If you had the powers of the Q. What would you do?

[Balok's Decoy]

Well, if I just reversed all the effects of global warming, humanity would learn nothing and wouldn't develop. They'd remain stagnant or irresponsible, waiting for the Q to fix everything again. I would be afraid that any direct interference on my part to manipulate humanity's development or growth would only stall progress further.

So with that in mind, I would probably just play games with people (a la Q's psychological tormenting) until they learn the lesson for themselves. They would think I was just a Loki-esque trickster alien, but in reality I was subtly adjusting their single-minded thinking and outmoded prejudices.

(This is also a theory about Q that I've been toying with...)

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Well, if I just reversed all the effects of global warming, humanity would learn nothing and wouldn't develop. They'd remain stagnant or irresponsible, waiting for the Q to fix everything again. I would be afraid that any direct interference on my part to manipulate humanity's development or growth would only stall progress further.

So with that in mind, I would probably just play games with people (a la Q's psychological tormenting) until they learn the lesson for themselves. They would think I was just a Loki-esque trickster alien, but in reality I was subtly adjusting their single-minded thinking and outmoded prejudices.

(This is also a theory about Q that I've been toying with...)

It sounds like a very valid theory actually.

I consider the Q we see in TNG as someone who took an interest in humanity and wanted to see them grow but realized that some of them needed a shove in the right direction in order to widen their outlook. The very end of TNG had me thinking this with what Q said to Picard.

BTW why are they all called Q and why don't they have actual separate names?

 

[rahullak]

Us mere mortals wouldn't be able to pronounce their names. And the Q can't be bothered thinking up nicknames just so humans can call them something. So it's just "Q".

 

[Velocity]

I would resurrect my favorite authors who had died and then I'd pay off my mortgage.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

I'd bring back Jane Austen.

According to Dr Who she was a great kisser

 

[thestrangequark]

I'd probably go insane or become a psychopath.

I just don't think I could handle that level of power. At first I thought it'd be reasonable to stick to small acts of kindness and goodness, for fear that grand acts (world peace, end to all disease) would have consequences unforeseeable to me and cause only more woe; perhaps by scaling down my omnipotence I could withstand the burden of it. But that would mean I'd have to draw a line at "Not My Problem". How can that be done? Where would that line be drawn? I'd start out just fine, feeding kittens and turning handguns into rubber chickens, I'd maybe start channeling funds from conservative Super PACs to VA hospitals and turning megachurches into homeless shelters, but lines drawn in sand have a tendency to shift. Undoubtedly some horrific disaster would leave thousands dead and I'd feel overwhelming guilt and start redirecting hurricanes and preventing earthquakes and committing suicide bombers to mental hospitals. Then I'd think, why commit them when I could treat them? Erase their brainwashing? I could end racism. I could end greed. Why not control minds? When the result is saving human life?
Good god I'd be a super villain.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Most of us would turn into Gary Mitchell if we had power like that.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Most of us would turn into Gary Mitchell if we had power like that.

And you saw how well that turned out.

Or Charlie X

 

[Doom Shepherd]

My religious beliefs vacillate between Deism and Trickster God. I believe that god (under the presumption one exists) is either disinterested in our well-being or actively screwing with us. Therefore I would see nothing "wrong" with emulating that example. At least until being benign began to bore me.* Then maybe I'd pull a Dr. Manhattan, scare everyone, then leave. Maybe I'll make life somewhere, fast-track its evolution to the interstellar stage, then point it towards Earth as a likely source of cheap labor. BWA-HA-HA-HA-HAAAAA.

*Alliteration! I love alliteration! All prayers to Me-as-Q must be alliterative! ...I mean, they still won't be ANSWERED any better than random chance, but what the hell, right?

 

[thestrangequark]

Forgive me if I misunderstood, because I am hammered on whiskey, but it seems to me that you're saying that since, if god exists, he/she/it is demonstrably indifferent or malicious, and thus this alleviates any moral imperative of one with godlike powers.
What the whatwhat?
I have to say as a tautology it does have its charm: god is morality --> god is apathetic or immoral, therefore morality=indifference/apathy.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

I like the notion of a Trickster god..... Yeah he had fun with us a few thousand years ago but then got bored and buggered off. Capricious no, just egotistical.

Worship me or else.

 

[thestrangequark]

Raven FTW.

 

[Shikarnov]

If I had all the power of Q, regardless of my (lack of) experience and wisdom, that power would disconnect me almost completely from need.

