I was reading Wil Wheaton earlier about meeting Larry Niven (author of Ringworld). It got me to thinking (which I commented there about) that I’ve always thought that the whole super powers thing is all wrong.

A really powerful superhero would have special powers like the power to make people laugh.

Think about the different in how much work it takes to hurt someone ... any old schmo can do it. It doesn’t even take a weapon or super powers. Sure, you can hurt someone MORE with more power, but really, how much hurtin’ does one person need?

Then think how rare and powerful laughter is.

Or the power to make someone feel good about themselves.

The power of pleasure.

The power of contentment.

The power of just seeing someone else’s side for a moment.

The sad thing is that most of these are not super powers, just rare powers. Undervalued powers.