Types of Abilities

[Kalaong]

hmm. Just babbling about it has stirred things up. I have hyperfocus on the brain, simply because I consider it the most impressive of all "superpowers" - it has a basis in reality while also being quite, well, powerful.

Okay, backstory. How about a Jerk Ass Boss at some tech company who keeps wanting his engineers to work harder manifests the ability to slam them into permanent hyperfocus states though extended harangues when he faces bankruptcy. Kind of a combination of Caldwell's channeling and Vernor Vinge's Emergents. Mythology: he's hit upon a dynamite motivational technique, and after finishing off his workload he starts holding seminars based on his "Focus, People!" technique, that are converting normal people into biological appliances. My God, how the money rolls in...

As for the virus thing, I'm indulging my dark side here. How about some hard-right oxygen waster like Rick Santorum finances a project to eliminate the 'gay gene' - but as the theory is bullshit(given that everybody has some degree of sexual reaction to both genders over the course of their lives), he has absolutely no luck. And then somebody brilliant brands him a disgusting neologism. He cracks, and his obsession with his 'gay-out' gene therapy manifests as the ability to slam viruses into customized forms with a degree of precision that can't even be attempted with state-of-the-art sequencers - but he's bankrupted himself and nobody will float Mr. Stinky Dork a loan. His mythology; the Satanic Gay Conspiracy discovered he was about to wipe them out, so they smeared and broke him. But God has granted him the ability to purge the heathens with divine plagues. He sells his custom bioweapons to religious fanatics the world over to rebuild his fortune and hone his divine gift till he can fulfill his mission...

Okay, personal Randian statists-are-nihilists mythology kicking in...

Given that stimulated hyperfocus is not a directly lethal manifestation(except when somebody lets his "enhanced" workers commit karoshi-Japanese for 'death from overwork'), there's a more-than-decent chance he'd be taken alive. Along with his victims. Would the WTF really want to "cure" a stable of obsessive hyper-competent engineers - or for that matter, wouldn't Reyes want to hire the JAB to 'toughen up' a few profilers, researchers (okay, I just handed the fictional character who reminds me of the teacher who watched me be beaten until I lost three teeth the 'tool' he needs for global domination!)...

And would USAMRIID really give up a human bioweapons factory if they didn't have to? These are the same berks who insist on "don't ask, don't tell"... they called it a disease a few decades back...

Hmm. After William Villette, I keep on looking for ways to turn these penny-sliding psychics into supervillians. If TPTB actually use any of these ideas, future episodes of Shadow Unit will look less like NCIS and more like 24.

[Cal]

everybody has some degree of sexual reaction to both genders over the course of their lives

Not, in fact, true.  Sorry.

If TPTB actually use any of these ideas, future episodes of Shadow Unit will look less like NCIS and more like 24.

I really don't think existing episodes look a lot like NCIS now.  For starters, they have consistent characterisation and, the characters value human life.

[txanne]

Kalaong, why don't you try writing some fanfic? There's a fanfic policy at the bottom of the forum's front page. Have at it!

[Kalaong]

everybody has some degree of sexual reaction to both genders over the course of their lives

Not, in fact, true.  Sorry.

Muscle Beach contests and supermodels don't only run on women's networks, and if a gaybasher found himself feeling the 'wrong' form of attraction, he sure wouldn't tell any one or even admit to it. I'm a dedicated porn surfer of the straight kind, but I admit that Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt have interesting effects on me in "Interview with the Vampire" and "Fight Club", respectively.
Considering that homophobia is a distinctly monotheistic concept, "latent universal bisexuality" is simply a likely yet unprovable theory. In comparison, is there any incontrovertible evidence that no two fingerprints are the same?

[Korvar]

Bit of a stretch from that to everyone feels that way.

[Splash]

I don't believe Kalaong has suggested that everyone feels that way, more that sexual attraction is a scale, rather than a set of yes-no switches.  Where I come from, this is accepted as a matter of course (which doesn't mean it is true, just that it is a popular theory).   Most of it can be seen as shades and subtleties and definitions--that I am able to appreciate male beauty would be seen by some as a level of sexual attraction, and by others as purely aesthetic appreciation.  I consider it a level of sexual attraction, but perhaps that is only because I'm used to considering it that way.

When I started writing this, I had a point.  Maybe I'll go eat a turnover and think about it and my point will come back.

[Edmund Schweppe]

(given that everybody has some degree of sexual reaction to both genders over the course of their lives)

Only if "some" includes "none". (Not only are some people sexually attracted solely to one gender or the other, other people aren't sexually attracted to either gender.)

[MadGastronomer]

As popular as that hypothesis is in some quarters, there's no actual evidence that everyone feels some attraction to both sexes, so please don't fling it around as fact. Especially because it can offend some people for reasons other than homophobia. Also, genuine bisexuals tend to come out looking bad when people toss that statement around too lightly.

[el_jefe]

Only if "some" includes "none". (Not only are some people sexually attracted solely to one gender or the other, other people aren't sexually attracted to either gender.)

I worked with a guy like that. The office gossip had him as gay, but from what I gathered from actual conversation with him is that he seemed to have no sex drive at all. Just plain wasn't interested. 

[Korvar]

As popular as that hypothesis is in some quarters, there's no actual evidence that everyone feels some attraction to both sexes, so please don't fling it around as fact. Especially because it can offend some people for reasons other than homophobia. Also, genuine bisexuals tend to come out looking bad when people toss that statement around too lightly.

I used to snark that the definition of a bisexual was someone who believes everyone is bisexual really.

Let's see if we can drag this back on topic:  What abilities would a Gamma have if their crack was incessantly being told that they're really truly bisexual, no matter their feelings on the matter? 

[Cal]

Only if "some" includes "none". (Not only are some people sexually attracted solely to one gender or the other, other people aren't sexually attracted to either gender.)

I worked with a guy like that. The office gossip had him as gay, but from what I gathered from actual conversation with him is that he seemed to have no sex drive at all. Just plain wasn't interested. 

Yes.  It's called 'asexuality', and we do, in fact, exist.

[txanne]

Let's see if we can drag this back on topic:  What abilities would a Gamma have if their crack was incessantly being told that they're really truly bisexual, no matter their feelings on the matter? 

Let's see, if people keep telling me I'm bi when I know full well I'm not, I'll use my gammability to reverse their sexual polarity. Gays become straight, subs become dommes, and bis can only reach orgasm at the hands (so to speak) of their previous least-favorite gender. So if you like beefy redheaded men, your new type is small brunette women. I see great potential for mayhem with this system.

[MadGastronomer]

Also, genuine bisexuals tend to come out looking bad when people toss that statement around too lightly.

I used to snark that the definition of a bisexual was someone who believes everyone is bisexual really.

See?  It causes otherwise perfectly nice people to say things that get right up my nose.  Or would, if I wasn't just as irritated by the statement that sparked it.
Seriously, when you claim that everyone is at least a little bi, really, you are calling everyone who says they aren't liars and homophobes.  Cut it out, please, we bisexuals get enough bad press as it is.

[Emma Bull]

Considering that homophobia is a distinctly monotheistic concept...

Hmm. How do you mean?

[txanne]

Considering that homophobia is a distinctly monotheistic concept...

Hmm. How do you mean?

And when you answer, please keep in mind that sweeping generalizations about religion are as boring as all the other ones.