Every so often someone writes an essay on why Superman doesn’t just stop social injustice or whatever. My response is that since superhumans are still only human in the ways that matter, they can make mistakes. If you stop crime, that at least puts a lower bound on how bad your mistake is. It’s pretty obvious that stopping Dr. Octopus benefits people—the chances of being wrong about that are nil.
If the superhero starts overthrowing governments—or promoting cryonics—there’s a chance he could be wrong and screw up. And if someone with such an influence screws up, he really screws up.
Reading that fic from a point of view of someone who doesn’t support cryonics makes it clear exactly why beating up super-criminals is the best use of his powers.
In a similar vein, Strong Female Protagonist is a great webcomic about a girl with super strength who questions the idea that fighting crime is the best use of her talents.
The official Peter Parker version had Gwen Stacy die on him. I’ve seen a commentary which pointed out that this directly disproves the mantra about great power and great responsibility, since although Uncle Ben was a case where refusing to be a hero got his loved ones killed, Gwen Stacy was a case where deciding to be a hero got his loved ones killed. If he hadn’t been Spider-Man, Gwen would have still been alive.
I’m not familiar with the exact canon of how Gwen died, but I don’t think it disproves the idea that “with great power comes great responsibility”. It’s still your responsibility to make sure people don’t get hurt, not just to try to use your powers for good.
In HPMOR, Harry calls it “Heroic Responsibility”.
“You could call it heroic responsibility, maybe,” Harry Potter said. “Not like the usual sort. It means that whatever happens, no matter what, it’s always your fault. Even if you tell Professor McGonagall, she’s not responsible for what happens, you are. Following the school rules isn’t an excuse, someone else being in charge isn’t an excuse, even trying your best isn’t an excuse. There just aren’t any excuses, you’ve got to get the job done no matter what.”
I can “prevent someone from getting hurt” right now by selling my computer and giving the money to some charity. I don’t do this. Some people here may argue that that’s still immoral, especially the Givewell people, but almost every human being alive acts that way. People care more about their family and friends, and secondarily about people like themselves, rather than caring about everyone in the world equally.
From this point of view, the death of Uncle Ben is supposed to show that if Peter doesn’t become a hero, the people he cares about will suffer, not just a random other person in the world. After all, every time he buys his Aunt May medicine instead of spending the money on third world malaria netting, he has failed to use his powers for good There’s no need for Uncle Ben to die just to demonstrate that. But Gwen Stacy is a prime example of a loved one whose death includes a short causal chain that begins with “Peter is a hero”. If he hadn’t been a hero, Gwen wouldn’t have died.
(Of course, you could argue that if he hadn’t been a hero, an earlier villain would have taken over the city and eventually killed everyone in it, including Gwen. The problem with that reasoning is that it’s really an astonishing coincidence that in a comic book world, the heroes and villains are exactly matched—it’s such an astonishing coincidence that morality cannot require that Peter act in a way that’s optimized for the coincidence. And the same logic which leads you to conclude that without Peter villains would have taken over the city would also lead you to conclude that in cities that never had a Peter, the villains would have taken over already.)
In HPMOR, Harry calls it “Heroic Responsibility”.
But that quote isn’t an argument that heroic responsibility exists. It’s an assertion. So I have no reason (that you’ve shown me) to take it seriously.
I just finished a one-shot rational Spider-Man fic. Comments are welcome.
Every so often someone writes an essay on why Superman doesn’t just stop social injustice or whatever. My response is that since superhumans are still only human in the ways that matter, they can make mistakes. If you stop crime, that at least puts a lower bound on how bad your mistake is. It’s pretty obvious that stopping Dr. Octopus benefits people—the chances of being wrong about that are nil.
If the superhero starts overthrowing governments—or promoting cryonics—there’s a chance he could be wrong and screw up. And if someone with such an influence screws up, he really screws up.
Reading that fic from a point of view of someone who doesn’t support cryonics makes it clear exactly why beating up super-criminals is the best use of his powers.
In a similar vein, Strong Female Protagonist is a great webcomic about a girl with super strength who questions the idea that fighting crime is the best use of her talents.
That whole page feels very LessWrong-y.
The official Peter Parker version had Gwen Stacy die on him. I’ve seen a commentary which pointed out that this directly disproves the mantra about great power and great responsibility, since although Uncle Ben was a case where refusing to be a hero got his loved ones killed, Gwen Stacy was a case where deciding to be a hero got his loved ones killed. If he hadn’t been Spider-Man, Gwen would have still been alive.
I’m not familiar with the exact canon of how Gwen died, but I don’t think it disproves the idea that “with great power comes great responsibility”. It’s still your responsibility to make sure people don’t get hurt, not just to try to use your powers for good.
In HPMOR, Harry calls it “Heroic Responsibility”.
I can “prevent someone from getting hurt” right now by selling my computer and giving the money to some charity. I don’t do this. Some people here may argue that that’s still immoral, especially the Givewell people, but almost every human being alive acts that way. People care more about their family and friends, and secondarily about people like themselves, rather than caring about everyone in the world equally.
From this point of view, the death of Uncle Ben is supposed to show that if Peter doesn’t become a hero, the people he cares about will suffer, not just a random other person in the world. After all, every time he buys his Aunt May medicine instead of spending the money on third world malaria netting, he has failed to use his powers for good There’s no need for Uncle Ben to die just to demonstrate that. But Gwen Stacy is a prime example of a loved one whose death includes a short causal chain that begins with “Peter is a hero”. If he hadn’t been a hero, Gwen wouldn’t have died.
(Of course, you could argue that if he hadn’t been a hero, an earlier villain would have taken over the city and eventually killed everyone in it, including Gwen. The problem with that reasoning is that it’s really an astonishing coincidence that in a comic book world, the heroes and villains are exactly matched—it’s such an astonishing coincidence that morality cannot require that Peter act in a way that’s optimized for the coincidence. And the same logic which leads you to conclude that without Peter villains would have taken over the city would also lead you to conclude that in cities that never had a Peter, the villains would have taken over already.)
But that quote isn’t an argument that heroic responsibility exists. It’s an assertion. So I have no reason (that you’ve shown me) to take it seriously.
I half-expected Peter to finish with, “Revenge? Of course. It’s just that the real enemy is death, and this is my revenge.”
I suppose that makes more sense than what FeepingCreature came up with on reddit: