Bryan Caplan notes that we’d actually treat X-men quite differently from the stories: In the X-men comics, t.v. series, and movies, normal humans instinctively treat super-powered mutants with fear and disgust. The popular mutant policy options are: (a) register them as deadly weapons, (b) preemptively imprison them, or (c) kill them one and all.
A super-person would see such a threat coming. Most likely they'd buy off the larger population one way or another, just like celebrities do. If they felt that for some reason they couldn't do that, then they may well fight preemptively.
The last thing I can picture happening, though, is a super-person hanging around and just being a butt.
Honestly, it matters a lot what the superpowers actually are. Somebody who is bulletproof to say the equivalent of an M1A2 and can fly and project beams comparable to said M1A2's 120mm main gun honestly isn't a huge issue, as long as the effects and their origin are perfectly visible. We regularly gave teenagers that kind of firepower back in the day during wars.But someone with, say, the ability to read minds, or become invisible, or take the shape of others. Those are the witches we'd burn.
Sometimes, the path of valid inferences is too long. In such cases, belief is determined entirely by cultural biases and rationalizations you may have been exposed to.
edit: That is to say, before you concern yourself with biases, it seems worthwhile for me to look if there is any actual signal getting through at all. In some circumstances, you don't have any signal, only a mixture of biases.
There's a bias here in both fiction and personal presentation, and situations in which that can lead a person particularly astray. But the presence of a bias (which we should be more surprised to NOT find in any position) does not address all arguments of warning against massive power disparities. The majority of evils committed have been done because people could get away with it. We do genuinely pursue the well-being of personally-useless others, but only when it's cheap, when we have little to gain by ignoring or defecting. Even that level of concern is not present in most possible minds.
Salem's witches were believed to have superpowers. Things didn't go so well for many of them - and that was in real life. So: it depends.
A super-person would see such a threat coming. Most likely they'd buy off the larger population one way or another, just like celebrities do. If they felt that for some reason they couldn't do that, then they may well fight preemptively.
The last thing I can picture happening, though, is a super-person hanging around and just being a butt.
Honestly, it matters a lot what the superpowers actually are. Somebody who is bulletproof to say the equivalent of an M1A2 and can fly and project beams comparable to said M1A2's 120mm main gun honestly isn't a huge issue, as long as the effects and their origin are perfectly visible. We regularly gave teenagers that kind of firepower back in the day during wars.But someone with, say, the ability to read minds, or become invisible, or take the shape of others. Those are the witches we'd burn.
Real X-men would be more hated out of jealousy than any other reason.
> who then get big heads about it
Killing crew is a bit more than 'big heads', and speaks ill of the new god's intelligence, ethics, and psionic capabilities.
In fiction: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
In reality: If you can't join 'em, beat 'em.
Very astute observation. It is somewhat hard to see those cultural connections when you are from a different country.
This reminds me of a rough sketch of a graph I drew for the AI risk related reasoning:
http://dmytry.com/Futurism_...
Sometimes, the path of valid inferences is too long. In such cases, belief is determined entirely by cultural biases and rationalizations you may have been exposed to.
edit: That is to say, before you concern yourself with biases, it seems worthwhile for me to look if there is any actual signal getting through at all. In some circumstances, you don't have any signal, only a mixture of biases.
There's a bias here in both fiction and personal presentation, and situations in which that can lead a person particularly astray. But the presence of a bias (which we should be more surprised to NOT find in any position) does not address all arguments of warning against massive power disparities. The majority of evils committed have been done because people could get away with it. We do genuinely pursue the well-being of personally-useless others, but only when it's cheap, when we have little to gain by ignoring or defecting. Even that level of concern is not present in most possible minds.