While watching Film Theory's "How to kill Deadpool" on Youtube the person on the video mentioned that the Gates (like in Bill Gates and his wife) are supposedly asking a few high school students (as well as some others) about if they could have 'two super powers' what would it be. I know that such questions are beyond just corny (as well as the first logical choice would be to either be 'God' and/or have a super power that lets be wish for additional super powers if one really could choose ANYTHING), but since the Gates are the one's asking the question I thought it might be sort of a legit thing to talk about.
Here is the link to Bill and Melinda Gates video/annual letter:
https://www.gatesnotes.com/2016-Annual-Letter
Putting my base wants and needs aside for a moment, I think the one 'super power' everyone overlooks is omniscient; the power to know anything and everything. Yeah it would mean your the world's biggest egghead/dork but being an actual real OMNISCIENT being (which the people that create comic really can't pull off, so they rarely even bother with it) would allow a person to easily push the technological envelope of the world; or at least whatever country they work with. Whether or not omniscience means access to knowledge that nobody has discovered that is a bit of a gray area but I'm pretty sure it more or less means at least every thought that any human being ever has had; and possibly many additional thoughts if they had the time and energy to dwell on them. Sort of like that show that use to be on called "Limitless".
Also something regular people, even people who watched the show, don't realize is possible with omniscience is the ability to predict the consequences of any action. This may sound trivial compared to some of the 'tricks' that the character Edward Morra is able to pull off in the show Limitless, however if you stop and think about it it is BECAUSE of Edward Morra partial omniscience, his ability to know things he wouldn't otherwise know, and his ability to know BOTH the HOW to do something, and WHICH course of action will lead to better results. I the show we only get to see what partial omniscience is like because it is pretty much a given that it is IMPOSSIBLE for us to really imagine beyond that. In other threads I have argued till I'm blue about morality being subjective , no 'good'/'evil', can't get an 'ought' from an 'is', etc. but this is based on the fact that human beings are highly limited in what we know and how greatly biased we are even if we try not to be. I can't say what omniscience is like or even partial omniscience is like but to the best of my knowledge it would make one more likely to be either one of Kierkegaard's knight of faith or Nietzsche's Übermensch; which oddly enough Superman is supposedly based off of. Actually I have little knowledge of what Nietzsche actually thought the Übermensch is (Nietzsche rejected nearly every human being that existed when he tried to come up with an example) but at least he considered people like Leonardo Da Vinci, Alexander the Great, Joan of Arc, etc. and it should be obvious how total or even limited omniscience would enable someone to more likely be a great artist, diplomat, leader, or anything else they wish to become. Perhaps they might even be able to be each of these things like how Leonardo Da Vinci was supposed to be able to master several subjects that most people a good part of their life to specialize in just one.
I think if anyone could have total or even limited omniscience (without having to take pills, and getting your brain fried from them within a year of course) that would be great. Obviously having regenerative powers/immortality like Deadpool/Wolverine would be just as tempting or even more so since if you never died you could learn more as you live several centuries (if you don't go mad doing so) and eventually civilization would advance enough to provide some kind of limited omniscience; or at least hopefully we will get to that point. If one could have both it would be almost perfect, but if I had to choose just one it would be the later for the reasons I just described. A third option if I had to choose something else would be time/space manipulation (sort of like the stuff in the Butterfly Effect, Bio Shock Infinity, Singularity, etc) but since time manipulation is a bit of a craps shoot since it is something harder to predict it's usefulness and issues. Potentially it could be better than the first two choices. After that it is mostly just boring and or impossible stuff, with the exception of Alpha Centauri's Mind Machine Interface(MMI) which is a technology that promises to get us closer to limited omniscience then is possible with current technology and nootropics .
MMI/Brain–computer interface
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain%E2%8..._interface
On one last note, I will honestly have to admit when asked about having TWO 'super powers' my first thoughts where whether I wanted to be like someone like Deadpool who also had powers similar to that of John Holmes, or be like someone like Edward Morra who also had powers similar to that of John Holmes; instead of being someone with both the powers of Deadpool and Edward Morra. If I really think about it being John Holmes isn't quite as useful as the other two, but being a guy it is hard not to consider being John Holmes one of the options.
