This week on "This American Life" the subject of the podcast is "Superpowers." Click Here to listen.
In Part One, an interviewer conducts a survey, posing these questions: If you could have one of two superpowers- either the ability to fly or the power of invisibility- which would you choose and why?
The collected reactions and replies very intriguing and say a lot the individuals and human nature in general. Although I am not sure if I can agree with all of his conclusions, it was fascinating to learn why some people decided one over the other and their rationale.
What about you? Which would you choose? And why?
So that you won't be swayed too much, my own answers can be found in the comment section.
Selfishly, I would rather be able to fly so I could go home without spending a fortune and enduring the constant little insults air travel visits upon customers.
ReplyDeleteUnselfishly, invisibility would be infinitely more useful in stopping evil and helping people.
My real choice, though, would be cartoon superpowers, so I could have the ability to do anything a 'toon does. The possibilities are endless with that, limited only by my imagination.
I must be completely selfish then because I never even considered fighting crime at all. I mean, I can see where flying to the crime scene would save time.. but what do I do when I get there.. gawk and point?
ReplyDeleteWhile I am swimming in the pool (the local one- not mine) I have this delightful fantasy. I like to imagine that I am a bird and the white lines of the grout between the tiles at the bottom of the pool are streets of subdivisions. This kind of exercise of my imagination is really quite liberating.
I have dreams- or I used to- in which I am seated amongst friends and we are talking and suddenly, unexpectedly, I begin to levitate. It gives me such a sense of satisfaction to watch their horrified faces glare up at me, as I slowly reach the ceiling. At this point, somebody is kind enough to open one of the windows allowing me to escape. If not, I suppose I would just hover up there like a balloon.
Ability to sterilize others with my eyes. There are too many children having childen. Too many unprepared parents... too many abusive families without resources. Once you have passed a test that includes an intellectual component, psychological eval, and shown financial responsibility I would be willing to reverse it- with my eyes.
ReplyDeleteProphylactic sight wasn't one of the choices, unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteI had a recurring dream for years when I was a child..right through my teens..where I went around the corner from my house at the time, stood at the top of a hill, jumped, and was flying. It was a wonderful dream, so I guess I'd have to say I'd love to be able to fly just to recreate that feeling again.
ReplyDeleteIt would also be really useful to be able to fly off to visit my family in England whenever I wanted to.
I also would like to be able to breathe underwater. The underwater air in my dreams is the freshest of all. But I figured to cartoon superpower thing would pretty much cover that.
ReplyDelete