Robert's Riddles, Number 1: Telekinesis

December 1999

"OK, it's not really a riddle, more of a 'what would you do with a genie in a bottle' thing. These sorts of questions pop into my head from time to time and I've decided to post one. If people are interested I may post another one later, provided I remember, which is rather unlikely.

"You have been granted the power of telekinesis - moving objects with your mind. You can choose between either large-scale, gross-movement TK, which allows you to levitate and move at a fair rate of speed an object up to the size of, say, a small car with little effort but gives you no fine control whatsoever (pushing buttons on a telephone is probably beyond your abilities here); or small-scale, fine-control TK which allows you extremely sensitive, possibly microscopic manipulation, including things that you can't directly see (like, say, the inside of a lock), but is incapable of lifting anything heavier than a pencil (maybe a coffee mug at the outside, I dunno). You can only pick one, and once you've made your choice you're stuck with it. Which do you choose and why?"

-- Robert Holland

"Assembling things/moving things around one atom at a time can give you big results. Put together a few 'assemblers' and let them go, mentally programming them to build whatever it is you want. The practical uses are limitless."
-- Scott Thomas

"Either one. Doesn't matter - first thing I do is e-mail Randi and set up the protocol for the $1 million test...."
-- Cathy Fiorello

"I like Cathy's answer. But beyond that - I'm fond of the large-scale gross-movement just because I could move me! Fly to school. Mmmm."
-- R'ykandar Korra'ti

"Gosh, that's hard. I'd take the fine-control if I could lift up to say, 2 pounds or so-enough that I could at least lift a *full* coffee mug, maybe a heaping dinner plate. I'm not into the techie side of nanotechnology, etc., so other uses don't interest me. Of course, it would be kind of cool to paint with my mind. :) Otherwise, I like the gross-motor TK. I could be like The Rowan, only without the white streak in my hair. Of course, we don't have all that interstellar stuff to fling about, but give it some time."
-- Laura Begley

"Small-scale with fine manipulation, because in today's world the smaller stuff is often the stuff with the greatest impact on our lives."
-- Scott Lammers

"As one of my characters says in a novel-in-progress, 'It takes more effort than climbing a ladder... but then, I don't need to fetch a ladder.'"
-- Stickmaker (Rod Smith)

"What's the range? If it was an acceptably long range, I'd take the fine motor skill one, just to become a human tasp. :-) On the other hand, if I was going to use the gross movement TK to smite my enemies, I'd want to have a long range for that, too. Actually, I'd take whichever one would allow me to become a golf and/or bowling star. I suspect fine TK would be sufficient to put the little ball in the hole, or to knock over the pins. I think I'd rather make my money that way instead of being 'Carl, the human D7'."
-- Carl Parlagreco

"Been thinking about this one. If I took the fine manipulation, I could win the lottery. (Those ping pong balls don't weigh much.) If I took the gross power, I could fly... push heavy things that are gonna hit me AWAY (like cars). Hmm put that way... I'll take the gross power... I could lift things for money."
-- Gazer (Rickey Hite)

"Yep. What's the shuttle cost, $15K/oz to orbit? I'd do it for $10,000. $5,000 if I liked your looks. You'd still need the shuttle for people, but we could get the station parts themselves up there in no time at all. And once you're in space, it all becomes much more economical."
-- R'ykandar Korra'ti

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