Here is the link to Bill and Melinda Gates video/annual letter:
https://www.gatesnotes.com/2016-Annual-Letter
Putting my base wants and needs aside for a moment, I think the one 'super power' everyone overlooks is omniscient; the power to know anything and everything. Yeah it would mean your the world's biggest egghead/dork but being an actual real OMNISCIENT being (which the people that create comic really can't pull off, so they rarely even bother with it) would allow a person to easily push the technological envelope of the world; or at least whatever country they work with. Whether or not omniscience means access to knowledge that nobody has discovered that is a bit of a gray area but I'm pretty sure it more or less means at least every thought that any human being ever has had; and possibly many additional thoughts if they had the time and energy to dwell on them. Sort of like that show that use to be on called "Limitless".
Also something regular people, even people who watched the show, don't realize is possible with omniscience is the ability to predict the consequences of any action. This may sound trivial compared to some of the 'tricks' that the character Edward Morra is able to pull off in the show Limitless, however if you stop and think about it it is BECAUSE of Edward Morra partial omniscience, his ability to know things he wouldn't otherwise know, and his ability to know BOTH the HOW to do something, and WHICH course of action will lead to better results. I the show we only get to see what partial omniscience is like because it is pretty much a given that it is IMPOSSIBLE for us to really imagine beyond that. In other threads I have argued till I'm blue about morality being subjective , no 'good'/'evil', can't get an 'ought' from an 'is', etc. but this is based on the fact that human beings are highly limited in what we know and how greatly biased we are even if we try not to be. I can't say what omniscience is like or even partial omniscience is like but to the best of my knowledge it would make one more likely to be either one of Kierkegaard's knight of faith or Nietzsche's Übermensch; which oddly enough Superman is supposedly based off of. Actually I have little knowledge of what Nietzsche actually thought the Übermensch is (Nietzsche rejected nearly every human being that existed when he tried to come up with an example) but at least he considered people like Leonardo Da Vinci, Alexander the Great, Joan of Arc, etc. and it should be obvious how total or even limited omniscience would enable someone to more likely be a great artist, diplomat, leader, or anything else they wish to become. Perhaps they might even be able to be each of these things like how Leonardo Da Vinci was supposed to be able to master several subjects that most people a good part of their life to specialize in just one.
I think if anyone could have total or even limited omniscience (without having to take pills, and getting your brain fried from them within a year of course) that would be great. Obviously having regenerative powers/immortality like Deadpool/Wolverine would be just as tempting or even more so since if you never died you could learn more as you live several centuries (if you don't go mad doing so) and eventually civilization would advance enough to provide some kind of limited omniscience; or at least hopefully we will get to that point. If one could have both it would be almost perfect, but if I had to choose just one it would be the later for the reasons I just described. A third option if I had to choose something else would be time/space manipulation (sort of like the stuff in the Butterfly Effect, Bio Shock Infinity, Singularity, etc) but since time manipulation is a bit of a craps shoot since it is something harder to predict it's usefulness and issues. Potentially it could be better than the first two choices. After that it is mostly just boring and or impossible stuff, with the exception of Alpha Centauri's Mind Machine Interface(MMI) which is a technology that promises to get us closer to limited omniscience then is possible with current technology and nootropics .
MMI/Brain–computer interface
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain%E2%8..._interface
On one last note, I will honestly have to admit when asked about having TWO 'super powers' my first thoughts where whether I wanted to be like someone like Deadpool who also had powers similar to that of John Holmes, or be like someone like Edward Morra who also had powers similar to that of John Holmes; instead of being someone with both the powers of Deadpool and Edward Morra. If I really think about it being John Holmes isn't quite as useful as the other two, but being a guy it is hard not to consider being John Holmes one of the options.
