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Michael Penn Byrne Robotics Member

Joined: 12 April 2006 Location: United States Posts: 13130
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| Posted: 13 March 2026 at 1:50pm | IP Logged | 1
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QUOTE:
| Sit in a comfy chair and be able to see, hear (and comprehend) anywhere in time and space, instantly. |
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The future too, JB? (That would be scary!)
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005 Posts: 135833
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| Posted: 13 March 2026 at 1:54pm | IP Logged | 2
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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 Byrne Robotics Member

Joined: 01 June 2004 Location: United States Posts: 7571
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| Posted: 13 March 2026 at 3:14pm | IP Logged | 3
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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 Byrne Robotics Member

Joined: 01 June 2004 Location: United States Posts: 7571
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| Posted: 13 March 2026 at 3:19pm | IP Logged | 4
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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 Byrne Robotics Member

Joined: 01 June 2004 Location: United States Posts: 7571
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| Posted: 13 March 2026 at 3:21pm | IP Logged | 5
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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
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005 Posts: 135833
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| Posted: 13 March 2026 at 3:56pm | IP Logged | 6
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Telepathy would definitely need “eyelids”.
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Brian Miller Byrne Robotics Member

Joined: 28 July 2004 Location: United States Posts: 31922
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| Posted: 13 March 2026 at 4:49pm | IP Logged | 7
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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 Byrne Robotics Member

Joined: 26 May 2005 Location: England Posts: 11539
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| Posted: 13 March 2026 at 4:50pm | IP Logged | 8
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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 Byrne Robotics Member

Joined: 04 May 2004 Location: United States Posts: 1985
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| Posted: 13 March 2026 at 4:56pm | IP Logged | 9
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Telepathy would need those "eyelids," but also some kind of "zap" to shut people up.
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Dave Kopperman Byrne Robotics Member

Joined: 27 December 2004 Location: United States Posts: 3974
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| Posted: 13 March 2026 at 5:23pm | IP Logged | 10
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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 Byrne Robotics Member

Joined: 19 April 2004 Location: United States Posts: 3405
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| Posted: 13 March 2026 at 5:46pm | IP Logged | 11
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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).
Edited by Brian Rhodes on 13 March 2026 at 5:47pm
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Brian Rhodes Byrne Robotics Member

Joined: 19 April 2004 Location: United States Posts: 3405
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| Posted: 13 March 2026 at 5:49pm | IP Logged | 12
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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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