By: Brian Rhodus, James Graves, Faheem Najieb and Olivia Grace
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
What if you had Super Powers...?
Be honest. If you could have any super power imaginable, would you use it for the good of others or for selfish purposes? Researchers at Northwestern University looked into this topic and found surprising results. As a group, we found this blog, however short it may be, extremely interesting. Be sure to check out the comments in response to this blog. What would your answer be? (Note: We do not support all the comments posted on this blog. We are sorry for any crude language. People have weird minds.)
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I feel that even though the comments to this blog are self-centered wants, they are honest. Our nation is a society that uses any possible method to put ourselves on top. If most people had some sort of super power, it would be the ultimate way to be number one. If I had to answer this question, my answer probably wouldn't vary from the rest. My primary thought would be to get rich. But eventually, my conscious would overcome and I would want to help out those who were worse off then myself. I feel that overall, this was an excellent blog. It was short but held a thought-provoking purpose that makes the reader wonder.
ReplyDeleteI'm not entirely sure how I feel about this blog. I guess in a way it was not what I was expecting. I did not think that every person would just talk about getting laid. I thought it was the basic question with the answer of flying, turning invisible, etc. I think it lacked a little depth being that it was very one dimensional with the single question. I do have to admit some of the answers were kind of funny. A lot of people were surprisingly on the same wavelength. If I had to answer the question I would honestly have to say getting all of the best things in life would be number one or at least the first thing that would cross my mind. However, being the kind of person I am, I would slowly feel more and more guilty for not helping the individuals around the world that needed it. So overall, I do not find the blog very interesting but it was slightly entertaining.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Joe in that I the responses to this blog were not what I was expecting. I thought it was going to be "I'd chose to be invisible/fly/teleport, etc, so I could (insert good/bad activity)" not "to get laid". However, the study by Northwestern seemed obvious once pointed out. I can't say I've ever truly thought about whether gaining superpowers would make someone good or bad. Every discussion I've had ends with what superpower would you want not an extension of for what. And to be honest I try to avoid that question because I find it annoying. However, I would want to be able to apparate, like in Harry Potter, or have a power that would make me be more time efficient, especially when it came to homework/studying. Due to the girl scout in my (yes, I still am one!) I'd probably use my extra time to volunteer or help others out. But I wouldn't want my powers to make me be a big deal and draw attention to myself. I'd want the normal life with some perks. So I guess, according to the study, I fall into the select few who'd use my power for good but I wouldn't want it on the full time scale like Superman or anything. The blog was thought provoking and interesting but the responses were a little short sighted.
ReplyDeleteI, too, was surprised at the answers in the comments. No one really said what superpowers they'd want, just that most of them would turn into villains. If I had a superpower, I honestly don't think I would do anything about it. I'd show off, I suppose, to my friends, but I wouldn't use it to help or hinder anyone. I'm a pretty greedy, selfish person, and I 'm really not one to go out and help others without prodding. The superpower I'd most like is invisibility, and I guess if I were to use it to help the world, I'd join the CIA or FBI or something to do spywork. But if I had super strength, I'd have to be bribed into doing something to help others. So I guess I'm in it for the money. This blog is intriguing and thought provoking, but I wish those posting the comments would put more thought into why they'd be a villain or hero.
ReplyDelete“What would you do if you have super strength? “ If people get that question in the interview, I bet everybody would say something like …” Oh, I will use my gifted power to do the right thing, help the world, seek crime, and chase bad guys.” However, I was surprised and felt shocked when I read the blog the first because it wasn’t anything like my expectation. For real? People would turn into villain if they have super power or just to get laid (the aspect that Joe had mentioned and I agree with him). Those people who commented the blog didn’t express what power they want to have. Otherwise, they just talk about how they can get most advantage out of the power for themselves. This is the real world; people are selfish, greedy and corruptible. But hey, they are saying the truth. To be honest, when I put myself into the spot and answer the question. I might just say I would hide my power. At first, I don’t want to put myself in danger when a bunch of people out there want to examine me and dissect me, and try to get my powers for themselves. Second, I also want to use my power for my own goods (something is like I can travel back in time and fix all my mistake, or wake up 5 minutes before class and teleport to school in seconds). But I feel bad for not helping other people while I be able to. I guess I will help a little. After all, I think this blog is very interesting to know what ‘re people truly think, but I would like to see more effort, arguments and deeper though.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea posted on this blog a lot. However I was disappointed with the reader's responses. Very few of the commenters said anything relatively intelligent, most comments were along the lines of "omg dude I'd get laid all the time". Guess this just goes to show that the internet runs on sex drive after all. A comment I liked on this blog was the one talking about how revealing ones super powers would be a mistake. The commenter stated his beliefs that revealing ones powers would cause capitalists to try and make a profit from your abilities creating a micro "arms race". Overall I think that a respectable audience would have made this page a very good blog.