My first instinct was to say I'd fill my bank accounts. But why? If I'm hungry, I snap my fingers. If I want to buy something, I snap my fingers. Whatever I want, snap my fingers. So selfish whims would go out the window pretty quickly. I'd probably spend a microsecond cleaning up the planet's atmosphere, getting rid of world hunger, and etc. Maybe I'd go back in time to mess with history -- just for the exercise -- or go forward in time to see if Marty McFly will ever get his hover board. And then I'd probably be pretty bored.

Maybe I'd install myself as a God figure and lay down some rules -- or maybe just reinforce some old ones. There are more than enough 1%ers who seem to have forgotten "Thou shalt not steal" to keep me busy for a while. They could use a little wrath of God type persuasion. Maybe take them on a Scrooge-like trip and make them work in their own factories until they get the point.

I really don't know. But it's fun to imagine.

 

[Doom Shepherd]

Not sure what I mean, either. Not drunk, but operating on very little sleep the past several days. I may regret posting all of this, later.

All my actions are motivated by selfishness..
Even the good ones?
Especially the good ones.

And yet I'm not a Libertarian. Weird.

 

[Shikarnov]

Not sure what I mean, either. Not drunk, but operating on very little sleep the past several days. I may regret posting all of this, later.

All my actions are motivated by selfishness..
Even the good ones?
Especially the good ones.

And yet I'm not a Libertarian. Weird.

I don't think it's weird at all. Deep down, I think a lot of us feel good doing things for others. Maybe it's baked somewhere into our DNA. I really think the main problem some people have is being divorced from that process and forced to surrender resources to the government to handle it for them. It does take a certain feeling away from the process to know you're helping others by proxy -- and it also makes it easier to withdraw such help because you don't see the effects of that withdrawal readily.

 

[thestrangequark]

So...you'd put an end to taxation with your Q powers?

Also, this sentence: "It also makes it easier to withdraw such help because you don't see the effects of that withdrawal readily." is pretty gross.

 

[tharpdevenport]

I guess I'd want to explore the unvierse, but isn't the problem with the Q is that they know everything there is to know? Didn't Q say that in TNG? What would be the point of exploring when you know in advance what you will find?

Well, assuming it's just special powers, I'd probably go around taking over terrorists and other bad guys, grabbing their ammunitions stash, force them to either die or keep in line with peace-loving humanity and not like backwards 17th century cockroaches.

Then I might freelance to help peaceful nations avoid attacks and invasions.

Probably travel around the world just for fun. Nah, I wouldn't snap my fingers -- I wanna fly there like Superman.

If my powers extend to being able to cure illnesses, I'd probabyl do things like iradicate AIDs, all types of cancer, other dieseases.

Maybe re-orient a planet's orbit/distance around the sun, like Mars, and make habitle, so we can spread out and not have to worry one days a hundred years or so from now, being too many.

Then for my own personal enjoyment and certain others, I'd go back in time, set up secret modern recording equipment, and record all film/TV scores in fantastic sound with master tapes that are then transported back with me to the future where they can be used to release the music.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

I guess I'd want to explore the unvierse, but isn't the problem with the Q is that they know everything there is to know? Didn't Q say that in TNG? What would be the point of exploring when you know in advance what you will find?

Well, assuming it's just special powers, I'd probably go around taking over terrorists and other bad guys, grabbing their ammunitions stash, force them to either die or keep in line with peace-loving humanity and not like backwards 17th century cockroaches.

Then I might freelance to help peaceful nations avoid attacks and invasions.

Probably travel around the world just for fun. Nah, I wouldn't snap my fingers -- I wanna fly there like Superman.

If my powers extend to being able to cure illnesses, I'd probabyl do things like iradicate AIDs, all types of cancer, other dieseases.

Maybe re-orient a planet's orbit/distance around the sun, like Mars, and make habitle, so we can spread out and not have to worry one days a hundred years or so from now, being too many.

Then for my own personal enjoyment and certain others, I'd go back in time, set up secret modern recording equipment, and record all film/TV scores in fantastic sound with master tapes that are then transported back with me to the future where they can be used to release the music.

I like your last idea, recording stuff for fun and profit. I like that very much.

I'd extend that one to moving backward and forward in time and recording historical events so that we could see what actually happened on those days, and not just what current history books tell us happened. I suspect we might be surprised if we do that.

I would love to cure some of our worst diseases, or better yet hand the cures to notable scientists so they get the credit.. That would be quite awesome to do I think.

 

[publiusr]

I'd want to move sideways in time so I could see other universes and how Star Trek movies and TV series differed.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

I'd want to move sideways in time so I could see other universes and how Star Trek movies and TV series differed.

That's an interesting idea.......

What would Star Trek be like in the universe next door?