When I think about superpowers, I think about Batman and notice that technologies that are clever enough are virtually indistinguishable from magic. So when considering superpowers I am interested in, I also consider the logistics.
Are we choosing a super power for personal use or to fight bad guys? Super strength is not so interesting to me recreationally, but if random bad guys are planning to attack, I could see it as way more interesting. A better constitution (moving faster, being more coordinated, needing less sleep, etc.) would be interesting, but since some people already have it, I’m not sure it qualifies as a super power.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could teleport? I have dreamt of this super power since I was a child. Except actually getting it might lead to an existential crisis.
Humans, me among them, have been obsessed with flight. I love the moment my plane leaves the ground and marvel that I have seen the tops of clouds. Before the pandemic, I had aspirations to try hot air ballooning or paragliding, but I have gotten out of practice in going out into the world for that kind of recreation right now. Maybe I’ll put it on my list in the spring.
While I don’t have an immediate death wish, I don’t think I’m interested in immortality. I think it is good design to have a younger generation have their chance to steer the world. I have seen it argued that this is a logical flaw because no one complains when their life spans lengthen, especially if the quality is good. I am not likely to turn down life saving or extending medicine. There is something to be said for a longer memory, as a species. As a species, we are prone to, for example, try war again as a solution when we forget the devastation. But elderly people are not as flexible or as fast as young people, so it would be nice if there were a balance that included both. If we had ever more people and the old did not die, we would have a population explosion and an even crazier economy. To some extent, it has happened in developed countries with big gains in life expectancy.
When it comes to superpowers, it is easy for any individual to want them, but they would tear apart the fabric of society as we know it if they become wide spread. The society forms anew around the “new normal.” When I was a kid, many of the things the internet has made common place, like video chatting, would have seemed magical. I guess I would most like for us all to upgrade together – to create and distribute magical technologies in a sustainable way. That would be super for everyone.