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ReplyDeleteI found this study to be quite interesting. It makes me genuinely disappointed in humanity that most people would use their power to either be a villain or only to benefit themselves. Aren’t we raised with the value that we are supposed to help others? Or, treat others as you would like to be treated? For instance, what if you were the one to own the bank? I bet you wouldn’t be too happy if someone came and robbed it.
ReplyDeleteIf I had to pick a superpower, it would definitely be to stop time or turn back time. There are so many instances where I wish I could have a do-over, and it would be amazing if I could use that to help others. Now, don’t get me wrong. I would use this power for my own benefit too. Can you imagine just stopping time to get all your homework done or to take a nap or something, and you wouldn’t have to miss anything fun?! It sounds great to me. But, I would definitely help other people too. It would be exhausting to be a superhero full time, but I would have the power to pause time and get rest or get things done if I needed to!
Also, it would be very helpful to have an alter ego. That way, I could save the world and keep my normal life! Take Hannah Montana for instance. Now, obviously she’s not a superhero, BUT she gets to be Hannah Montata, pop-tween-princess, AND Miley Stewart, regular old girl trying to fit in at high school! Talk about the best of both worlds ☺
I love helping people, and if I were a superhero, I would get to help people all the time. For now though, I will just try to help the betterment of society without the powers…. While trying to stay away from all the newly created supervillains.
This is a very interesting blog. Even though many of the posts are somewhat questionable, for an example someone said they would be "pervert man". Besides this it is an interesting blog. Most people would assume that given the chance to be a superhero they would go out and help people but it makes sense that most would just use this power to help themselves. I am not completely sure what I would do. As most i would probably say that if I had superpowers I would not do anything but good, but that might not be the complete truth. It kinda depends on the power though. If i could fly I would probably just fly around all day having fun, given another power I am not sure what I would do. Overall it was an interesting post.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, I'm not surprised at all by what people said. I'm pretty sure deep within all of us we'd rather use a superpower for our own benefit. And I totally agree with Berserker 119 on the forum: "The world would go to sh** if anyone got a superpower." It's true. Bad as it sounds, I know that if I had some otherwordly power, I'd probably try to find ways to discreetly make my own life better before I decided to help a stranger. A path like that, I'm aware, can go disastrously awry. If what this blog claims is legit, then I can say this is the path most people would head for, and the sudden influx of "criminals" would definitely send society into chaos. Then again, some people just wouldn't have the guts to go outright evil... I know my conscience would get in the way. Irridium also poses a good point: a superhero-ed person would probably be better of concealing his powers, instead of showing them off. There's a good chance he'd be used for experimentation and/or taken advantage of by the people around him.
ReplyDeleteThis blog post was actually super interesting to me. I have never thought about if I would use my powers for good or evil. I would like to say that I would help others but this post makes me question that. I think it's good that people were so honest about how they would use their powers but I agree with a lot of the other previous comments who said they were shocked and disappointed about where our society is going. On a lighter note, great post :)
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ReplyDeleteI really like the user 'Palademon' that continuously pointed out that what these 'experts' (can you really be an expert on superheroes?) are saying are not original. Yes, perhaps this is partially hindsight bias, but nothing that the author of the article said is particularly ground breaking. Humans are naturally evil. Not to say that we all are evil - most of us fight the urge to break that glass window of the jewelry shop and grab all of the valuables in sight. But where does that two year old learn to tell his first lie? Obviously he isn't mature enough to realize that the tooth fairy isn't real, so he comes up with it on his own. Each person has good and bad to them and while getting a superpower would corrupt most of us, what are the chances of that happening anyway?
ReplyDeleteMy personal favorite was the comment that said he would use super powers to eat as much as he wanted without gaining a single pound. In my opinion, that would be the greatest superpower odf all time.
