could alter probability, even once, so that you could win 100 million dollars in the lottery...why not go ahead and do it? Who exactly is being cheated, since only one person would otherwise be likely to win--why not you, instead? Taken at random, you're probably equally deserving. Not saying this is how everyone would rationalize such a thing, but I think plenty would do so. Once you've accepted this alteration, why not alter probability so that some incredibly attractive celebrity you've had a crush on forever meets and falls in love with you (for you, not for your newfound wealth)? Again, a rationalization for doing this can be found. Then you make your personal enemy lose his job and work at a much more menial job, and while you're enjoying your extraordinarily improbable success, unbeknownst to you, that poor shnook does himself in, out of despair. But you weren't aware of it. So, now you've effectively committed robbery/fraud, rape and murder. You committed fraud when you rigged the odds to win, you committed rape when you became intimate with the celebrity under false pretenses, and you committed murder when you manipulated circumstances to create a situation where he was likelier to commit suicide. But since you didn't physically rig the game, or directly coerce or mentally control the celebrity, or physically kill the enemy or mentally push him to suicide, you can rationalize all of it.

 

Anyway, just my .02 on the "how superpowers might change people morally" debate.

[OddHat]

Re: "Normals" gaining superpowers: how would they change in terms of mentality?

 

@Megaplayboy - Not much I disagree with there. If you don't see the harm you're inflicting, are following the group, or are ordered to inflict harm by an authority figure, it's much easier. I expect that the probability manipulator in your examples would never feel remorse for making himself rich, as he would never be forced to confront any harm he might have done. As to the rape and murder, he might feel remorse eventually if forced to confront the damage he has caused (or, in the case of the rape, if he comes to have real feelings for his victim and can't rationalize his actions). I'm not a fan of slippery slope arguments. They tend to ignore internal and external checks against slipping.

[megaplayboy]

Re: "Normals" gaining superpowers: how would they change in terms of mentality?

 

@Megaplayboy - Not much I disagree with there. If you don't see the harm you're inflicting' date=' are following the group, or are ordered to inflict harm by an authority figure, it's much easier. I expect that the probability manipulator in your examples would never feel remorse for making himself rich, as he would never be forced to confront any harm he might have done. As to the rape and murder, he might feel remorse eventually if forced to confront the damage he has caused (or, in the case of the rape, if he comes to have real feelings for his victim and can't rationalize his actions). I'm not a fan of slippery slope arguments. They tend to ignore internal and external checks against slipping.[/quote']

 

Well, sure, there's lots of internal and external checks that might kick in to prevent someone from slipping so far morally as to rationalize extremely abusive uses of a newly acquired and incredibly useful superpower--empathy; innate moral, religious or ethical core principles; approval or disapproval from peers, friends, family and mentors; fear of adverse consequences; etc.

 

But if we liken the acquisition of a power which can produce gratifying or pleasurable results for its possessor to something like gambling or drugs or anything else with a high potential for addictive attachment and behavior around it, then I can definitely see the potential for more than 3% of the population(taken at random) to slip into supervillainy or at least "super-selfishness"/shady behavior.