If you could have a single super power, what would it be? And what would you do with your powers?

[KOSLOX]

The ability to go move ahead or back in time (up to a year in either direction) so I could erase mistakes or see the repercussions of my actions. Then profit accordingly.

[The MunchKING]

But they may be thinking pretty ho hum things, which turns me off of mind reading. Last thing I want is to be reading people out only to get a grocery list, their irrational phobias, and the phone number of the local plumber tossed into my noggin.

You just need a more controllable version.

[pro]

Cellular manipulation.

That gives me shapeshifting, cellular immortality, improved physical and mental capacity, healing, shredding others on a cellular level and a whole slew of abilities.

I'd play God:"Come to me my flock".

[Overhazard]

Super speed, then I could run wild and travel all over the world. Time would mean nothing to me.

[Firebeam]

I would have the ability to open portals to anywhere and can walk through them, like Illyana Rasputin or Blink. I would use the power to free innocent slaves living in concentration camps and open a portal so they can walk through it to a free country. And all the animals who are living in testing labs, etc. Free them all.
I would take all the very bad people who imprisoned the slaves and send them to a remote island to fend for themselves.
And after everyone is free I would use it to transport people anywhere they want to go. And I would travel the world too.

[Lorendiac]

I'd settle for transmutation. I pick up an ordinary rock, I turn it into solid gold (or any other precious element), I sell it, and so forth. In an hour or so, I could make enough money to support me for the rest of the year. (What bothers me sometimes is that some comic book characters with that power often seem to feel the need to hire out their services, or rob banks, or whatever.)

[The MunchKING]

I'd settle for transmutation. I pick up an ordinary rock, I turn it into solid gold (or any other precious element), I sell it, and so forth. In an hour or so, I could make enough money to support me for the rest of the year. (What bothers me sometimes is that some comic book characters with that power often seem to feel the need to hire out their services, or rob banks, or whatever.)

Then you've devalued the gold (or whatever) market, making all future gold worth a lot less.

[Lorendiac]

Then you've devalued the gold (or whatever) market, making all future gold worth a lot less.

I doubt it. That's like saying: "Nobody should be allowed to operate a gold mine, because whenever he takes another five or ten pounds of gold out of the ground, it devalues the gold market, making all future gold worth a lot less."

But that isn't the way it works. As long as there's a strong demand for gold, minor fluctuations in the available supply are no big deal.

I just now Googled and found that, according to http://www.goldpriceoz.com/, the current value of one ounce of gold is $1295.10 in US dollars.

So if I were able to sell, say, 100 ounces of newly-transmuted gold nuggets at that figure, I'd walk away with $129,510. That would certainly tide me over for a year or two. (And I wouldn't necessarily sell it all at once -- I could sell, say, 10 ounces a week for 10 weeks, to various buyers.)

Do you really think the world gold market is so small and unstable that an extra 100 ounces entering the economy would ruin everybody's day?

I think what might be a real problem, on the other hand, would be the psychological factor -- if I had, let's say, "the mutant ability" to transmute gravel into gold, and if it became widely known that I could do this, then that might shake everybody's confidence in the value of their gold bullion, and that might drive down the price because of panic triggered by fear that I might be planning to turn several tons of granite into gold, first thing tomorrow morning -- even if the truth was that I had no such intention!

So I'd prefer to keep my power a secret -- while living comfortably off the results of being able to use it in private!

[Mia]

Financial wizardry. The ability to easily make money through picking the right investments and knowing when to sell them.

[Fenris]

I doubt it. That's like saying: "Nobody should be allowed to operate a gold mine, because whenever he takes another five or ten pounds of gold out of the ground, it devalues the gold market, making all future gold worth a lot less."

But that isn't the way it works. As long as there's a strong demand for gold, minor fluctuations in the available supply are no big deal.

I just now Googled and found that, according to http://www.goldpriceoz.com/, the current value of one ounce of gold is $1295.10 in US dollars.

So if I were able to sell, say, 100 ounces of newly-transmuted gold nuggets at that figure, I'd walk away with $129,510. That would certainly tide me over for a year or two. (And I wouldn't necessarily sell it all at once -- I could sell, say, 10 ounces a week for 10 weeks, to various buyers.)

Do you really think the world gold market is so small and unstable that an extra 100 ounces entering the economy would ruin everybody's day?

I think what might be a real problem, on the other hand, would be the psychological factor -- if I had, let's say, "the mutant ability" to transmute gravel into gold, and if it became widely known that I could do this, then that might shake everybody's confidence in the value of their gold bullion, and that might drive down the price because of panic triggered by fear that I might be planning to turn several tons of granite into gold, first thing tomorrow morning -- even if the truth was that I had no such intention!