ReplyDeleteI think like Katlyn and Joe said, a lot of people would end up feeling guilty once their consciences got the best of them, but also I think a lot of these people were just trying to sound cool. Think of how many times for example when I guy is talking to his friends and says something like "yea, all I have to do is say, 'woman, get me a sandwich'" and then the second the opportunity actually presents its self, they come to their senses and would never say anything like that to her face. Same thing here, these people are all talking a big game, but I doubt many people would actually carryout with these things.
On another note, I feel like if you have super powers like these, you have to have a little fun sometimes; sure you will fight some crime, but for example, if you could be invisible, you can't tell me you wouldn't de-pants someone in public or play a few harmless pranks, right?
These results and responses do not surprise me at all. "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." - John Dalberg-Acton. If you have read the book animal farm, this exact same thing happens. This power doesn't need to be supernatural, it could be anything. With power comes responsibility, and the average person does not have the responsibility to help others. Most people are concerned with one thing. They are concerned for themselves. You ask anyone what superpower they would have and most say invisible, flying, super strength. If you ask them why, 95% will not say, "So I can help people." Going back to the corruption of power, having a superpower would eventually lead to some sort of corruption, because that is human nature
ReplyDeletei perfer to be optimistic about the situation. yes jerks would now be SUPER jerks but i'd like to think that some good people would be able to live with superpowers and not be an ass. and think about how cool id be if we all had powers of our own. you could ask your friend wth super strength to help you move your couch...with his pinkie. or get a piggy back ride from your friend who can fly and miss all the early morning traffic. the possibilites for random common awesome are endless.
ReplyDeleteIf I had super powers I don’t know if I would be the “hero”. As mentioned in the article I might rob a bank or do something mischievous. Yes it is up to me to decide if I want to be good or evil and I don’t think being good all the time would be as fun. If I were a super hero and I had to save the day all of the time and people expected it that from me I think it would get somewhat boring. But being evil sometimes would have its benefits and it is not like I’m going to evil every day, just a couple of days. Super powers are special and I am glad that everyone does no t have them because there would be a lot of trouble in this world.
ReplyDeleteI really feel like this article is an unfortunate reality of this world. Of course everyone wants to be rich and everything, and I guess that its good that they are honest, but really? Even if I did feel like I would be a villain, I don't think I would be posting it on the internet. These days, you really don't know who is on the web and who is watching you. The people involved in recent school shootings like VA Tech had things posted all over the internet. In high schools, they are finding ways to get on facebooks to troubleshoot (or at least they did in my high school). Although its a VERY dramatic example, you really don't know who these people are/how serious they actually are. Everyone is different and no one is perfect because we are all human, and some of the posts are meant to be and are seen as humorous, I understand that. Its just something that the article reminded me of.
ReplyDeleteWhat I'm interested in is the survey group, I mean who is this "most people" the article talks about. Did they go out and find random people, or did they choose a specific pool of people? I guess I can see college students like us going evil since most of us are somewhat poor and hasn't really experienced the world. Also it is interesting that the researcher used the word "may" when talking about what he thought a 20 years old and 50 years would do implying that he did not ask the people what they would do with their powers. Also, on older generation especially those who has gone through several wars, would they really go evil? and what about those who are content with their life?
ReplyDeleteI heard a story on NPR where the journalist interviewed strangers asking them whether they would want to have the superpower of flight or invisibility. In the scenario they set up you were able to fly at 1000 mph and if you were invisible your clothes were invisible too. They said that being invisible would only lead to negative intentions. Since nobody could see you, you would slowly lose touch with morality due to the fact that nobody was stopping you. But when was the last time you could clearly see something at 1000 miles per hour? I think that you could contrive much more devious schemes with the power of flight.
ReplyDeleteIf you can fly at 1000 mph then you can punch and kick at 1000 mph plus however fast you can punch or kick normally. I would rather get hit by a normal invisible person than a super-strengthed flying person. Moral of the story: No matter what super power a person gets, whether it be flight, invisibility, or a political seat as a dictator, as long as it's unregulated, it will corrupt them.
A good post. This blog takes a critical standpoint, and throws out an idea people can get behind. Nuf said. If I would to have a super power I would want to be have 100 percent control of my brain.
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