The Effects Of Superhumans On Modern Society

Exactly. We can replace a missile easier than they can replace a person.

So then they're a non-issue.

There's only three ways it can turn out: there's not enough, and they get exterminated, at great cost of life and limb. There's too many, and we all die. Or they're far too overpowered, and it's a toss-up based on how durable they are and how many reserve troops we have...

I am now known as Flyboy.

If we're talking about the level of power KSpam has described, they're not "too powerful". They're damn close, though. If there was, for some reason, a coordinated extermination war between the muggles and the supers, then yeah...we're going to lose a lot of life. But considering that their goal is genocide, that's to be expected. Millions, possibly billions, of humans will die, but as I said, we hurt them more with each of their numbers we take out. Remember: troops are their main method of force and ordinance. That makes them exceptionally good targets, because a person can't be rebuilt or replaced very easily.

edited 8th Sep '11 8:04:44 PM by KingZeal

Well, that assumes it shakes down into a war of extermination pitting united supers against united humans. Which is spectacularly unlikely.

If the children of supers are themselves super, and for some reason it was running said war of extermination, then the overwhelmingly smart thing for them to do is for many of their number to settle down, hide in plain sight, have children, and train them. Gives a whole new meaning to Tyke Bomb.

edited 8th Sep '11 8:06:17 PM by alethiophile

Shinigan (Naruto fanfic)

This situation would actually fall into the "there isn't enough" category.

Personally, when I did it I made them hyper-overpowered, but then gave them an in-story reason to unite in a goal to control humanity intact. Mine were various orders of magnitude above these ones in terms of power level, though, so...

I am now known as Flyboy.

I'm not going for all-out war, because personally that doesn't seem realistic. I want supers who want to be heroes, I want supers who want to control, to conquer, I want supers in it for themselves, I want supers fighting for a cause, I want supers who oppose the existence of supers, I want supers who just want to be left alone.

And the danger here isn't just straight up blowing up monuments and other such petty acts of terrorism. We've also got people who can shapeshift (making killing and assuming the identities of people in positions of power so easy it's laughable), control minds (sometimes en masse), replicate objects (sometimes from memory), and in the case of the main heroine, become totally intangible (this has all the applications you're thinking of and more).

And as a bonus, there is literally no way to distinguish a super from a Muggle until they use their powers. No Bizarre Alien Biology, no synchrotron radiation, no mutant strains of DNA. Completely undetectable until someone stumbles on to the president shedding his skin.

edited 8th Sep '11 8:17:46 PM by KSPAM

I've got new mythological machinery, and very handsome supernatural scenery. Goodfae: a mafia web serial

Do these applications include either falling into the Earth's core or flying off into space due to centrifugal force?

Shinigan (Naruto fanfic)

No.

edited 8th Sep '11 8:20:18 PM by KSPAM

I've got new mythological machinery, and very handsome supernatural scenery. Goodfae: a mafia web serial

Out of the powers you mentioned, shapeshifting is the most dangerous.

As I said, even telepaths aren't that scary since, these days, we can make our machines fight for us.

But shapeshifters would basically fall into the same problem I mentioned earlier: essentially, you could consider the entire population in "quarantine" until a reliable method of identifying them is possible.

You know, that would actually be really funny. While intangible, they're immune to gravity, but that also means that they steadily gain altitude at *does math* approximately 1500 feet per second. Best not phase out for more than a hundredth of a second or so, guys....

Of course, that sort of intangibility presumes that you can't actually manipulate anything while intangible, which also means you can't go anywhere. What would be more useful is the ability to selectively phase pieces of your body in and out. (We can assume that all the body's processes still work through this.) Then the bits that are phased out are immune to gravity but still have inertia, so you can pick a sweet spot where you're effectively weightless due to the interaction between gravity and centrifugal force. Of course, that's probably low enough that you can't phase out all at once, so you probably can't actually go through any but pretty thin walls unless you want to Tele-Frag.

...You know, Intangible Man is actually a completely worthless power. Either you're immune to gravity, in which case you fly off into space, or you aren't, in which case you fall into the earth's core, or you're immune to both gravity and conservation of momentum, in which case not only have you completely broken physics but the Earth will just leave you behind somewhere in its orbit, or you're not immune to any of it but leave a tiny bit of the sole of your foot tangible to hold you up, in which case you can't walk through walls anyway.

