absolute power corrupts absolutely

[Durzan]

I'd go with the most OP power imaginable... Reality Warping. If I can bend space and time itself to my will just like Rand Al'Thor can at the end of wheel of time... heh heh heh... no one is safe. I could warp reality so that I was the smartest person in the world, or give myself other super powers, etc.

Of course, it would take time for me to learn how to use my power, so reality warping would start small and simple at first... willing my car keys to be in my pocket for instance.

Corruption for me would probably be how long it takes me to go from wanting to be genuinely benevolent (I'd consider myself to be Neutral Good at best and True Neutral with slightly good leanings at worst) to deciding to screwing around with people for the lolz (Chaotic Neutral style; I doubt I would ever turn to malevolent practices in my life, even with reality warping powers).

Of course, by that point I'd probably be in a constant state equivalent to being high, so I'd probably be completely insane (I'm already a little bit unhinged as it is).

[GrayDeath]

Depends how you define "corrupt", I guess. It's a wonderfully non-specific term that can mean almost whatever the user wants it to mean, at this point.

If you mean "how long before I start using the powers for personal benefit and/or entertainment?" then almost certainly no time whatsoever. If nothing else, since it's easier to get things done inside the system than without it, my first actions would probably be to advance my own position. And because I like doing nice things for the people I love, my friends and family would also see some benefit from it.

Before I even did that I'd probably mess about with my powers a bit just to check how they worked, and that would largely entail doing things "for fun".

That aside, however, I would generally be endeavouring to use my powers for good or at worst my own benefit. I'd be trying to change the world for the better and if in order to do that I have to give myself some collateral benefits or even just feel I deserve some reward for that, I'm not going to feel guilty about it even in abstraction.

But if the question is "how long before I turn to evil?" then that's much more variable. It would probably happen gradually in response to external stimuli: I'd reach for extreme measures to solve extreme problems, and then the extreme measures would become normalised, and eventually I'd find I stopped drawing a moral distinction. That's the sort of thing that tends to happen to good people given too much power even of the mundane variety and I have no reason to suppose I'm likely to fare any better in that regard.

Of course the only way to test it would be to put myself in that situation. It's very difficult to judge how you'd react to circumstances you've never experienced.

I give it a year tops before I go all Injustice Superman on the world. I'd start out trying to be good and all, but quickly do worse and worse stuff against the horrible people in the world and soon start forcing everyone else to follow my ideas of what's good for people. Obviously, I'm convinced of my rightness and righteousness, and for a lot of people life would get better. It would come at the cost of freedom, fear and loss of free will for a lot of people, though.

These 2 sum it up rather well, I think that might happen to me.

However more detailed:
Assuming I`d get that chance I would opt for flight, Invulnerability, Super Strength, at least one form of Energy/Telekinetic Manipulation on a "Grand Scale", and very important: the Ability to open Portals to just about anywhere or another FTL Travel ability.
And of course a massively increased Life span.

The first thing I would do would be making sure I can control everything I can do well enough.

Then I would descreetely offer the leaders of bigger nations the chance to colonize mnew planets, as long as those new Colonies and existing Countries followed some Guidelines" of mine to the letter. Any who do not/any Atomar powers etc, wills ee themselves disarmed rather quickly.

Fast forward say 0 years and mankind will have 5-30 Colonies with around 50-75 Million people each, and be exoanding.

I would likely not try to actually rule it all, but make sure that my "Guidelines are kept, or no colonization for you. THat should suffice.

Still, so much Power will change the way I look at things, and I assume I will grow more and more detached from Basic Humanity". If that is the price I have to pay for the fun to ahve these powers and to bring mankind to the stars, so what?

[Maryring]

A lot of what I'd end up doing does depend on whatever power set I end up with. But let's for the argument say that I end up with "absolute power". The kind of absolute power where I can destroy and create whole galaxies with the snap of a finger, and the sun going supernova in my face hurts as much as a mild breeze. I need fear no consequence. And can do pretty much everything I imagine.

At that point I'd probably look into immediately end any and all armed conflicts across the globe. And I'd make a show of it. Guns turn to dust as they're fired. Knives turn to sand the moment they strike flesh. I'll make the world know that the rules of the world has changed, and leave them wondering for a while as to why. This'll give me time to create mini-me's to spread out to all across the globe, placing them in positions of weakness and vulnerability as proverbial canaries in the proverbial coalmine. Ultimately, my goal will be to improve life for those who have it worst, and these selves will be there to remind me of what it's like to be vulnerable, afraid and helpless.

From there things are a bit up in the air. Half my time I'd be busy looking into current emergencies, providing relief and "divine intervention" where it is needed. The other half the time I'd look to change the political landscape. I'd probably work within systems as much as possible, at least at first to see how effective that is. This would all focus on exposing corruption and vested interests. I'd rather effect a change through honesty and clarity rather than force.

From there... eh, we'll see. But ultimately, I don't think that, regardless of what super-power I got, I'd do nothing with it. There's too much in this world that needs fixin' and savin'.

[veti]

From there things are a bit up in the air. Half my time I'd be busy looking into current emergencies, providing relief and "divine intervention" where it is needed. The other half the time I'd look to change the political landscape. I'd probably work within systems as much as possible, at least at first to see how effective that is. This would all focus on exposing corruption and vested interests. I'd rather effect a change through honesty and clarity rather than force.

What if the effect of "honesty and clarity" is wholesale bloody war and revolution? OK, there are no weapons, but you don't need weapons to cause harm. Con artists use their wits, demagogues use their charisma, giants use their size and strength, millionaires use their wealth, to impose their will on others. Whatcha gonna do, take away all those properties from everyone, or just from people who (in your judgment) "abuse" them?

[Ignimortis]

Even with omnipotence, I would be an unpleasant egoist at the worst. Thing is, I would probably doubt any judgements of my own, and so I would use my powers only for doing stuff on a small scale - like winning in competitive games even when I shouldn't.
I certainly wouldn't try and change the world, unless I could reverse time and see what happens if I change some variables - then all bets are off, but I'm still not gonna be the ultimate dictator of the world. More like the guy who gets some people like this to their positions and watches them as long as they're interesting.
And if I had to choose from more constrained powers, well, it'd probably be something related to time...or number manipulation. If it's a variable number, then I can change it! Kinda like the Red Mage from 8-bit Theater - make a character sheet for myself and change numbers around, only legitimately.

[Eldan]

No "when" about it. If I had power now, I'd already be super-corrupt with it.

I mean, yes. I'd absolutely clean up some of humanity's messes once I have flight, invulnerability, teleportation, immortality, some way to generate infinite energy, mind control and time manipulation.

But honestly? Yes, I'd help colonize Mars and the asteroid belt. But mostly because I want to go there and doing it alone would get boring after a while. Also, I want to see what people would build.

Yes, I'd probably work a bit on solving the energy crisis, shooting radioactive waste into interstellar space and reversing climate change. Sure. But honestly?

I'm so lazy I'd stop as soon as it became hard and then revert to a life of idle luxury.


And yes, I can think of some people whose heads I'd punch off.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

If I had absolute power, I could do absolutely everything with no effort at all, then what's the point in getting corrupted? Like that will somehow give me more things to do then I already can do...

[Knaight]

I'd probably be fine for a while - my first targets would be the oldest enemies of humankind, diseases. First order of business is systematically eradicating every major disease I can get my hands on, and there's not really a lot of room for corruption there. With disease gone my second focus would be fixing environmental pollution, with a focus on human used drinking water. Again, there's not a lot of room for corruption.

[Florian]

With disease gone my second focus would be fixing environmental pollution, with a focus on human used drinking water. Again, there's not a lot of room for corruption.

Oh boy, there is. Going by my actual knowledge of environmental matters, being handed the power to change something for the Greater Good, even against the will of "the masses", I´d do so, fully well knowing all the consequences it involves or will be triggered by my actions.

With your examples, you set up the stage for massive corruption. Eliminating disease will accelerate overpopulation which in turn will accelerate resource needs in an upward spiral. You'd basically have to enforce a one child policy or force a culling - Valentine-style.

[S@tanicoaldo]

I'm kind of selfish so with all this power I would go to a place outside time and space.

Thee I would read all the stories ever written and then all the stories people are too lazy to write.

After reading all books that exist and don't exist in the history of our kind, I would come back to earth, create a utopia were golem like creatures did all the work and we could focus on art and culture, I would go back to my outside time and space plane read all the new works form this ideal society.

Then burn everything and everyone, watch as the world ends, go back in time, reset everything and just live my life as a "normal" person.

[JDMSJR]

If I had absolute power then I would use it to make sure the fan fics I'm following update in a timely manner and those writers who have abandoned fics I like would finish them post haste or there would be.... consequences.

[Knaight]

Oh boy, there is. Going by my actual knowledge of environmental matters, being handed the power to change something for the Greater Good, even against the will of "the masses", I´d do so, fully well knowing all the consequences it involves or will be triggered by my actions.

With your examples, you set up the stage for massive corruption. Eliminating disease will accelerate overpopulation which in turn will accelerate resource needs in an upward spiral. You'd basically have to enforce a one child policy or force a culling - Valentine-style.

Environmental matters in this case mostly means atmospheric and oceanic concentration changes, most notably sequestering a lot of GHGs, pulling soot and similar out of the air, and purging waterways of plastics and metals.

As for overpopulation acceleration, that's debatable. There's a general trend towards people having fewer children when wealthier, and with diseases out of the picture people are getting wealthier. There's also a trend towards people having fewer children when they don't die as often, and again that appears. There's no need to enforce a one (or two) child policy or force a culling.

If, somehow, overpopulation does happen there's still no need to enforce a one child policy or force a culling. There's milder forms of usable corruption there - just driving down human fertility levels would do the trick.

[Mith]

Does this power come with the knowledge of foresight? If so I would be inherently corrupted as I could foresee the full impact of my decisions.

This does remind me of Jim Butcher talking about a Power in the Dresden Files being insane: "When reality bends to your will, can you really be considered insane?"

[Tvtyrant]

Environmental matters in this case mostly means atmospheric and oceanic concentration changes, most notably sequestering a lot of GHGs, pulling soot and similar out of the air, and purging waterways of plastics and metals.

As for overpopulation acceleration, that's debatable. There's a general trend towards people having fewer children when wealthier, and with diseases out of the picture people are getting wealthier. There's also a trend towards people having fewer children when they don't die as often, and again that appears. There's no need to enforce a one (or two) child policy or force a culling.

If, somehow, overpopulation does happen there's still no need to enforce a one child policy or force a culling. There's milder forms of usable corruption there - just driving down human fertility levels would do the trick.

With unlimited power you can always just modify it so people decide when they are pregnant.

[Knaight]

With unlimited power you can always just modify it so people decide when they are pregnant.

That would be the non-corrupt version.

[Man on Fire]

Depending on the powers but I'd probably try to influence politics of my country towards what I perceive as improvements. Wouldn't even feel bad about it.

[Maryring]

What if the effect of "honesty and clarity" is wholesale bloody war and revolution? OK, there are no weapons, but you don't need weapons to cause harm. Con artists use their wits, demagogues use their charisma, giants use their size and strength, millionaires use their wealth, to impose their will on others. Whatcha gonna do, take away all those properties from everyone, or just from people who (in your judgment) "abuse" them?

That's a terrible argument that suggests one shouldn't do anything. If you really think that exposing the lies and misinformation and corruption of those in power would bring revolution, you have to make an actual argument for why that happens, and why that wouldn't be a good thing. Otherwise, you might as well ask "what if the effect of catching butterflies causes a tsunami that wipes out hawaii?"

[hq27]

i would have the superpowers of super man with one addition no matter how corrupt i become the world will become worse thus i would always be on the side of justice XD)

[veti]

That's a terrible argument that suggests one shouldn't do anything. If you really think that exposing the lies and misinformation and corruption of those in power would bring revolution, you have to make an actual argument for why that happens, and why that wouldn't be a good thing. Otherwise, you might as well ask "what if the effect of catching butterflies causes a tsunami that wipes out hawaii?"

I'm thinking of recent-ish real-world developments that I'm not going to name because rules. But the point stands without getting specific: do you consider the consequences of your actions, or do you just say "I'm doing this because it's right, dammit, no matter what follows"?

[Bohandas]

I think I would turn into an anti-hero or anti-villain who solves the world's problems, but in a petty and spiteful way

Like I would create some kind of unlimited clean power source. And I would find some way to integrate it into the worls with such suddenness that people in the fossil fuel industry would be ruined before they even knew what happened.

And I would cure all diseases, except in people who voted against socialized medicine, who I would cause to get all of the diseases that came out of the other people. People who attempt to make "medicine" out of rhino horns or tiger parts would also be afflicted rather than cured, as would people who say that vaccines cause autism.

And I would conjure up gold and give it to the poor, and give it to them in massive amounts, but despite the amounts they would only wind up middle class from it because I would conjure so much that it would collapse the market for gold. And I would fill a swimming pool with the tears of all the people who keep saying that gold is intrinsically precious. I would also give everybody a copy of every Disney movie ever made, in both dvd and bluray and unprotected mp4 formats, and hopefully collapse that market too. And also diamonds. There would be so many gems and diamonds that people would throw them in the garbage to get rid of them.

[S@tanicoaldo]

I believe small doses of power corrupt, absolute power does not.

When you have absolute power you can see the whole picture and that changes your perspective, that's why beings of absolute power never act directly, they know better. The become slaves of their own powers rather than complete masters.

[Bohandas]

I've done this thought experiment enough times that I know I'll be back to lazing in my apartment. Right after I've erased a certain rogue nation off the map.

I've run it in my head too, but I've got a longer enemies list, including probably the same rogue nation, a rogue pretends-to-be-a-nation, a rogue superpower (in the international politics sense of the word), and a faction in my own country that has been compromised by one of the above. I'd try to avoid harming civilians or military though and focus on eliminating their leaders.

[NontheistCleric]

I would probably use my absolute power to observe whatever I wanted to and allow myself to survive effortlessly. I might help or harm a few individuals here or there, depending on my whims, but other that that I have no real desire to make any changes to the universe. It's already a very interesting place.

If Earth (or any other place I find interesting) happened to get into a nuclear war or some similarly terrible fate, though, I'd probably try to do something about that.

[Aedilred]

I've done this thought experiment enough times that I know I'll be back to lazing in my apartment. Right after I've erased a certain rogue nation off the map.

Look, I know nobody likes Scotland, but it doesn't deserve that. At least leave the landmass for walking holidays.

[Jormengand]

My immediate superpower choice would just be something, anything, which gives me nigh-omnipotence or actual-omnipotence. Having that, therefore, would eliminate anything I could possibly gain from doing evil. Good, on the other hand, is an end unto itself. So I don't see why I would be corrupted by power in that instance.

Honestly, it's not at all true that corruption is proportional to power. Corruption with near-omnipotence is pointless, precisely because there are ways to do anything you want without evil. If anything, corruption is proportional to the number of desirable things you can do in evil ways but cannot do in non-evil ways - but of course it's more complicated than that, because there need to be enough acts of minor evil to tempt you and normalise that minor evil. I don't think that anyone's first move upon gaining D&D-style spellcasting would be to scorching ray their worst enemy right in the face, but they might consider it after getting used to using invisibility to steal, then using a few mind control spells, and then...

[Aedilred]

My immediate superpower choice would just be something, anything, which gives me nigh-omnipotence or actual-omnipotence. Having that, therefore, would eliminate anything I could possibly gain from doing evil. Good, on the other hand, is an end unto itself. So I don't see why I would be corrupted by power in that instance.

Honestly, it's not at all true that corruption is proportional to power. Corruption with near-omnipotence is pointless, precisely because there are ways to do anything you want without evil. If anything, corruption is proportional to the number of desirable things you can do in evil ways but cannot do in non-evil ways - but of course it's more complicated than that, because there need to be enough acts of minor evil to tempt you and normalise that minor evil. I don't think that anyone's first move upon gaining D&D-style spellcasting would be to scorching ray their worst enemy right in the face, but they might consider it after getting used to using invisibility to steal, then using a few mind control spells, and then...

