# What powers would you choose? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 16, 2000, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-powers-would-you-choose/19653 "2000-05-16T08:22:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Koffing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@Koffing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koffing)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2000, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-powers-would-you-choose/19653/1 "2000-05-16T08:22:02Z")
Okay, if you could choose any three powers, barring any omni- powers (omniscience, omnipotence, and the like), what would they be? My three are telepathy, teleportation, and invulnerability. I’d be able to go anywhere, deal with anybody, and it’d be a long time before jumping off of high buildings got boring… ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2000, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-powers-would-you-choose/19653/2 "2000-05-16T09:55:54Z")
I would choose: 1. The ability to levitate apples and caterpillars 2. The ability to listen to shortwave radio through teeth fillings 3. The ability to turn wine into water ---
**Author:** ![Osip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4491bb/32.png) [@Osip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osip)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2000, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-powers-would-you-choose/19653/3 "2000-05-16T12:19:23Z")
I would like to be able to: 1. read 2. write 3. comprehend all languanges. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2000, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-powers-would-you-choose/19653/4 "2000-05-16T12:38:51Z")
Ability to travel via computer. Invisibility (image what you could learn). Ability to survive without sleep. ---
**Author:** ![rubes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@rubes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rubes)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2000, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-powers-would-you-choose/19653/5 "2000-05-16T13:05:32Z")
Ability to not have to eat, sleep or go potty. Think of all the time you’d have available for things… ---
**Author:** ![vandal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/858c86/32.png) [@vandal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vandal)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2000, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-powers-would-you-choose/19653/6 "2000-05-16T16:05:28Z")
1. Ability to seduce women at the mere sight of me. 2. Ability to stop aging at 26. 3. Ability to mind read. ---
**Author:** ![lucyfur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e36b37/32.png) [@lucyfur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lucyfur)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2000, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-powers-would-you-choose/19653/7 "2000-05-16T16:46:30Z")
1. Ability to fly 2. Ability to heal the sick 3. Ability to read minds ---
**Author:** ![delini8r](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@delini8r](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delini8r)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2000, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-powers-would-you-choose/19653/8 "2000-05-16T18:15:58Z")
My three powers: ``` 1. Flying (the ONLY way to....um...get around.) 2. Communicate in any language. 3. X-Ray vision. ``` I wouldn’t want: ``` -Immortality (I think it would get boring) -Mind reading (I tend to ignore what people are saying, why would I be interested in what they're NOT saying?) ``` ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2000, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-powers-would-you-choose/19653/9 "2000-05-16T22:17:51Z")
1. cloaking (not just invisibilty, didja see the X-Files on 5/14?) 2. read AND control the minds of others (bwa-hahahahahahahahahahahaha) 3. teleportation (good for the enviroment!!) 4. fully controllable x-ray vision (excuse me, but could I have THAT scratch-off ticket instead?) 5. I would also like to not have to eat or use the bathroom (split infinitives be damned!) ---
**Author:** ![Elthia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e274bd/32.png) [@Elthia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elthia)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2000, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-powers-would-you-choose/19653/10 "2000-05-16T22:24:25Z")
-Immortality from age 23 onward (no aging)(boring? _laugh_ if it’s boring, it’s because you aren’t finding interest, not because it’s not there) -Flight. Too many dreams, I can’t help it. -Superstrength or superspeed, or the combination (can you even have one without the other without the body tearing itself apart?). -Elthia ok, I’d want to be a female Superman. I can’t help it. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2000, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-powers-would-you-choose/19653/11 "2000-05-16T23:11:44Z")
This was actually a Great Debates topic not too long ago. Here’s what I said then and it bears repeating now. The only power you really need, and it has the advantage of easy acquisition, is **apathy**. Think about it. ---
**Author:** ![junebeetle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@junebeetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/junebeetle)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2000, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-powers-would-you-choose/19653/12 "2000-05-16T23:53:30Z")
Funny you should ask, because I have thought at great length about this very topic. I would choose:[list=1] [li] **The ability to morph:** Imagine being able to become anyone or anything! Be a bird. Or maybe a dolphin when you get tired of flying. You could disguise yourself as another person! You could lead multiple lives![/li][li] **Imperceptibly:** If you get tired of being something, become nothing. I’m not talking mere invisibility either, I’m talking total _discorporation_. You cannot be seen, heard, or felt. You can pass through any solid object. You are a ghost.[/li][li] **Immortality:** At first I thought immortality would be a drag after a few hundred years, but then I realized how much fun I could have with numbers 1 and 2.[/li][/list=1]- JB ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2000, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-powers-would-you-choose/19653/13 "2000-05-17T00:05:34Z")
The superpowers I would like: a) Ever-correctedness. After every sentence I utter, I would like people to say “That’s **so true** ” or “You’re right!” b) I would like to be able to juggle 13 bean bags for 10 minutes without dropping one, while at the same time riding a unicycle. c) I would like the power to be able to clean and put away any pile of dirty dishes, however large, with a snap of my fingers. What more can one want of life? ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2000, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-powers-would-you-choose/19653/14 "2000-05-17T00:41:29Z")
1. Ability to communicate in any language. 2. Ability to shapeshift and 3. to alter my mass (like Odo on DS9). ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2000, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-powers-would-you-choose/19653/15 "2000-05-17T01:35:56Z")
**1) Teleportation** (You imagine where you want to go and there you are… I could visit the Bahamas for the weekend and not have to worry about flight times and jet lag) **2)Manipulation/being of shadows** I could then manipulate the shadows to move stuff or I could listen through them or even be them. (There is the disadvantage of being sensitive to sun when you are shadow but then I would just stay normal then…) **3)eidetic memory** Then I would never forget names and faces or anything or maybe I could just be a Pretender like Jarod… ---
**Author:** ![red\_dragon60](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@red\_dragon60](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/red_dragon60)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2000, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-powers-would-you-choose/19653/16 "2000-05-17T01:43:46Z")
I would want to: Create or destroy things just by thinking about it Be able to stop aging at a certain age Become invisible at will, and have anything I have with me turn also (I saw the X-Files!). ---
**Author:** ![WallyM7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5e925/32.png) [@WallyM7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WallyM7)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2000, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-powers-would-you-choose/19653/17 "2000-05-17T02:51:48Z")
I, on the other hand, wish I could be visible. Nobody ever notices me. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Zero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Saint\_Zero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Zero)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2000, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-powers-would-you-choose/19653/18 "2000-05-17T03:04:39Z")
1. Total Celluar Regeneration: Never get old, never stay hurt. 2. Teleportation. Why Not? 3. understand and communicate in ALL languages. Even Computer Languages. 4. Absolute Time Sense/Perfect Memory/Direction Sense/anything else out of Gurps:Advantages 😃 ---
**Author:** ![dpr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8797f3/32.png) [@dpr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dpr)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2000, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-powers-would-you-choose/19653/19 "2000-05-17T03:35:11Z")
The ability to turn bananas into porkchops - oh wait a sec Scylla’s already claimed that (and as a miracle no less). How about Invulnerability, flight and time travel (just for fun). And Saint Zero obiously NEEDS a better understanding of languages - maths in particular… ---
**Author:** ![Rincewind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@Rincewind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rincewind)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2000, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-powers-would-you-choose/19653/20 "2000-05-17T05:05:47Z")
Having been a comic reader for many, many years, this is a question I have pondered on. In the end I would have to go with: Super strength Super speed and Super agility [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-powers-would-you-choose/19653.md?page=2)