# What If Everybody In Africa Suddenly Became Superhuman? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 20, 2013, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everybody-in-africa-suddenly-became-superhuman/661506 "2013-06-20T21:04:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AHeinrich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecccb3/32.png) [@AHeinrich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHeinrich)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everybody-in-africa-suddenly-became-superhuman/661506/1 "2013-06-20T21:04:36Z")
OK, firstly don’t be offended or shocked. If Europe or the Americas had been as poverty-stricken, I would have said “What If Everybody in Europe or America became superhuman”. I merely picked that continent which suffers the most hardship. And secondly, I almost certainly do not seek to denigrate or insult entire peoples as I’m sure the reason Africa is in such a state is due to a range of highly complex factors ranging to environmental, economic, cultural and historical issues. > [@](#): > > But let us go into the hypothetical world for a second. Let us say every _Sub-Saharan_ African (and those descendants in the diaspora - e.g. Caribbean, African-American etc) became “superhuman” - and it does not matter how (let us put that to one side for now - you could just explain it away by saying “hidden benevolent aliens” or whatever). > > By “superhuman”, I don’t mean comic-book superhero as such - rather, I mean, taller, greater and more robust skeletal and muscular systems, stronger bodies, more intelligent (do not take it the wrong way - all of us could be more intelligent), more rational, able to survive on little to no sleep for weeks, able to survive for little to no food for a week, able to stay on heightened alert for dozens of hours, can work (intellectually or physically) for dozens of hours, can run at a constant rapid pace for hours on end before needing light rest and recuperative nutrition and can learn rapidly and have a strong eidetic memory, enhanced creativity and whatnot. Take note, that although their bodies and brains etc are larger, through some sort of advanced efficient systematic processes that we have not yet discovered (after all, it was super-advanced benevolent aliens that “helped” us!), they are able to consume less resources, but still work at a higher than normal rate for dozens of hours on end. > > Amazingly, amongst each other, these “Neo-Sub-Saharan Africans” are much more harmonious with each other (than now) and are much much less religious and no longer ascribe great importance to differences (e.g. cultural and ethnic differences) and are therefore a lot (a lot!) more open to the idea of creating a Pan-African State. With this in mind, how long do you think it would take Africa to reach third-world status? I mean, even now, Kenya hopes to reach such in under 20 years - so with “superhumans”, how long for the rest of Africa to follow? How long do you think it would take for them to build cities (or supercities) from scratch? Is there even enough material on the planet for such cities to be built? - Take note: They are in no way “Nietzchean”, so they’re not suddenly going to become hegemonic and evil to all things “Non-African”. Rather, they’re entirely cooperative and willing to advance humanity as a whole.\* I’m very interested in hearing SDers thoughts on this one - should be interesting, right? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everybody-in-africa-suddenly-became-superhuman/661506/2 "2013-06-20T21:08:15Z")
They would still be fighting like they do. It would just be more devastating. ---
**Author:** ![AHeinrich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecccb3/32.png) [@AHeinrich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHeinrich)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everybody-in-africa-suddenly-became-superhuman/661506/3 "2013-06-20T21:11:17Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > They would still be fighting like they do. It would just be more devastating. You don’t seem to have read the entire OP - it clearly states that they’re much more harmonious towards each other and differences in culture ethnicity and whatnot seem petty. Also, even as they’re not superhuman now, several African states are already on their way to becoming developed harmonious nations within the next two decades and beyond (I gave the example of Kenya). So, of course, with this in mind, and with all due respect, it would seem that your response errs slightly. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everybody-in-africa-suddenly-became-superhuman/661506/4 "2013-06-20T21:28:34Z")
Where did you get the quoted part of your OP? Because that part about the benevolent aliens is…interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everybody-in-africa-suddenly-became-superhuman/661506/5 "2013-06-20T22:02:42Z")
> [@AHeinrich](#): > > You don’t seem to have read the entire OP - it clearly states that they’re much more harmonious towards each other and differences in culture ethnicity and whatnot seem petty. > > Also, even as they’re not superhuman now, several African states are already on their way to becoming developed harmonious nations within the next two decades and beyond (I gave the example of Kenya). > > So, of course, with this in mind, and with all due respect, it would seem that your response errs slightly. 🙂 There is always discord. There is always harmony and discord. ---