Shinigan (Naruto fanfic)

Exactly. Shapeshifting is so much more dangerous than people give it credit for.

For the sake of not clogging up superpowers with science and other kinds of IRL bullshit, let's just assume Intangible Man powers work like with Kitty Pride and Tyki Mikk.

edited 8th Sep '11 8:36:58 PM by KSPAM

I've got new mythological machinery, and very handsome supernatural scenery. Goodfae: a mafia web serial

And also, if you trip you'll find yourself hanging upside-down through the floor by the soles of your feet, which would suck though be highly amusing to bystanders.

...Yes, I like to over-analyze things, why do you ask?

Re: shapeshifting: You'd also probably need some mind-control or mind-reading power in order to credibly impersonate $WORLD_LEADER to his friends, family, bodyguards, et cetera. The telepathy is much more dangerous on that front.

edited 8th Sep '11 8:39:25 PM by alethiophile

Shinigan (Naruto fanfic)

Eh, impersonate a single receptionist or something. Someone no one will miss, and use him to get information and observe.

I've got new mythological machinery, and very handsome supernatural scenery. Goodfae: a mafia web serial

More dangerous, I would say, is the ability to just look like someone completely nondescript at a moment's notice. That's the sort of thing that could kick off a police state—the only possible security against that is asking people to show a picture ID every thirty steps or so.

But yeah, this mix of powers is much more dangerous than the generic human artillery. If it came down to a war of annihilation we'd be screwed.

Shinigan (Naruto fanfic)

What about the psychological and sociological effects of metahumans? True if any individual gains powers there are not going to become omnicidal maniacs but that doesn't necessarily mean it would easy to adjust to such powers.

"We are just like Irregular Data. And that applies to you too, Ri CO. And as for you, Player... your job is to correct Irregular Data."

Another thing I want to touch on.

I've got new mythological machinery, and very handsome supernatural scenery. Goodfae: a mafia web serial

One detail you might want to add to this world: you'd probably see laws passed (not everywhere, but in some places) that forbid people with superpowers from drinking alcohol or taking any other sort of mind altering/inhibition lowering substance. Obvious reasons.

And with several million super folk in the world, you're gonna have quite a few superpowered addicts who won't want to give up their drug of choice.

edited 9th Sep '11 2:34:39 AM by RavenWilder

If anyone in the world could get these powers couldn't someone in charge of the army's and big bombs get them as well.

whoever is reading this hello

If there are 100,000 supers in the world, that's one in every 70,000. The odds of one of them being a head of state are slim, but a decently high-ranked politician or military leader becoming one seems very possible.

Not just that, but in most first-world nations (like the US), commanding extremely powerful ordinance isn't a decision that just one person (or even a small community of people) can do easily. It takes a lot of protocol and cooperation, and if anyone can be super as stated in the OP's scenario, those security measures are only going to get tighter.

I've considered this scenario too, and these are my conclusions:

First, there would be panic. People who get the powers would freak out, simply because of how unexpected this is- if they suddenly could see through matter or hear other people's thoughts most people wouldn't go "Cool!" they'd go "what's going on with me??" and go tell their friends, get themselves checked by their doctors, etc. And that's not even considering the powers with frightening effects (like a death touch) or disturbing visuals (popping claws from the back of your hand).

Next comes research. EVERYBODY, normal or super, private citizen or government, would want to know what the !@#$ is going on, and WHY. Scientists would rush to do the job, either for its own sake, wanting to help, or thinking "This is where I win a Nobel prize!!" Depending on the cause, they might find out or not. If they do, the governments will do everything they can to reassure the populace. If they don't, expect wacko theories everywhere eg. aliens, conspiracies, the apocalypse, whatever.

Finally comes adapting to it. While this event would *definitely* dominate world news for months, sooner or later a status quo would be reached, if for no other reason that it is human nature to do so, even in wars or disasters. Our minds need it to operate.

And how would we adapt to it? Would there be superheroes? Oh, definitely. We have *plenty* of heroes in Real Life, thank you very much. Most of them don't use violence and/or hardly get the press they deserve, but they have existed and always will: people who just feel it is their place in life to help others. They would not be like the comics heroes -most would never use costumes for one thing- and most would use their abilities in non-dangerous ways (even if you are invulnerable, would you risk pissing of criminals that might kill off your family in return? And no, secret identities just don't work out with today's technology) but expect lots of rescues and charity work to happen especially in poor countries. And Law Enforcement Agencies would definitely have their own squads of supers on call.

