• Question: What super powers do humans potentially have now that we could use if we learnt how

    Asked by cosmo to Hannah, Ian, Jono on 27 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Hannah Brotherton

      Hannah Brotherton answered on 27 Jun 2013:

      Hi cosmo,
      So superpowers….now I am a fan of Marvel and DC comics, so i know quite a bit about superpowers….keep a look out for the Ant Man film coming out in 2015 (it isn’t as rubbish as it sounds lol) 😛

      So humans have the ability to memorize a lot of things – we have the human calculator who can remember every number you say to him and do every sum in the world.
      We have two women in America that can remember everything and I mean EVERYTHING they have ever down in their life – the time, day, location, what they were wearing.
      We have people with photographic memory, who can draw real life pictures from just one look
      We have a man with super strength and agility who can climb mountains and buildings without any equipment
      We have a woman who can hold her breath for 19 minutes and swim to the deepest a human can swim in the ocean

      Humans do have superpowers – maybe not laser eyes or flying (without a plane :P) . They can do these things because of their genes and pure training.

      If you train enough at something you can be the best and sometimes event he only one that can do it – so you are unique and looks like you have a superpower.

      But I had a chat with another student about what superpower could we have if we used our whole brain…….we only use 40% of our brain. But we have so much electricity inside it. Could you imagine how much electricity we would have inside our brain if we used 100%????
      Could this mean we could power things with our minds. Does this mean we could influence the atoms in the air using the electrons (electric particles) in our minds?
      Does this mean we could just build anything, absolutely anything in the world – and our superpower is pure intelligence?

      So we have a lot of superpowers already in the world – from these rare people. But I think when we continue to evolve as a species, will we have more and more people with different ‘powers’ and when we get to use our whole brain, I can’t even imagine what the human race could do………Telekinesis???? that’s is the super power I want to have – to move things with our mind.

      What super power would you want?

      BTW here is the link for the superpowers we already have – like the women that can remember EVERYTHING.

      http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/extraordinary-people-rainman-twins/

    • Photo: Jono Bone

      Jono Bone answered on 27 Jun 2013:

      Hey Cosmo,

      A super power is a power that’s super human. So by that definition humans don’t have super powers (except maybe Derren Brown).
      Humans have a amazing power that other animals don’t have and thats the ability to expand upon knowledge and findings discovered by past generations. Chimpanzees can use tools, they can learn and remember, and they are able to express thought and emotion. But, what one generation learns is not passed down to the next, so for apes it is a reoccuring cycle of learning how to use sticks as tools from one generation to the next. In humans, once a new science has been learned, new technology found, the generations after that use this new knowledge to further progress.

    • Photo: Ian Wilson

      Ian Wilson answered on 27 Jun 2013:

      Hey cosmo,

      I don’t think that we have any superpowers, as such – certainly there aren’t going to be X-Men appearing all over the world any time soon. (Although that would be so cool!). The thing is, superpowers in comics and movies come from mutations in our DNA. Now, this happens all the time – you probably have a fair few mutations yourself!

      But any big mutations – say, ones that would make lasers shoot out of our eyes, like Cyclops – would be incredibly unlikely to happen. Cells with really badly mutated DNA tend to kill themselves because they recognise that there’s a big problem. If they didn’t, the chances are that the person with the mutation wouldn’t live very long anyway – our bodies have evolved to be the way they are for very good reasons. They’re the best way for us to survive in our habitats.

      What we do get though, are people who can do things better than others. Take Usain Bolt – he can run faster than any other human when he’s at his best. His body is just really well adapted to running but his speed is more than most humans can achieve. So he could be seen as having a superpower in a way. I think that’s the closest we’ll get to superheroes though, I’m afraid 🙁

      I want to be Spiderman, but I hate spiders so don’t really want to have to be bitten first….

      Cheers,

      Ian

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