**Author:** ![AHeinrich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecccb3/32.png) [@AHeinrich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHeinrich)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everybody-in-africa-suddenly-became-superhuman/661506/6 "2013-06-20T22:11:32Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > There is always discord. There is always harmony and discord. I can understand that - but you must have at least some ounce of confidence in our fellow humans on the dark continent (which is lighting up very fast mind you!). A number of African countries are already on their way to becoming “developed” within the next couple of decades and they’re not even the “Neo-Sub-Saharan Africans” mentioned in the OP. Many groups and parts of the human race have their growing phase and have issues along the way - I mean, what if we were chatting thousands of years ago or something when Europe was full of cavemen and the sphere of importance was in the Arab world and other regions - we wouldn’t just say, “Huh, those Europeans, they’ll certainly be troublesome forever” or whatever - look at Europe (and America) now. This was simply a trip to the hypothetical - really, it would seem that if Sub-Saharan Africans became so-called “Neo-Sub-Saharan Africans”, they would only advance quicker than they would otherwise do in real life (i.e. less than a decade in the hypothetical, as opposed to a few decades in real life). ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everybody-in-africa-suddenly-became-superhuman/661506/7 "2013-06-20T23:38:00Z")
Evolution doesn’t work that way, although Africa is probably where the first super-habilis and the first super-erectus (heh) people arose. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everybody-in-africa-suddenly-became-superhuman/661506/8 "2013-06-21T00:26:49Z")
AHeinrich my response was, a joking I didn’t catch your modifier response. Ignore the guy behind the curtain. OZ. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everybody-in-africa-suddenly-became-superhuman/661506/9 "2013-06-21T00:36:41Z")
Your hypotheticals are getting weirder, I’ll give you that. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everybody-in-africa-suddenly-became-superhuman/661506/10 "2013-06-21T00:46:25Z")
You mean…we’re \*not \*superhuman? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everybody-in-africa-suddenly-became-superhuman/661506/11 "2013-06-21T00:48:07Z")
Only if you count dancing. “Black people save the world like _this_…” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everybody-in-africa-suddenly-became-superhuman/661506/12 "2013-06-21T00:52:34Z")
> [@AHeinrich](#): > > With this in mind, how long do you think it would take Africa to reach third-world status? Awesome typo. ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everybody-in-africa-suddenly-became-superhuman/661506/13 "2013-06-21T04:13:39Z")
My first thought was “Oh Shit”. Cos you take a whole lot of people who have a whole lot of nothing, many of whom have been experiencing war and poverty their whole lives and suddenly make them bigger; stronger; faster; smarter etc, I’m not expecting them to all sit around and plan for how to rebuild countries over generations, I’m expecting them to up and take whatever the fuck they want. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everybody-in-africa-suddenly-became-superhuman/661506/14 "2013-06-21T05:44:27Z")
If the aliens are giving them all those advantages, they might as well make them white while they’re at it. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everybody-in-africa-suddenly-became-superhuman/661506/15 "2013-06-21T07:28:12Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Only if you count dancing. I do count dancing. And James Brown had a cape and everything. > [@](#): > > “Black people save the world like _this_…” And white people save the world like _[this](http://coedmagazine.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/lol-white-people-dancing-1.gif)_. ETA: drastic quench…I can’t. You are killing me. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everybody-in-africa-suddenly-became-superhuman/661506/16 "2013-06-21T07:31:20Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > I do count dancing. And James Brown had a cape and everything. > > And white people save the world like _[this](http://coedmagazine.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/lol-white-people-dancing-1.gif)_. > > ETA: drastic quench…I can’t. You are killing me. Black people save the world like [this](http://media2.giphy.com/media/pRZR9cVP9lxQs/giphy.gif), right? ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everybody-in-africa-suddenly-became-superhuman/661506/17 "2013-06-21T07:32:29Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > Black people save the world like [this](http://media2.giphy.com/media/pRZR9cVP9lxQs/giphy.gif), right? Damn. That was unexpected. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everybody-in-africa-suddenly-became-superhuman/661506/18 "2013-06-21T17:48:26Z")
> [@AHeinrich](#): > > …these “Neo-Sub-Saharan Africans” are much more harmonious …and are therefore a lot (a lot!) more open to the idea of creating a Pan-African State. Here’s my hypothesis; These harmonious superhuman Africans that are suddenly quite open to the creation of a Pan-African state (a lot!) will, wait for it, create a Pan- African state! Bet you didn’t see that one coming.