But there would also be villains. More so than heroes, I fear, because power corrupts, and superpowers, even more so. (But this justifies the same rate of villains to heroes as in the comics.) Again, no costumes, but spectacular crimes would definitely happen.

But really, THE biggest group of supers would be- people exploiting their abilities in *perfectly* legal ways, just like in the real world. While this might cause a second industrial revolution to happen (regular workers were *very* pissed off to be replaced by machines) eventually things would even out, especially if the secrets of how superpowers work is cracked (subverting Reed Richards Is Useless.) By far the biggest area benefiting from Supers would be the World of Entertainment- because as long as only a fraction of humanity had powers, they would always be the subject of awe (or envy.) Expect lots of superpowered stuntmen in Hollywood, super Pop Idols, etc. The one exception would be sports, because it just wouldn't be fair competition for Muggles. (Though of course, the Supers would get their own special competitions eg "Race Around The World- Literally!")

The first country to offer them full citizenship will win. Every super will flock there, legally or not, to keep from being a second-class citizen. And the countries enforcing this will either have to let them go, kill them, or just admit, "Fuck these guys, they're scary."

Aberrant does that too (though it takes ~50 years). Open war, followed by an ultimatum of "leave, or we nuke everybody". Ironically, all the supers that leave either end up insane, or ruling demigods over a utopia a couple of star systems away.

They don't all need to be enough. Only a very, very small number of them need to be so.

Don't forget the completely legal, peaceful takeover as well - have a super with, say, super charm, or emotional manipulation, getting elected as President/Prime Minister.

Back @ OP: Is this a singular event, or will super-powered individuals continue to appear? Because wiping them out only works if you 1) know how many there are and 2) know how more of them appear. If it's something like X-Men, where mutations appear totally at random, but also breed true, there is no feasible way*

to eliminate every super, because literally any child could be one. If there's a fixed number from a singular event, then unless there's some method to pass along powers, then the supers are doomed, by old age if nothing else.

And if there's some kind of known method to ensure that you can gain superpowers, even if you don't get to choose what they are, then in about 2.1 seconds of that discovery being made it will be all over the internet, and every single person*

with the ability to meet the requirements will be doing so.

That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - Silasw

It's all about concentration of power. If you have a low number of Class 3 (or above)/Rank 3 superhumans OR a high number of of Class 2/Rank 5 superhumans then, we're pretty much screwed. But, if we have a large number of Class 2s with no higher than Rank 4, we can manage. Won't be easy, though...that's for sure.

Humans aren't dumb. If we're aware of supers with this type of ability (and if we're not, that super would have to be very good at covering up sudden personality changes in those s/he influences) then that nullifies their position of power. If they needed to be elected to the position, then that means the process of power is democratic and thus they cheated. If they just use a Compelling Voice to say "Hey, I'm in charge and you're going to like it", then it's the same as the Charles Xavier issue I mentioned earlier. Humans have progressed to the point, these days, that our machines can fight for us.

You mean third. (There were two Industrial Revolutions.) Or, if you're one of those who consider the current Digital Age to be yet another Industrial Revolution, then you mean fourth.

Don't rule out the costumes so quickly. Assuming superhero comics exist in the world prior to the Mass Empowering Event, there are gonna be supers putting on elaborate costumes; the chance to do the ultimate cosplay would be too much for some folks to resist. They might not do actual superheroics, but they'd still probably use their powers to show off and attract media attention. And if the media focuses on the supers playing dress-up enough, eventually some others will follow suit out of herd mentality

I'm not saying it would be common among supers, but it would exist.

In the mind controlling politician scenario, sure, you could take them down from a distance using machines, but then everyone who'd been brainwashed into liking that politician would be out for your blood.

edited 9th Sep '11 10:15:30 AM by RavenWilder

To answer your question, no it is not a one-time event. And no, there is no guarantee that supers will produce super-children. It's completely random, and the cause unknown, with no distinguishable differences between supers and humans (barring the obvious hair-on-fire sort of thing)

I've got new mythological machinery, and very handsome supernatural scenery. Goodfae: a mafia web serial