So I'd prefer to keep my power a secret -- while living comfortably off the results of being able to use it in private!

Assuming that your power isn't difficult or unpleasant to use, there's no need to be secretive about it. There's all sorts of rare elements with industrial applications, and there would be even more if supplies permitted. Your power could make you very wealthy, very quickly, even if you didn't bother with gold at all.

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You could bother with other things!

[Lorendiac]

Assuming that your power isn't difficult or unpleasant to use, there's no need to be secretive about it. There's all sorts of rare elements with industrial applications, and there would be even more if supplies permitted. Your power could make you very wealthy, very quickly, even if you didn't bother with gold at all.

õ
You could bother with other things!

I have lost count of how many movies, TV episodes, comic books, novels, etc., I have seen which use the following plot premise:

"The protagonist has a weird superpower. (Telepathy, telekinesis, precognition, super-strength, super-speed, whatever.) A big organization, such as a government agency or a powerful corporation, has taken him into custody and now keeps him under constant observation in a secure facility so that scientists can study him to their hearts' content in the effort to figure out how his powers work and, if possible, how to duplicate them. If he doesn't like this new lifestyle, that's just tough."

(Alternately, sometimes his captors simply want to make sure he only uses the power as they see fit -- they aren't interested in studying it scientifically; they just want to make sure they have total control of where and when it is used on one target or another.)

Spending the rest of my life as a guinea pig does not appeal. I'd much prefer to quietly enrich myself without attracting the unfavorable attention of the CIA, or the Mafia, or the Vatican, or Al-Qaeda, or whatever.

[Wedge Antilles]

I would opt for telepathy. It's a very useful power, could be used passively or aggressively as appropriate.

I wouldn't want to attract big government's attention so I would keep it on the low low. Won't go out of my way to help others, that's just unfortunate but I know too outward of an assist would bring the rain down on me, so...

Yeah. Telepathy.

[The MunchKING]

I doubt it. That's like saying: "Nobody should be allowed to operate a gold mine, because whenever he takes another five or ten pounds of gold out of the ground, it devalues the gold market, making all future gold worth a lot less."

But that isn't the way it works. As long as there's a strong demand for gold, minor fluctuations in the available supply are no big deal.

I'm implying you'll get greedy (or someone else will get greedy on your behalf), and try to start large scale transmuting operations.

[Fenris]

I have lost count of how many movies, TV episodes, comic books, novels, etc., I have seen which use the following plot premise:

"The protagonist has a weird superpower. (Telepathy, telekinesis, precognition, super-strength, super-speed, whatever.) A big organization, such as a government agency or a powerful corporation, has taken him into custody and now keeps him under constant observation in a secure facility so that scientists can study him to their hearts' content in the effort to figure out how his powers work and, if possible, how to duplicate them. If he doesn't like this new lifestyle, that's just tough."

(Alternately, sometimes his captors simply want to make sure he only uses the power as they see fit -- they aren't interested in studying it scientifically; they just want to make sure they have total control of where and when it is used on one target or another.)

Spending the rest of my life as a guinea pig does not appeal. I'd much prefer to quietly enrich myself without attracting the unfavorable attention of the CIA, or the Mafia, or the Vatican, or Al-Qaeda, or whatever.

Ha! Yes, that's the standard plot. So, counterplot:

You go on television showing off your powers. You turn an entire building into gold, like the Beyonder did that time (hopefully an empty and condemned one, given that it collapsed.) You make an appearance at a football stadium (or better yet, a hospital) turning a thousand people's trinkets into platinum. In short, you make it undeniably clear to everyone that your powers are real, that you intend to use them for valuable economic purposes, and that you don't intend to disappear from public view.

That wouldn't eliminate the lab-rat prisoner scenario entirely; but it would make it really stupid and impractical. If you disappear after all that, everyone is going to be looking for you.


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Unless they send the Sentinels after you!

[The MunchKING]

I have lost count of how many movies, TV episodes, comic books, novels, etc., I have seen which use the following plot premise:

"The protagonist has a weird superpower. (Telepathy, telekinesis, precognition, super-strength, super-speed, whatever.) A big organization, such as a government agency or a powerful corporation, has taken him into custody and now keeps him under constant observation in a secure facility so that scientists can study him to their hearts' content in the effort to figure out how his powers work and, if possible, how to duplicate them. If he doesn't like this new lifestyle, that's just tough."

If it's the government, just volunteer to do it for a big paycheck and little infringing on your personal freedoms.

It would be a lot easier to pay you a thousand bucks a day to stay on a facility and let scientists poke and prod you then to pay a hundred guys for 24/7 guarding and imprisoning you.