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Re: If you had a secret power, what would it be?
Posted By: Stephen, on host 68.7.169.109
Date: Tuesday, July 27, 2004, at 17:34:51
In Reply To: Re: If you had a secret power, what would it be? posted by iwpg on Tuesday, July 27, 2004, at 04:24:38:

> > If time is stopped outside of you, how can you see? Presumably no light is moving, so what would be reaching your eyes? I suppose that as you moved, the light that was frozen immediately near you would hit your eyes, but you'd see it and then it'd go black, as nothing would come to take its place.
>
> Relativity might cover it, with the whole "light travels at a constant speed" thing, but I'm not sure.

Light doesn't travel at a single constant speed; its speed is affected by the medium through which it's travelling. The constant c is the speed of light in a vacuum.

Anyway, even if we assumed that light didn't stop, everything that produced light would stop producing it. So you'd have a few minutes of light outdoors (if it was during the day) as the light that was on its way from the Sun when you froze time caught up to you, and then total darkness. Well, actually, at that point you'd be able to see stars, as their light is much older. That'd be kind of neat to do at night; watch the Moon blink out and see more stars.

> Besides, since when does any discussion of super powers have to be scientificly accurate?

It's more fun this way! I mean, "What would you do if you were invisible?" was covered before Plato. Arguing about whether or not you could *see* while invisible is a lot more fun.

> > Invisibility has a similar problem.
>
> How so?

Grishny beat me to it.

Stephen

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