I would argue that it depends on if you’re the only person who can do what you do. For example, let’s say Spiderman walks past a burning building. While he could do something to help (for example, use his webbing to secure the structure more) he’s not morally or ethically obliged to do so - there are already people there who can deal with the situation, and for him to risk his life could be considered wrong because there may be some future situation where he is needed because of his special abilities.
If there’s a person in that building, i’d say Spiderman again is not obliged to help. While his talents would be useful, if there are trained, professioanl firemen there, they can handle that situation without his aid. (if on the other hand they cannot risk going in, go with the point below).
If there’s a person inside the building, and no firecrew is present, then yes, Spiderman is obliged to help.
I am now one serious crime fighting guy. I think I would specialize in organized crime. I need a sidekick who happens to be an honest FBI agent, and a list of the most honest prosecutors in the nearest jurisdictions. Fortunately, finding them is a fairly easy exercise.
So, I wander around where the known mob guys hang out. Since telepathic evidence is not admissible, I just feed facts to the FBI guy, and “listen in” from home when the interrogations are being done. Then my interrogator types up an entirely complete and accurate confession, and offers the defendant a chance to plead out, or defend himself against all the named codefendants he might have. He has to decide just who the snitch is among his close friends.
Crooked judges, and prosecutors are very high on the list, of course, since their existence creates the power of the mob.
And then your FBI guy is up on the stand, where he’s sworn to tell the truth, and he’s asked how his investigation developed the facts he used to turn the snitch.
And the mob guys try to wipe you out. But, of course, you being invulnerable, they can’t.
So how’s your mom doing? Your dad? Your kid sister?
A modified procedure: write a letter to the FBI, taking the normal precautions, giving them the detailed information that they’ll need. Send it anonymously.
At this point, you stand a decent chance of saying free. You can even tell the FBI that if you become aware that they’re trying to find your identity, the letters will stop.
Maybe a concrete example - was Superman morally obligated to join in the fight in World War II? IIRC, he was 4-F because he accidentally used his X-ray vision to read the eye chart in the next room, and was thus rejected. Which is fine for Clark Kent, but what about his Superman persona?
Again, IIRC, he excused himself with some lame thing about how our brave boys didn’t need his help, but that seems self-serving at best.
Suppose he could have at least accelerated the end of the war, or flown over to Europe and liberated the death camps while the Allies did the heavy lifting. Or just flown to Berlin and grabbed Herr Schickelgruber and his minions and dropped them off in Washington.
Was he wrong not to have done so?
My take is yes, the Man of Steel was wrong. Since the gravity of the situation required a draft, thus depriving ordinary citizens of their freedom, Superman should have volunteered his special talents and thus benefitted humanity by bringing a quick end to the conflict, and victory for Truth, Justice and the American Way.
Same thing for a mind-reader nowadays. Use your telepathy to find bin Laden and other terrorists, hand them over to the proper authorities, and thus do your bit for world peace.
There was actually a superhero game with this question as its central theme: both the Axis and the Allies have soldiers with superpowers, and they’ve got all kinds of interesting involvements in the battles. I never played it, but I heard great things about it: Godlike.
I’m telepathic. Annonymous tips that are 100% accurate over time give my agent a fairly good reason to investigate easily verifiable facts. The facts in the “confession” are of no legal weight, unless the mob guy decides to sign it. Convincing him that someone else has squealed is deception, which is legal.
And being telepathic, I am in on the plans to shoot my invisible invulnerable entirely annonymous ass. So, I stand in front of the hittee of opportunity, and take a bullet. At that point, I can just shoot his ass. Setting off the bomb early is less legal, but equally trivial, and harmless. (Well, harmless to me, at least.)
Well, mom and dad are dead. But, anyone even thinking about retribution against my loved ones, assuming they can figure out who they are finds out that the thing he most fears in all the world is the common knowlege of his every enemy. And he starts hearing voices, too.
Well, I am not sure, but the biggest drawback is how am I going to walk past all the petty abusers in the world on my way to take out the Kingpin of Crime? A serious dilemma.
IIRC, the DC explanation is that Hitler had the Lance of Longinus, which could compel any superhuman in range to serve Hitler, among other powers. Here’s something I just googled : Link
Well, if it was me - assuming they somehow found out who I was in the first place, which would be hard with the powers and situation Triskadecamus specified - I’d warn them off. I’d point out that they can fight legally - and maybe even win - or they can escalate things to a more violent level. Do they really want an invulnerable, invisible telepathic assassin coming after them ?
And yes, I would consider that ethical; using force to protect others is quite ethical, illegal or not, especially when the law can’t or won’t do the job. Only if force is the only option, however, which is why I would warn them first. Besides, it’s not like they could run and hide from a telepath; I’d know where they were running to, after all.
