The Superpower You Already Have
I recently got asked an interesting interview question.
If you could have any superpower, which superpower would you choose?
For the longest time my answer to this question was teleportation. Growing up, I had to commute 2–3 hours to and from school everyday, so teleportation would simply resolve the biggest pain point in my life.
But that is just the beginning; teleportation would allow me to travel across the world in the blink of an eye, experiencing the diversity of human culture in a single day. I could watch the sunrise over Machu Picchu, hike Lion’s Head in Cape Town, and grab a warm bowl of Phở in Ho Chi Minh City as my morning routine.
Then teleport from mountain top to mountain top, snowboarding down the Rockies, Alps, and Himalayas before grabbing lunch with my family in the Philippines. I’d spend the rest of the day finding the greatest musicians the world has to offer, visiting Havana, Ibiza, Berlin, New York, and more. All before sleeping in my own bed in Los Angeles.
But teleportation was not my answer to the interview question.
Recently I’ve adopted a growth mindset. I’ve been obsessed with reworking my lifestyle and daily habits with the goal of becoming the best version of myself. I’m spending most of my time learning new information to expand my area of knowledge or practicing new skills to expand my collection of abilities.
But what if I had a superpower that gave me the ability to speed up these two processes? What if I had the ability to absorb the knowledge and skills of the people around me? This is the superpower I would choose.
In the superhero world, the power to absorb the knowledge and abilities of other superheroes has many variations. To thoroughly define my chosen superpower, I drew inspiration from two of my favorite superheroes.
Rogue, a Marvel Comics superhero developed in the early 1980s, has the power to absorb the memories, knowledge, talents, abilities, and personality of anyone she touches. However, there are limits to her power; she requires physical touch to absorb her victim’s power, stealing it away from them while she has it. Also, the transfer of knowledge and abilities is temporary, lasting for a period of time relative to how long physical contact is maintained.
In contrast, Peter Petrelli, a hero with a similar superpower from the NBC TV show Heroes, does not steal the powers of other heroes. Instead, he simply copies the power after interacting with another hero. On the show it is called Empathic Mimicry; he uses empathy to mimic the heroes around him. Peter differs from Rogue in that his abilities collect over time; he doesn’t forget an ability after learning something new.
So, when the interviewer asked me:
If you could have any superpower, which superpower would you choose?
My answer: Mind Tasting — the ability to absorb memories, knowledge, talent, and ability from others through interaction, understanding, and empathy.
The Mind Tasting superpower would allow me to become a modern day Renaissance Man, the 21st Century reincarnation of Leonardo da Vinci.
With my new ability, I would first acquire as much knowledge as possible, to gain a extensive understanding of how the world works. I’d befriend the greatest scientists in the world, the most knowledgable in the cutting edge of nutrition, neurochemistry, engineering, and computer science. Then, to socially contextualize this knowledge, I would meet with the greatest historians, politicians, and business minds the world has to offer. Finally, to learn how to best communicate with the world, I would absorb the skills of the most talented musicians, filmmakers, and artists of our generation.
After acquiring the knowledge and skill to change the world, I would write songs, films, and books to share my insight with others. Additionally, I would use my collection of expertise to create products and organizations that would help our society heal, prosper, and thrive. That’s why I would choose the Mind Tasting superpower — while teleportation would be amazing for me as an individual, Mind Tasting would allow me to ignite positive change in the world and leave a positive impact on our society.
Choosing superpowers is a fun thought experiment; but more, it provides insight on what motivates someone. As I reflect on my answer, I ask myself: if my goal with my superpower is to acquire knowledge and skill that allows me to ignite positive change in society, who says I can’t do this without a superpower?
When I imagine myself with the Mind Tasting superpower, I imagine the ability to gain someone else’s expertise after a couple conversations. Thus, Mind Tasting is not supernatural in the ability itself, but simply in how fast it occurs. This is common in the superhero genre. We all heal, Wolverine simply heals fast. We all run, the Flash simply runs fast. We all learn. Mind Tasting simply allows us to learn fast.
As humans, learning is our core ability. Our first ability, one we’re born with, which is the source of all the abilities we’ve acquired afterwards. Learning is the source of our evolution; the cities and societies we’ve created today were built by studying our ancestors and then innovating to push further what they left behind for us. We must embrace our ability to learn — then, cultivate and nourish how we learn. Learning is how we become the greatest version of ourselves.
Even without the Mind Tasting superpower, we all have the ability to learn from others the old fashioned way: observation, repetition, and innovation. We all can observe the inspiring people around us, extract their wisdom, and add their insights to our library of knowledge. We can repeat their strategies and then innovate to create our own unique mindset and skillset.
This is what I aim to do with Mind Tasting here on Medium. I will study the most inspiring heroes throughout history, extract their insights, and apply them to my own life — and share my journey along the way.
