TaoFire's Blog

Do you ever get the feeling that you were meant to do something extraordinary?

Thats right, i actually just quoted Heroes for a blog post. But im on a more serious note today, which makes a rather big change to my usual un-wse ramblings which i seem to vomit forth on a daily basis on these forums.

So yes, the above quote is somewhat relevant on the topic ive been thinking about the last few days, after watching a number of videos on the 'science of super heroes', which was somewhat inspired by the UK airing of Heroes. Not so much just super heroes, but the human limitations, or somewhat 'supernatural'. I'll link the videos as necessary through this insatiable rambling.

Some 'super hero' powers, have somewhat more of a scientific basis than others. Some, are near enough pure fiction with very little (if any) science or support behind it. Others have somewhat more evidence, not entirely scientific, but at least some more theorised ..stuff. Things such as 'energy', or 'Qi/Ki/Chi.' is a little more researched or done than things such as setting things on fire with nothing but your mind.

The whole 'body energy' idea is not simply located in the realms of things like Dragonball Z, or naruto. The idea of an internal energy is used alot in Chinese mythology, and has been researched in many places, such as this article below, in which a monk entered a state of meditation.



You'll notice the monk is wearing nothing, but the man measuring his vital signs is wearing somewhat warmer clothing, this is because they're in a cooling room.Which is at a rather chilly 4C, (bout 40 F'.)



ofcourse, there are other powers like Levitation, or flight. Which is slowly edging more so to the realm of fiction, but still there are many logs of human levitation, such as this:


Thats not the only image to do with the idea, on the article they present 4 images from a full surrounding view, these were taken in 1884. And thus are out of the limits of Photoshop or simple editing. Does that make it true? no, ofcourse not, it does however make for an interesting read, even if you're an entirely logic based thinker. Original article is linked at the bottom of the blog.

Now, those are both religious examples. Alot of theories go on the basis of 'The human is using one tenth of his brain power' or whatever the base figures are, ofcourse that theory isnt the most logical idea in the world, why would using the brain cause super-natural abilities? instead of simply making us ...genius's? Some people go on the theory that the human brain and body uses electrical currents and pulses (Ofcourse, rather weak.) and thus could theoretically harness it somewhat, thats yet to be proved in any way.

But then again, take a look at modern astronomy, or what it was a few hundred years ago. Humanity considered its self to be at the center of the universe, we thought the earth was a few thousands of years old. It wasn't just a theory it was accepted in christian society as being completely correct. Great minds have somewhat altered that belief, Einstein, Darwin both (As two of the better known ones) changed how we see ourselves on a global and galactic scale respectively.

Super human strength is somewhat more down to earth, Not on the scale of the Hulk, ofcourse no human could punch away meteors or anything of that scale. But the whole 'You wont like me when im Mangry!' is somewhat true, when a person gets angry, or worried, their body created Adrenaline. Mothers have been noted to lift cars to save children stuck under them, some martial arts note this down to the 'inner body energy' and unleashing it, others use this example. Either way, humans strength can change due to chemicals or other reactions being introduced into the blood stream.

Chemicals, thats an interesting idea to carry on this trail of brain poop. Adrenaline is just one chemical, and it can have astounding effects. So what if science was to introduce or develop other chemicals which had similair or other effects, maybe reaction speed? (I dont know the science behind human reaction speed, btw.) Or healing rates? Rapid cell regeneration? Would it be ethically wrong to introduce new chemicals to do this? Could evolution develop these chemicals? Well, probably not, thats not how evolution works really. But it still burdens thinking about. The human body COULD adapt to speed up the healing process, fascinating stuff really.

On a slight tangent in which im going to bitch slap the logic behind Spider man. Spider sense more so, what the hell? Spiders dont have some sort of super speed, or reactions (Which spider man has taken from his many legged friends.) They have hairs over their body, peter parker is not a yeti man. And have you ever seen spiders walk? they arent exactly that fast. And in comparison to other insects or Arachnids (Spelling?) they arent amazingly strong either! (Comparison to ants.)

So weather its down to science, religion or whatever other theories, whats everyone's opinions on this sort of stuff? Im not religious, im more agnostic leaning towards science, but as i said above, there is some scientific stuff that can back these things such as super strength and so on. I'd love to believe humans can have these sorts of powers.. and im gunna startdoing some more research into the whole genetic stuff that could maybe grant some of these ideas, mostly from curiosity.

There are of course other examples of humans with super natural abilities. Excuse the lack of names, i saw these on a BBC show a while back. There was a blind man who could draw extremely intricate(SP?) buildings just by a touch, there was a young man who could replicate songs and music by hearing the once, not simple songs, im talking complex piano peices. All sorts, and its intresting to read up on.

Im a huge comic nerd, so its all pretty interesting. So i'll leave you with a Mohinder quote which is pretty coolio!



Opinions? Share etc

Links:

Monks drying sheets in cold rooms and staying warm: http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/2002/04.18/09-tummo.html

Levitation:
http://socioparivar.wordpress.com/2008/12/29/indian-yogi-subbayah-pullavar%E2%80%99s-levitation-act/

Post away, suggestions for more plogs/articles are welcome.