We Could Be Heroes (with the right set of circumstances)

I've been waiting for this topic since the IMBC started with bated breath, and since I've missed out on the last few IMBC TotD's, I think I'm gonna just write about superpowers today.

My favorite TV show is Heroes. This is the only show in years that I've ever scheduled my life around. Christine and I would have Heroes dates on Monday nights (or Tuesday nights, in front of the laptop, if we were working). That may not seem like a big deal, but for me, the idea that a TV show could consume me so wholly was a shock. I pretty much stopped watching TV in 2002, when I moved to Japan. When I moved home, and TV became comprehensible again, I was AMAZED at how long commercial breaks had  become - or were they always that long? - and I couldn't sit in front of it. Heroes, though? No problem. This show is tailor-made for geeks like me. The first season was incredible, and the second season was still pretty good, even though the pacing was thrown off by a shorter season (thanks a bunch, writers' strike! jk, jk.....You guys do deserve more money.....well, some of you).

The show's main conceit centers around an idea that superpowers are the next step in human evolution. One of the main characters, Mohinder Suresh, is the son of a famous geneticist who puts forth a theory that, during times of great environmental stress, the human species will adapt by manifesting new abilities that we would consider superpowers. (It also seems to have something to do with an eclipse, but not much has really been explained yet. That's what keeps us hardcore types watching......right Lost fans?)

I know it's only fiction, but this is the one sci-fi theory that I seriously hope turns out to be true. We humans have stalled our physical evolution by controlling our living environment, but our mental evolution continues unabated. All of that evolutionary energy is being funnelled into one of the most complex organs produced by the evolutional process itself - maybe that will spur the human brain to evolve and manifest abilities that we would call "superpowers" if we saw someone with them today.

Now, some powers are just outright impossible, IMHO - time travel or time control, for instance. As much as I love Hiro Nakamura, I don't think his power could ever really exist. Why? Well, because I don't think time really exist outside of the human mind. Time is just the mind's measurement of physical change - to travel "back in time" would actually necessitate returning the universe to an exact physical state that it once held. So, not possible, I don't think.

But healing, or self-regeneration? Yes, definitely possible. Mind-reading, telepathy, even telekinesis? Yep, I can see that happening. Increased speed and strength? Well, we see that sometimes when people experience the ability to do things in times of great stress that they couldn't do normally. We've all heard the story about the mother who lifts up a car to rescue her trapped son:

    Super-human strength
   

    Jack Kirby, one of the creators of the Hulk comic book, has said that his inspiration came from seeing a woman         lift a car off her trapped child. “She didn't scream, but she ran over to the car and, very determined, she lifted up the     entire rear of that car”.

    At times of stress, humans are sometimes able to perform great feats of strength. This may be caused by the             release of certain hormones into the body, such as adrenaline or testosterone. They can increase blood flow around     the body, boosting the levels of oxygen and fuel available to muscles.

    Over longer periods of time, they can increase muscle bulk. Other chemicals called endorphins can mask the pain     that over-stretching muscles can cause, allowing you to push your body beyond its natural limits.

    Athletes sometimes use such chemicals to improve their performance. However, they can have extreme        
    side-effects, such as weight gain, depression, and bouts of uncontrollable aggression – rather like the Hulk.

    Although the Hulk’s remarkable colour changes cannot be explained by a steroid boost, they may be related to the     way animals like chameleons and cuttlefish use special colour cells to alter their appearance.

    (Article excerpt from the BBC)

Wow, I guess we might even be able to get camouflage too, then. That would be pretty ballin'.

So, anyway, I think if we're able to survive the mess we're currently in, and we have a chance to keep the human race going another few hundred years, we could eventually start looking like Jedi Masters. I tell you though, I often wish the world had heroes right now. God know we could use something amazing to believe in.

Oh yeah, and Spiderman is the best comic book superhero - and I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK TORBOX SO DON'T EVEN START NO MORE DRAMA KTHXBYE