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Michael Penn
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Posted: 13 March 2026 at 1:50pm | IP Logged | 1 post reply


 QUOTE:
Sit in a comfy chair and be able to see, hear (and comprehend) anywhere in time and space, instantly.



The future too, JB? (That would be scary!)


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John Byrne
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Posted: 13 March 2026 at 1:54pm | IP Logged | 2 post reply

Depending on one’s conception of the Future….

Supposedly Einstein sad the Past simply disappears, but the Future was created at the moment of the Big Bang and simply “unspools” toward us like a reel of film.

So much for free will!

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Andrew Bitner
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Posted: 13 March 2026 at 3:14pm | IP Logged | 3 post reply

Some philosophers believe that predestination doesn't rob of us free will, because we are still exercising our own thought and judgment in picking what we will do and why--it's just that the universe already knows how that will work out.
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Andrew Bitner
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Posted: 13 March 2026 at 3:19pm | IP Logged | 4 post reply

And as noted, flight is a wonderful power until you consider... yup, the air is real thin and cold not too far aboveground, you will burn yourself to a crisp if you fly fast, and the world is a BIG place.
Probably better to have infallible teleportation if you want to travel.
But I like JB's answer: you can be comfortable and yet experience anything you ever wanted. For those who hate the difficulties of getting from point A to point Z, it'd be a godsend.
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Andrew Bitner
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Posted: 13 March 2026 at 3:21pm | IP Logged | 5 post reply

Speaking of which, I think the worst powers would be superspeed and telepathy.
Superspeed (assuming you avoid the friction and breathing problems already mentioned) is tough because... suppose you're experiencing the world at an accelerated rate? Everything goes SLOWLY for you. It would be unbearable.
Telepathy is hard because it's bad enough having to listen to what people are willing to say (and I figure most folks exercise some restraint in that area, though not all). Can you imagine enduring what they're thinking in the privacy of their own brains?
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John Byrne
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Posted: 13 March 2026 at 3:56pm | IP Logged | 6 post reply

Telepathy would definitely need “eyelids”.
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Brian Miller
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Posted: 13 March 2026 at 4:49pm | IP Logged | 7 post reply

I would NOT want telepathy.

Flying has always been my number one. Not necessarily to fly to Paris, but
definitely to get above it all and not be restricted by all that on surface
level. And surely if we’re to the point where people have superpowers, we’d
be able to come up with something to defend against the friction and not
being able to breathe and such.
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Bill Collins
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Posted: 13 March 2026 at 4:50pm | IP Logged | 8 post reply

Telepathy would be psychologically damaging, knowing
exactly what friends, family and strangers were thinking
about you, and knowing what they were thinking generally.
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Richard Stevens
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Posted: 13 March 2026 at 4:56pm | IP Logged | 9 post reply

Telepathy would need those "eyelids," but also some kind of "zap" to shut people up.
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Dave Kopperman
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Posted: 13 March 2026 at 5:23pm | IP Logged | 10 post reply

One of the best arguments I've ever read about why you don't want telepathy is C. M. Kornbluth's short "The World of Myrion Flowers";* I haven't read it in several dogs' ages, but the gist is that a huffy genius invents a mind-reading device and then goes crazy after realizing what a poor opinion everyone has of him. There's also a racial component, but I recall that part only being implied rather than fully explored.

This also basically predicted the effect of social media on the world, which would put it right in with the rest of Kornbluth's wheelhouse of predicting the social ills borne out of 20th Century trends. And also how actual, true, omniscient/objective knowledge is not something that leads to happiness. His "Gomez" (which I'd SWEAR Damon and Affleck must have read at some point) features a natively genius mathematician who works out the Unified Field Theorem and is so bummed out by it and its potential military application that he not only keeps the solution to himself but pretends to have somehow lost his mathematical abilities after losing his virginity.

*Co-authored with Frederik Pohl, but I recall Pohl giving most of the credit to Kornbluth for it. This was widely anthologized when I was a kid, but as far as I can tell, Kornbluth and all his work has fallen into obscurity. And I guess Pohl is right behind him.
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Brian Rhodes
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Posted: 13 March 2026 at 5:46pm | IP Logged | 11 post reply

Flight would be cool, but yes, I would want it to come with either invulnerability or controllable intangibility. And invisibility. 
Otherwise, it wouldn't be too long until I'm paste or the most famous person in the world (since a flying person seen in our reality every day). 
Neither are appealing. 



Edited by Brian Rhodes on 13 March 2026 at 5:47pm
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Brian Rhodes
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Posted: 13 March 2026 at 5:49pm | IP Logged | 12 post reply

And also how actual, true, omniscient/objective knowledge is not something that leads to happiness.

------------------------------------------------------------ --

I mean, if ignorance is truly bliss...that follows. 
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