Interesting conversation on NPR - choose ONE superpower: invisiblility or flight

[IronMac]

Yeah, I've been thinking about something similar to this for years now. What happens if you were permanently invisible but your clothes were not? How would you exist as a naked, invisible person constantly on the run from the authorities?

[TheCaber]

IronMac wrote:
Yeah, I've been thinking about something similar to this for years now. What happens if you were permanently invisible but your clothes were not? How would you exist as a naked, invisible person constantly on the run from the authorities?

Really, how would you 'blend' in ?
And mosquitos will still find you, visible or not.

[IronMac]

Yeah, and heaven help you if you snore while sleeping!

[Blankity Blank]

Neither one, on it's own, is all it's cracked up to be. (The better question would probably be, 'Whose super powers would you rather have, Sue Storm's invisibility powers or Superman's flight power?' But now I'm just geeking out…)

Flight? How fast? How far? How high? Can you deal with slamming into a Canadian goose at "X" miles per hour?

Invisibility. People tend to equate it with being undetectable. Not quite. Infrared, pressure sensors, sound monitors, who knows what else. If what you're carrying isn't invisible, that's going to crimp your style too. And you won't go unnoticed long if you can't even see that your own elbow is about to knock a vase off a table.

That said, lets read between the lines a little and say that the "super" part of the power includes one of those nifty 'auras' around you that protects you while you fly (At a decent rate of speed. Flying two feet off the ground at 5 mph isn't very "super".) and makes whatever you're wearing invisible too.

I'll take flight just because it's cool. :biggrin:

Now the question is, cape or no cape?

[Thrift Store Scott]

TheCaber wrote:
[quote=IronMac]
Yeah, I've been thinking about something similar to this for years now. What happens if you were permanently invisible but your clothes were not? How would you exist as a naked, invisible person constantly on the run from the authorities?

Really, how would you 'blend' in ?
And mosquitos will still find you, visible or not. The lack of a place to comfortably carry my keys and wallet is my biggest complaint with nudity, so that's a big strike against permanent invisibility. When you factor in that closing your eyes would have no effect (invisible/perfectly clear eyelids), I could definitely live without permanent invisibility.

Now if it were illusory invisibility, in that no-one could see you but you'd still be visible to yourself, sort of like the perfect camouflage for any environment, then that might be okay.

As for the flying thing, how fast and how far are we talking? I mean, is this just the ability to do a quick buzz around the neighborhood a few feet off the ground until you get tired, or are we talking transcontinental range and/or at least turboprop aircraft speed?

[hal]

I find it very interesting that some people feel they don't have enough information to choose.

To me, it's a very, very simple question. I have no doubt in my mind as to what the powers in question are and immediately get on with trying to figure out which I would prefer.

People's brains work so, so differently from one another.

[Thrift Store Scott]

hal wrote:
I find it very interesting that some people feel they don't have enough information to choose.

To me, it's a very, very simple question. I have no doubt in my mind as to what the powers in question are and immediately get on with trying to figure out which I would prefer.

People's brains work so, so differently from one another.

Well, we're trying to define the limits of the abilities. For example, both butterflies and canada geese fly, but the type of flying they do is quite different.
The same with invisibility: Is it a now and forever, 24/7/365 thing, or would it be something we could turn on and off at will?

[Blankity Blank]

hal wrote:
I find it very interesting that some people feel they don't have enough information to choose.

To me, it's a very, very simple question. I have no doubt in my mind as to what the powers in question are and immediately get on with trying to figure out which I would prefer.

People's brains work so, so differently from one another.

There's been a nice handful of stories in the recent past based on the idea that having a super power isn't quite what one would assume it to be.

[N-OS X-tasy!]

Doc wrote:
That's the problem with the whole segment. They don't define terms.

Maybe "flight" is hovering a mm off the ground and any weight -- like clothes -- drops you like a rock. Maybe you can travel at 300MPH, but the slightest turbulence rips your arms off.

Maybe "invisibility" is permanent. You'll never know how clean a shave you've got. Remember that Claude Rains the Invisible Man went crazy from it. Is that part of the deal?

That's retarded.

[N-OS X-tasy!]

Thrift Store Scott wrote:
When you factor in that closing your eyes would have no effect (invisible/perfectly clear eyelids), I could definitely live without permanent invisibility.

If we really want to get technical about this, than I must point out that a completely invisible person would be blind, as it would be impossible for light to strike the retina, making it impossible to see.