What would society be like in this scenario? (just for fun)

This was inspired by somewhat similar scenario in a book or a website I read sometime ago (sorry I can’t recall the author to give due credit, I’m not ripping them off) and by the TV show Heroes.

The scenario is that sometime in the near future while everyone is going about their normal business there is a strange flash in the sky lasting a few seconds and visible on a global scale. After the initial surprise and news headlines there doesn’t seem to have been any immediate effects and most people just brush it off as an odd and inexplicable occurrence.

Flash forward several weeks and it becomes apparent that something very odd has in fact occurred, people gradually discover that they’ve gained unusual powers and abilities…in fact everyone has gained a ‘power’ of some sort. Or at least anyone over the age of puberty, with those who go through this at a later date gaining their power when they mature.

These can cover the classic superpowers such as super-strength, super-speed or telekinesis or other more exotic or unusual abilities (gravity manipulation for example). However some other things also become apparent, no person has more than one power and they are limited in some ways, for example someone with superstrength can on average lift a car with the most powerful being able to lift a truck, someone with superspeed can run at several hundred miles per hour but not ‘Flash’ like speeds, someone who can teleport can only travel line of sight or to places they can can remember well enough but if the place has changed since then they may find themselves inside a wall, someone with invulnerablility can only turn the power on for about twenty seconds at a time before having to recharge or is invulnerable to blunt trauma but not fire or chemicals etc you get the idea, powerful but limited.

In addition in the range of ability no power is utterly useless though some may be of questionable utility (the ability to turn your hair any colour at a whim, even to hues not seen in nature) and while most people are of average ability there are no standouts, their are several hundred people worldwide of the top power range for any given power.

ie: there are no godlike utterly invincible superpeople running around.

What would society be like in this scenario, the police? Politics? Sports? etc?

And just for fun give yourself a power of your choice and say what you would do with it. :smiley:

btw one of the most important powers is nullification, with this the person can nullify any powers in their immediate vicinity or permanently nullify an object so that other peoples powers can’t effect it, eg someone with invulnerabilty turned on can be hit with nullified bullets like normal or a telekinetic can’t manipulate a nullified object for example and so on.

Ever read Xanth?

Abberant touched on this as well.

My first thought, as well. From “spot-on-the-wall” to Magician-class.

also, see the Wild Cards series of books, edited by George R.R. Martin, about a plague that does much the same thing.

If I recall correctly, the plague also devastated society because for every person with a superspower, there were a number of people who suffered negative effects.

Been a while since I’ve read any of them, but an interesting take on the OP’s scenario.

Or read the old Marvel Comics New Universe series of titles.

Wild Cards was what I came in to mention. Great series, Martin did a bang up job editing it. Too bad he can’t do the same with his own work :frowning: