If you could have ONE superpower...

[Da Realist]

Well that's what would make it super instead of normal.


EDIT:

Take the chess thing as a scaled example. Would you say "well, no winning moves this turn, might as well forfeit"?

No, of course not. You'd look ahead and understand what move to make NOW to enable the desired outcome later. If your position was untenable you would discover the optimal exit strategy.

What would next Tuesdays Wall St. Journal be worth to you today? I mean, it's Saturday and the market is closed, so it's worthless, right?

Actually, it would be worthless if you didn't have the money to buy the stock in large enough quantities to make a good profit. Even then, would the stock be worth having the next day? Would it go up one minute and down the next?

As far the chess example again, sometimes there is no optimal exit strategy. I still remember a story about the English losing to Shaka Zula. The general did everything right except for deciding to fight that day.

 

[bigjohnson]

Actually, it would be worthless if you didn't have the money to buy the stock in large enough quantities to make a good profit.

There would always be a way. What are tomorrows lottery numbers worth? Penny stocks, etc. Knowing the best price to buy and sell would be good, ask Warren Buffet.


EDIT:

Even if there are multiple winners, first, he would see THAT too, second, it's unlikely to an extreme to have more than a few, and third, 77 million divided 1000 ways is still sufficient stock market seed money. It'd be like, $50K after taxes. Invest that in F last Feb, and today you have over $400K to cash out and reinvest in ???. It doesn't take wisdom, it takes the ability to see the price in 8 months and subtract.

That seems like an OK year to me, and that's with being 'unlucky' enough to share the Powerball with 999 other winners - lol. Maybe his solution is to throw that one away and take the 20 million in 3 days.

He gets 8 million last January, and invests in stocks that return an average of 400%, for a meager $32 million the first year. The poor bastard.

As far the chess example again, sometimes there is no optimal exit strategy. I still remember a story about the English losing to Shaka Zula. The general did everything right except for deciding to fight that day.

Again, the short view. He would have known to stay in bed.

EDIT:

Or bring more bullets, or not take that post 12 years before that led to him being there. Point being, it's sort of futile to consider someone who's spent their life getting into a completely knackered situation and applying this power to that situation. Obviously we're not dealing with a person whose life has demonstrated ability to see the future.

At age 8, he decides to avoid a career in the military ...

Post limit is cramping my style, sorry.

 

[Da Realist]

Which the lotto, just because you see the number doesn't mean you're the only one to win the big prize. Sure you could see the lucky number, but who is to say you would get a big payout. It could be the same day a 1000 other people get the same number.

Also, how do you know the guy had a choice? Staying in risks being killed in an assault or being executed for disobeying orders. Running away means a life of evading two enemies in a hostile territory. Eventhough if he knew where the enemy was hiding, he died because he simply ran out of bullets. Even in small things, there is a such thing as overwhelming forces.


With the stocks, that actually takes wisdom. In fact that bring up another question: just because you see something happening, does that mean you understand what is going on? All-seeing and all-knowing are two different things.

 

[Da Realist]

Hmm, combining two scenerioes, huh? Ok. But you do realize by doing that, you make the system of events larger and that creates bigger uncertainties. It could be years before the big stock would come in or could be the same day as win you win the lotto but, not the same time you get the money.

With the second, you also have to consider carrying more ammo would slow the troops down. And this is back when each shot would have to be loaded individually, so that would mean carrying more gun powder and what every else is needed to load a rifle.

Also, him seeing everything that will happen from 8 means he also has a large group of unknowns that may still push him toward the army anyway. He may have been conscripted. It may have the only choice he had at a good life. Hell, it may have been a lot better than what he was growing up in. Not to mention, would an 8 year old be able to make a good decision?

 

[bigjohnson]

Hmm, combining two scenerioes, huh? Ok. But you do realize by doing that, you make the system of events larger and that creates bigger uncertainties. It could be years before the big stock would come in or could be the same day as win you win the lotto but, not the same time you get the money.

Life is full of choices, so it's 'realistic'. All I'd need to do is look forward and see what the winning numbers are on Saturday and spend $1. If I don't like the looks of the jackpot, I can just repeat on Wednesday.

As for the non-deterministic thing with the stocks, all I need to do is look and see what the price is 1 hour before close and at close for each stock I'm interested in. All I have to find is a significant change and boom, I can buy or short and I'm in the money over night.

With the second ...

Also, him seeing everything that will happen from 8 means he also has a large group of unknowns ...

That's the point, it's not unknown. A few minutes peeking ahead and a much better path can be picked. Possibly not optimal but a good local optima.

 

[Da Realist]

Well, if you want to be realistic, then you would have to take into consideration that even with all the planning and foresight you have, it doesn't mean your plan would work.

You go to pick up the check, but you have a freak accident or a heart attack. You try to buy the stock and get into an argument with your broker while the stock soars beyond what you can afford at that moment. The computer won't start when you try to use etrade, or the power goes out. Heck, you may even decide to just step in the ring with the heavyweight champion of the world and know every punch he'll throw but be too slow to block or move out of the way. Granted, you may get a big payout eventhough you lost, but it goes towards medical bills.

My point is that whether quantum or philisophical, life doesn't fit into a pretty box. With all the planning in the world, something goes wrong somewhere. You may get next week's Wall Street Journal, but that doesn't mean the paper boy won't throw it to the wrong house or the neighbor's dog uses it as a chew toy.

Futhermore, what happens when someone knows you can see only the future? You're rich and powerful, but you can't see who is the person who is plotting against you since he or she doesn't do the actual attacks. What if they're only goal is to antagonize you everyday by letting you see that till the day you die they will do something ranging from throwing a pie at your face on national tv to blowing up themselves on the street? To use the chess example, there are going to be people who play the game by the rules and then those who would kick the board over after a couple moves just to annoy you.

 

[bigjohnson]

You go to pick up the check, but you have a freak accident or a heart attack.

Looking ahead, you see these things and avoid them. Would it make you omnipotent? Nope. Would it give you a quiet and incredibly powerful edge in life? Absolutely.

Seeing all the potential quantum states and the interactions required to realize them is pretty tough to beat.

 

[Da Realist]

Looking ahead, you see these things and avoid them. Would it make you omnipotent? Nope. Would it give you a quiet and incredibly powerful edge in life? Absolutely.

Seeing all the potential quantum states and the interactions required to realize them is pretty tough to beat.

So tell me how how you avoid a heart attack with the power to see the future. Healthy people have fallen out and died, so exercise and diet can't be the end all cure.

And beating someone who can see every possibility is easy once you forgo the normal rules. All you have to do is to get them to hesitate or break their will. Unless you are completely sociopathic or willful, I could set up a scenerio where you have to cross your own line. The moment you hestitate in following through is when I could strike.

 

[bigjohnson]

So tell me how how you avoid a heart attack with the power to see the future. Healthy people have fallen out and died, so exercise and diet can't be the end all cure.

Sure, if he's got a genetic defect that's incurable, there's not a lot of ways around that. It's also pretty unlikely.

For most people reasonable living and avoiding accidental death would vastly extend their lifespan. He would never get on a plane that would crash, have a traffic accident, or be victim of a crime. He would walk into the Trade Center to get some last photos from the top and walk out 15 minutes before the planes hit, probably get some spectacular shots of that too.

He would short the market before it crashed, making a fortune with the money he made selling a few moments before that. He would know the exact thing to say to the woman next to him, every time. He would know where to sit so that the woman next to him was worth charming. He would know which house to buy, which car would be trouble free, and so on.

He would realize his mistakes and not make them, and realize others mistakes and have time to decide whether to help them out or capitalize on their errors.

He would not be omnipotent, but for the rest of us it would be like a world of blind and deaf men trying to compete with the one man who had sight and hearing.

And beating someone who can see every possibility is easy once you forgo the normal rules. All you have to do is to get them to hesitate or break their will. Unless you are completely sociopathic or willful, I could set up a scenerio where you have to cross your own line. The moment you hestitate in following through is when I could strike.

You still have to give a single example of something realistic. The chess thing is silly, we call that a forfeit.

 

[Da Realist]

Well, you kind of just proved it with the inherent defect statement.

With the World Trade Center thing, what if you trip down the stairs or get caught in a crowd getting out of the building?

If money is no good, how can help? The only thing that would matter is who has the resources to survive.

The woman thing is already possible. You know to go to the club to get a short term woman and maybe a bookstore to get one with a little more sense.

Houses and cars require maintenance period, so neither one is trouble-free.

As far as capitalizing on mistakes and not making them, again, look at the guy's capabilities. Easy example is the Kimbo/Houston fight. Houston Alexander literally knocked Kimbo off his feet but was too tired to do anything about it. Another example is football where you could know what the other team is running and still get beat because they can just execute better. I mean, I have seen a guy make an interception and get it ripped right back out of his hands by the receiver. Heck, I've went against a team that did the play right, but I was just stronger than their blocker.

And a real life scenerio could be I have a bomb strapped to a man's wife and daughter and he has to choose who lives with the added bonus that if I die, both bombs go off. So tell me how he choses which to save. Let's say everything has lead to this moment, so there is no just staying in bed.

Also, the chess thing isn't so silly since since everytime you decide to not do something just because it isn't in your favor, you forfeit.

 

[bigjohnson]

Well, you kind of just proved it with the inherent defect statement.

That's a horse**** argument. It's like saying what if he's aborted in the 3rd week. We have to have as given that we're dealing with someone who's essentially average with the exception of X or the whole conversation is done.

With the World Trade Center thing, what if you trip down the stairs or get caught in a crowd getting out of the building?

He sees there will be a crowd and gets out in time, he sees he's going to trip and avoids tripping.

If money is no good, how can help? The only thing that would matter is who has the resources to survive.

Again, ridiculous starting conditions. How about the sun shoots a blast of plasma out and eats the earth 20 years before he is born? If we're gonna do crazy talk, do it right.

And a real life scenerio could be I have a bomb strapped to a man's wife and daughter and he has to choose who lives with the added bonus that if I die, both bombs go off.

He calls the police in time to prevent it, or just blows up the house when you walk in, while he's sent the fam out for Chinese food. It looks to the investigators like your bombs blew you up. Crazy bomb dude ....

Also, the chess thing isn't so silly since since everytime you decide to not do something just because it isn't in your favor, you forfeit.

Throwing the board on the ground IS a forfeit.

 

[Da Realist]

And yet you still couldn't answer all of them. In fact you couldn't answer all my queries. Face it, as good a vision you would have, it still doesn't give you everything you need.

By the way, with the current economic crisis and the way people are acting, it's not impossible to have money turn to crap overnight. In fact, if people stop giving this country money, the Euro would be the reigning currency eventhough it's close to doing so. People forget we two world wars and think no one would do it again.

Also, yeah, you did already state it is a forfeit. Now imagine every guy you try to play against decides to do it. Yeah, you win, but you never get to play. If you like that, great, but with all the personality I see, you wouldn't be content just to win without a challenge.

Also, with the bomb thing, you ignored the premise that everything lead up to that moment. Now if you're just going to throw the board on the ground...

 

[bigjohnson]

And yet you still couldn't answer all of them.

Some, like his mom being struck by a bus 30 seconds after conceiving him, are outside the realm of reason, the rest I answered.

By the way, with the current economic crisis and the way people are acting, it's not impossible to have money turn to crap overnight. In fact, if people stop giving this country money, the Euro would be the reigning currency eventhough it's close to doing so.

So he sees that and invests in the Euro ...

Also, with the bomb thing, you ignored the premise that everything lead up to that moment. Now if you're just going to throw the board on the ground...

You assume he didn't see it coming, which is counter to the whole point.