At the coffee table today with three of my friends a question was raised: What will you do if you can stop the time for half a second? After half a minute (60 half seconds) of silence one of us said that that much time is enough to dodge a bullet. Another one said that an athlete can win a competition if he had half a second more than his opponent. I said for a fencer it is plenty of time to score since on thrash takes less than half a second (about .20 seconds as I was told).
The person who raised the question made it more complicated by saying that would it be worth it if between each pause you would have to cool down or recharge for 5 minutes before you can freeze the time again. And were we sure that we could really do anything in that short time with the difference of a wink.
The discussion didn't continue from there on since the conversation was interrupted when some one else showed up and the topic was changed to something more current.
After I left I considered the question again that who would get the most use of this ability. It occurred to me that even for athletes you would have to be good enough to benefit from it. If you are a slow runner half a second every five minutes would not do you any good. For a fencer to win you would have to be able to win on your own anyway since one bout or fight can end in less than three minutes which means that they can get only one extra point during that bout.
To dodge a bullet you would have to know when the trigger is going to be pulled and by the time you freeze. If you miss to guess when the gunner is going to shoot then the ability would be useless since you would have to wait for a whole five minutes before you can dodge again.
Special abilities like this may sound good at first, but after reconsidering the matter it becomes worthless and it would be worth using only when you are well enough on your own. So why would you use it. by the way, in most uses that I can think off they are actually a way of cheating even if know one knows.
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ReplyDeleteThis idea is really brilliant. It gives me a flashback to one of my favorite computer game called "Max Payne". The hero named "Max" has an ability to stop the time for a short period. He gains an advantage against his enemies by stops the time and fires bullets towards his foes. That leaves him no injury and causes lots of casualties for his rivals. Actually, I think the ability to stop the time is exist. I mean, if someone is agile enough and has the high response ability. that man can be reflex to most of any action. It's not almost stopping the time but it provides the great opportunity to react of something.
ReplyDeleteAs for me, I think If I were a pop star and was invited to be in the live game show. I could use this ability to press any switch or activate anything before other opponents. For example, I could activate the switch and be the first person to give an answer to the moderator. So that I could have a chance to win the prize before anyone.
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ReplyDeleteWell, this reminds of one of the characters from the American TV series,Heroes. The Japanese guy who can freeze the time.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I cannot think of anything I can do in that short period of time. I dont know if any real human being can do anything to change something they want in only half a second.
But I do think that a hero in movies or cartoons who has a special ability to fight against their enemy would want to have this kind of skill.
For example, the Super Saiyan like Goku or Vegeta from the Japanse comic named Dragon Ball Z can surely use that specific ability to overcome the opponent because these heroes can move really really fast. In the battle field, only a second can change a lot of things. But in real life, I really dont know.
For me, I usually think too much before I decide to do something important. Therefore, if I had an ability to freeze the time, I might waste it because I might not be able to think of anything to do in time.
Special abilities are always a interesting topic for most of people, included me. I am thinking of if I were omnlpotent for a day: I would make myself omnlpotent. Just kidding, but it is true that there is always one guy says “ if I’d a wish for three more wishes.”
ReplyDeleteNot only about special abilities, there is another topic as hot as it, which is “ if give me another chance or if I have another chance, I would…” Some feelings like regrets, angary or sad always stuck me when I done something wrong. So I am keen to get another chance to fix it. Sometime I do but sometimes I don’t. It is esay to say that “ you should keep going…”, personally, I think it is hard to do.
Anyway, imgine can be a good thing to creat a new “you”.