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A question for readers
Specifically, the question was: Should Lana's super-hearing be limited by the speed of sound?
Here's what I think is a "fair and balanced" summary of our two postions. Hopefully, you won't be able to tell which point of view is mine and which is Ace's. Bear in mind that we're both math-and-science guys. I even flipped a coin to see which position would be A and which B.
A. Lana's super-hearing enables her to hear sounds too soft for ordinary ears, and frequencies far beyond the normal human range. But in order for her to hear something, the sound waves have to reach her ears first. If a bank alarm goes off twenty miles away, she won't hear it until the sound covers the intervening distance -- which will take about two minutes . Lana's powers may be scientifically impossible, but she lives in a world where the laws of science otherwise apply.
B. All of Lana's powers defy scientific explanation -- flying, x-ray vision, you name it. Like any fantasy, our story requires a suspension of disbelief on the reader's part. Just as we have to accept that Lana can fly (somehow) and see through opaque objects (somehow), we have to accept that she can hear distant sounds (somehow) without waiting for the waves to reach her ears. Any decision to constrain her powers by scientific considerations is necessarily abbitrary.
How about it, readers? Do you incline toward position A or position B? To open the question up a bit: To what extent should an author take the laws of science into account when writing a supergirl story?
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- argonaut
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I do find it wierd how it's the relatively small things that can make me go "That makes no sense", but that's the way I am. I can certainly sympathise with the point of view that any decision of which scientific considerations to obey are arbitrary though, and in the end while position B might stretch my ability to suspend disbelief, if it's well written it wouldn't concern me for too long.
Certainly an interesting question.
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- JKIJ
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Any decision to constrain her powers by scientific considerations is necessarily abbitrary.
This.
You can, of course, dodge the whole topic by not mentioning this point. Supergirl hears bank alarm, Supergirl shows up.
I have never even considered the scientific implications until you outlined them in point A. Of course, what you said makes a lot of sense, but... well, you said it all in point B already.
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- oldHarmonyMotion
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- Woodclaw
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- oldHarmonyMotion
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The correct answer is C, and I'll get back to you on what that is...
- GeekSeven
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Of course if some plausible reason is given for what’s happening (for example, if Lana managed to see the sound waves and figure out from that what they sounded like), then that would be ok. But the more this sort of thing happens the less plausible it is in the long run.
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- The Highlander
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Dang, that's a tough one. My initial instinct was for A, but now I'm wavering.
The correct answer is C, and I'll get back to you on what that is...
"C. Get a life, you two"?
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- argonaut
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This is the type of question you get theology papers.
my thinking for C is to have a modifiled physics model that would explain some but not all of how the superpowers work.
For example flight powers could be based on the idea of Tachyons being projected by the mind or certain muscle groups to propel the super through the air or space.
The use of Tachyons could also explain the idea of supers having the ability to hear a gun going off and having the ability to react in time to stop the bullet, the primer going off in a bullet could cause a distinctive Tachyon pulse signature that the super can detect with their hearing. With Tachyons moving at the speed of light the super would have enough time to react. They [Tachyons] would also explain the great speed that can be generated by supers, with a burst through their legs for example it could create a acceleration force great enough to overcome the delay that is normally encountered through normal power methods.
One thing Tachyons could not help with is with x-ray vision, here a differing form of radiation would be needed to enable the special vision to be usable without affecting matter that is being "looked through", here Theta radiation could be used to explain how it could work. Matter is 99.9% space for which the frequency of Theta radiation frequency could be short enough to enable a super to see through the "gaps" in the matter so rendering it invisible to the super thus enabling them to see without the need for a imaging plate.
just my 1.5c worth
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- fats
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Therefore I'd go for A, but add I would not really be turned off either way.
I also can't believe I answered such a question lol
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- Alexxx
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Okay, the post over mine says, that hearing is a passive thing. You don't do anything to hear. But you don't do anything to watch, either, but we accept X-Ray Vision all the time. So how about, if sound is produced the waves of the sound produce something, for example by rubbing the atoms together, some kind of radiation, just faint, nobody can really detect it. Nobody, but a super of course. So what if a part of her brain would be deciphering those things all the time and giving alarm when something is in there, thats interesting and sends it to the consciousness? Couldn't it work that way?
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- Risatara
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- julievelor
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How about it, readers? Do you incline toward position A or position B? To open the question up a bit: To what extent should an author take the laws of science into account when writing a supergirl story?
Reading Supergirl of Smallville I say your stories are more entrenched with A. It is the way you wrote your stories, too much details.
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- Lastleaf
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Going ahead is the only one way to go to the future.
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