I'm not so sure. Ultimately, a lot of the time, evil is just more fun.

Think about the way pretty much anybody plays video games. One way or another these often give you effective omnipotence (especially if you use cheats). And it's hard to resist the temptation every now and again just to do something you're not supposed to do. Shoot all the innocent bystanders in a level just to see what happens. Push the escort mission personnel off a roof because their voice is annoying. Invade the neighbouring country and execute the entire population because, ultimately, what does it matter? And much of the time, just deliberately act like a jerk to blow off steam.

To be honest, anyone who didn't do that from time to time, I'd start to worry about them. Are they suffering from a failure of imagination, or are they just so incredibly repressed they can't bring themselves to misbehave even where it doesn't matter and nobody's judging them?

Of course, that's video games, and not real life. But I think if you were to have omnipotent powers you would soon find yourself so far removed from the rest of humanity that they would become effectively like video game characters: tools, pawns, means to an end, and you'd probably also find yourself losing touch with any kind of moral scruple regarding them. At which point, the fact that it's occasionally fun to create a mess just to watch the outcome.

It's not just video games, either. It's most of art. People are just drawn one way or another to the dark side of human nature, even if it amounts merely to watching other people's misfortune. The idea that people only do evil because it is in some sense necessary misses the point, I think. People do evil because they can.

[Jormengand]

Of course, that's video games, and not real life. But I think if you were to have omnipotent powers you would soon find yourself so far removed from the rest of humanity that they would become effectively like video game characters: tools, pawns, means to an end, and you'd probably also find yourself losing touch with any kind of moral scruple regarding them. At which point, the fact that it's occasionally fun to create a mess just to watch the outcome.

I mean, you can always actually play video games. Or make a simulation that feels one hundred percent real to you but no real people have to die. I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't "Find myself removed from the rest of humanity" because I already care about people and - dear gods - animals that I'm under no societal obligation to care about. I can't rationalise my morals having an "Except when no-one important's looking" clause like that. And I can't imagine ever seeing a human - or, indeed, animal - as just a tool.

[Bohandas]

My immediate superpower choice would just be something, anything, which gives me nigh-omnipotence or actual-omnipotence. Having that, therefore, would eliminate anything I could possibly gain from doing evil.

What about schadenfreude?

[Jormengand]

What about schadenfreude?

Is it, like, weird that I don't want to see people suffer? Am I, like, strange in not liking making people feel awful?

Like, I'm a sadist, sure. But there are enough willing masochists to keep me happy, and honestly the thought of hurting someone unwilling makes me more sick than excited. Is... not wanting people to suffer and die something unique to me? I'm always confused when people bring up the kind of "Evil for evil's sake" arguments because... I don't have any desire to do bad things just for the evilness of doing them? It's like doing something for the sake of boredom: I can't see why anyone would possibly want to do it. If I do evil things, then evil is a side-effect and it's one I usually try to mitigate anyway, because I try to place morality quite high on my to-do list for reasons that I would think to be relatively intuitive.

[Aliquid]

To be honest, anyone who didn't do that from time to time, I'd start to worry about them. Are they suffering from a failure of imagination, or are they just so incredibly repressed they can't bring themselves to misbehave even where it doesn't matter and nobody's judging them?

It's not just video games, either. It's most of art. People are just drawn one way or another to the dark side of human nature, even if it amounts merely to watching other people's misfortune. The idea that people only do evil because it is in some sense necessary misses the point, I think. People do evil because they can.

when I play a video game the 2nd time with cheat codes and with a “just for fun” attitude, I would steal things, smash things and have fun picking the most offensive options in dialogue trees. It is a good way to burn off steam.

But never once have I had my character kill an innocent or attack a “non combatant” NPC. It isn’t repressing anything, I just have zero interest in the concept. I wouldn’t feel “guilty” if I did, (since it isn’t real) but there is no joy or entertainment either.

With other art forms, I get a sense of entertainment when a “bad guy” gets what’s coming to him, but I feel bad when someone is harmed just because they are annoying or something like that. That isn’t entertaining for me.