My preferred superpower would be omniscience. I think that kinda trumps all the other ones, doesn’t it? And in my experience, it’s possible to get that superpower, except you only get it after going through a bunch of lives and all kinds of hell, and once you have it you’re not allowed to show off.

But bear in mind that I’m out of my stinkin’ skull. After all, it’s my belief that the universe isn’t merely a physical hologram, it’s a spiritual one also. But I’m moving beyond science into speculation, ain’t I…

The Universe is a Hologram - (I guess we’re flatlanders, eh?) http://free.naplesplus.us/articles/view.php/42731/the-universe-is-a-hologram-and-we-are-really-flatlanders.

I remember reading somewhere that there is a purported gender bias: Girls tend to pick flying as their superpower whereas boys tend to pick being invisible. I suppose then that physics nerds wish to be able to control gravity, or my favorite, alter the fundamental constants of the universe.

I doubt there is a single person who hasn’t wished for superpowers at some point in their life. I had often waffled between which one (assuming I could have only one) I would want. Telekinesis? Flying? Invisibility? Super strength?

Then, many years ago, I started to become interested in physics and started to read popular books on the subject. I tried to read Einstein’s book on the relativity but soon realized that I wasn’t ready (I was all of 17). Then I discovered Hawking’s ”Brief History” and found it to be a perfect fit.

Halfway through the book I realized something. If my superpower was the ability to control gravity then I could have all the superpowers above! The most interesting aspect of this is the power to bend light around myself and other things. If I could control gravity precisely, this wouldn’t be an issue at all! Of course this is complete fantasy because I can’t really conceive of a way to generate the energy necessary to bend space-time and what-not, but then I found this.

Crazy, no? The most interesting part of my little fantasy may soon become reality!

Ok fine, one more try, Richard said:

”You think all those glowing celestial clouds are lit up by fireflies or radioactive paint do you?”

You are committing an ad hominen fallacy, one that you accuse ’all of us’ in committing in the form of ”…Character assassinations, ostracism, ridicule, condescension, claims of miseducation, claims of mental illness, even death threats.”

”We know now that the sun makes electrical connections with the earth several times an hour, and that these ’magnetic ropes’ are the source of the northern lights (transferring vast amounts of energy into the upper atmosphere at a rate of hundreds of gigawatts for hours at a time.)”

Ok, great. Compute the force exerted on the Earth by the Sun gravitationally versus magnetically, or show by citation to experiment that the magnetic force has materially altered the orbit of the Earth.

”We also know that magnetic north differs from real north because of the sun’s magnetic field.”

Incorrect, the major reason that the poles are not collinear is that the magnetic pole is determined by the molten iron core of the Earth, it wanders, and in fact changes polarity every so often (i’m not going to cite anymore, Google it.)

”Science should be about reason and evidence, the careful study of reality, and the proposition of testable models to fit observable phenomena.”

Agreed, but you have failed to provide any supporting arguments or data and are merely making statements and claims. Fine, you’re a young guy, get your education, degrees, do the research and write and defend your papers. When you do that, we will pay attention. Go ahead. I’ll wait.