From: Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Mon May 31 1999 - 06:43:32 MDT
Elizabeth Childs <echilds@linex.com> writes:
> Interesting how so many superheroes gained their powers in some kind of
> accident that would probably be repeatable. For example, Peter Parker
> was working with nuclear material and there was an accident that
> combined him with a spider, right? Well, couldn't that be reproduced?
> It's a classic serendipitous discovery, like finding out that the mold
> growing on your petri dishes kills bacteria. It should be possible to
> figure out the methodology that could make everyone who wanted to be a
> SpiderTransHuman.
This is of course my pet peevee with superhero stories - they
completely forget that practically everything is replicable, so if you
can make one superhero with the superserum, then you can make
hundreds. Even if the original invention is lost, others can replicate
it - especially since they now know it is possible.
Story-wise, it is of course a good thing only to have individual
superheroes and villains, otherwise things would turn too strange. But
it would be fun to really write a "superhero" story where these powers
were becoming more and more common, and parents might start thinking
about going to enhancement centers for their children (wouldn't *you*
want your child to be nearly indestructible?), and all the social
effects of this.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension!
asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/
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