For those who expressed doubt, two ethical ways to make money off telepathy:
Take the Randi Challenge and accept your $1,000,000.
Get an agent. Come up with a cool stage show (“The Amazing Valgard, Mind-Reader”) and perform as a “real” magician with actual powers. You’ll fill concert halls, or sell out prime-time specials (for a while at least).
In both cases you are being totally above-board, doing nothing unethical that I can think of, and people are paying to watch you perform exactly as you say you can.
Other possibilities - become a universal translator. Talk to those who can’t otherwise communicate. Check whether those folks in a collapsed building are still alive.
Would winning at poker via telepathy be ethical? I don’t think so, since you are using information that is simply unavailable to any other player.
Is using your superstrength to be the world’s best football player ethical? Well if you keep it a secret then I’d say definitely. If you are totally upfront about it…harder question, I think it’d be shaky ground for sure, however I predict (non-psychically of course) that you’d have a very short career since you would either be banned when the NFL realizes that you can make a mockery of the game or you’d be unhirable when the owners realize that there’s no point in playing against you.
That’s not the same as Lance Armstrong - he’s human, not inhuman. There have been athletes with his potential and there will be many more. Lance also practices like a madman, he didn’t just wake up one day and presto, he’s a world-champion cyclist.
Actually, on those lines, there is already a big problem. Tiger Woods apparently had laser surgery on his eyes to give himself something more than 20/20 vision (apparently something like 22/20).
Which means, he has performance enhancing surgery. So, apparently, if he found some way to subject himself to some kind of superpower-surgery, he’d still be allowed to play with normal people .
I don’t think Spider-Man is a good example. He didn’t subject himself to any process deliberately; it happened to him. He bears no more responsibility or credit for his super-powers than Nightcrawler does.
IN a thread in Cafe **Der trihs ** mentioned the Purple Man
Here’s a guy with a cool and subtle power. Although there would be great temptation to this kind of power there could be many ways to use it to help people and still make a bundle. You could be a counselor who helped people to stop smoking, other addictions, lose weight, fight unhealthy compulsions, recover from traumatic events.
According to the link his power fades to varying degrees when people are not in his physical presence so that would mean repeat business.
There was a thread a year or so ago about what superpowers you’d like to have, and what you’d do with them. The best suggestion was choosing invulnerability and super strength, going to Iraq, and letting yourself be captured by insurgents. Imagine their surprise when they tried to cut off your head! You could be a badass Special Forces or CIA operative and serve your country well; no ethical problem there.
And I wouldn’t mind being able to fly, come to think of it.
For a great book on both the opportunities and perils of mind control, however, check out Joe Haldeman’s Tool of the Trade. Fun and thought-provoking.
Re: the SuperBricker as golfer – as long as you post your proper index (of -54) then it’s ethical. Not much fun, but ethical, I suppose. If you don’t post your proper index, or manipulate your index by the other means that Bricker mentioned (i.e., not trying to win all the time, etc.), then it’s called sandbagging. It’s unethical, and if you weren’t SuperBricker you might also get your ass kicked.
Re: the ESPBricker playing poker – if you don’t tell the others that you can read minds, then it is unethical, and cheating. It’d be like being a computer hacker that gets to see all the cards in an online poker game. If you tell the truth, then, again, ethical I suppose, and not much fun. If they believe you, you won’t be playing much. And in any case you might have a problem filling seats at your game after a while.
Oh, by the way, on the subject of winning at gambling because of your powers, whatever they might be:
Casinos don’t actually care how you win more than the break. If you do, you are not welcome to come back, and the major owners do share that information.
It’s not a sport. There are rules, but the Big Rule is, “Thou shalt not win against the house, and if thou shalt win today, tomorrow thou shalt loose, or go home.”
I always believed one of the greatest dangers of superpowers would be ‘bad behavior enablement’. There was an episode of the Powerpuff Girls where they did so much of the work, they were being taken for granted. Cops wouldnt chase bank robbers. I think kids were jumping off building and screaming for help.
Yeah, he could have helped in WWII. But a foreign policy that assumes Superman will always there to pull America’s ass out of the fire might have led to WWIII, WWIV & WWV.
Superman’s involvment in Vietnam might have resulted in a 50 anniversay of us supporting a corrupt, ineffectual South Vietnam. Assuming he doesn’t get himself killed opening up a lead box booby-trapped with a Kryptonite IED.
I hate to say it, but that’s how we are. If we really did have a guy who could cure cancer with a touch, you would have guys in line with lung cancer still puffing away with no intentions of quiting after being ‘touched’. Companies would dump chemicals, pay a small fine and say, “What the big deal?”.
