The Problem with Mind-Reading

So Tom and I thought it'd be cool to have a series of posts about the pros and cons of super powers.

I know that a lot of people think mind-reading would be awesome, but I'm here to prove them wrong.

It's pros and cons time.

Pros:

No one can lie to you. You can interrogate a super villain and find out where he's hiding his death ray and how to destroy it. You can ask the Russian spy who his contact was, and no matter his answer, you'll find out. You can discover the secret identity of your arch nemesis.

You wanna find something out? There are easy ways of manipulating thoughts. If I say "Don't think of an elephant." What do you think of?

An elephant.

Comes in handy, like I said, for interrogations.

That's about it.

Cons:

There are two possible scenarios: Either you can turn it off or you can't.

If you can't, the problem is pretty self-explanatory: Thoughts are chaos, you hear what everybody's thinking at all times, it's a nightmare. It's like an overwhelming cacophony of uncensored thoughts, an deafening circus of judgments and non-sequiturs. Sooner or later, you'll go mad. You won't even be able to hear your own thoughts.

Second scenario:

You may think you can handle it, but truth is, you can't. You forget that we have emotions. More specifically, doubt. You'll tell yourself you can use your power for good, and not for your own needs.

But trust me, you cant.

One day, your friend will say something, you'll doubt him or her, and then, before you know it, you'll tap into their thoughts. You'll start using it over and over again, and you'll eventually stop trusting people. Ever.

You know the saying "Ignorance is bliss?" Yeah. It applies here.

Eventually, people will find out.

You: Hey, how was the concert?

Friend: What are you talking about?

You: Good enough to skip our plans?

Friend: How did you find out?

You: to yourself Crap... He never told me... Forgot about that.

That's when your status of "hero" turns to "stalker".

Let's face it, reading people's thoughts is invading their privacy. You will no longer be the dude (or dudette) who saves the day, but rather the creeper (or creeperette) who listens in to your thoughts.

No one will want to come near you, you'll end up alienated, isolated because your attempt to do good backfired. Kinda like in The Incredibles.

Okay, assuming you can turn it off, assuming you're not taken away by emotional conflicts and your cover's safe and you find out some kick-ass info about a super villain. Then what?

Let's face it, mind reading doesn't allow you to do much. You can just find stuff out (which, if you're a decent cop, you can also do). Mind-reading is a dead-end.

And by the way, Professor X's powers go beyond mind-reading, so he doesn't count.

Besides, what kind of a name could you find for a superhero who reads minds?

Yours truly,

OJM

Power, Man?

I went to a lecture yesterday about the morality of superpowers. I know, right? I sometimes feel like I don't do any real work at school ever. Anyways, it was really fascinating- the speaker was talking about utilitarianism and this whole concept of "saving many at the cost of some" and kind of how that relates to superheroes. One example he used was 'The Watchmen' where the alleged villain kills millions of people to save billions from the threat of World War 3. His utilitarian logic was that a million is a lot less than a billion, so it was worth doing. I don't think I could handle making that kind of decision, and I'm kind of glad I won't ever have to.

But the lecture got me thinking about superpowers. Okay, I'll admit, I probably think about this a lot more often than I'm willing to admit, but I don't find myself really regularly considering what kind of powers I would choose if given the option. Suspending disbelief for just a moment, let's say I am suddenly able to choose any power I'd like and get everything that comes with it- the struggle of fitting in with normal people, the government hunting me, the sudden conviction to fight crime, whatever- I hadn't really spent much time thinking about what power I would choose! When the speaker asked the audience what powers they'd want, tons of hands went up, but I really had no idea!

So I was thinking about it, and came to something of a conclusion: I would love to have impenetrable skin. Not invincibility or anything, but just skin that was so tough nothing could cut through it, like Luke Cage. He was just an ordinary guy, framed for drug crimes, who agreed to do some government testing in exchange for a shorter sentence. But then (surprisingly) things went wrong and he was exposed to too much of something and it made his skin really really tough. And when your skin is hard as iron, you can bet you're going to be a really strong guy too (and heavy!). What I appreciate about Luke is that he didn't really feel like he *had* to fight crime- he hired himself out as a hero in order to pay his rent! Inevitably some of his missions became more personal as loved ones and his own arrest got involved, but for the most part, he was just trying to make it in the world.

His power is appealing to me because he's not any stronger than the average bodybuilder in terms of muscular strength. He's not going to live any longer than the average person who doesn't get murdered. He's not invincible either- he feels pain when people shoot him, or stab him, or burn him, but it doesn't leave a mark on anything but his ugly yellow disco shirts. It's great! Superheroes like Superman who have bullets bounce off their eyes don't have nearly as much at stake when fighting armed enemies. Luke manages to be a hero, an average Joe, and a mortal all at the same time! I would love to have his power, because I feel like I could be so helpful without the threat of becoming too strong and corrupt.

Anyways, I'm getting tired, and the more tired I get, the less interesting I'm going to become, so I'll end this here with a question: What power would you choose?