It seems to me that being able to control emotions is an incredibly potent power which could be used for good or ill. (The same can probably be said for mind reading. It doesn't have to be evil, it just can be.)
Both would be very useful in diagnosing mental difficulties. Imagine Jasper's power used thus:
"Here, let me try something."
"Oh my god, that's amazing. What are you doing to me?"
"I'm just-"
"Am I high? Is this what being high feels like?"
"No. This is normal. I'm hitting you with my strongest dose of normal."
"This can't be-"
"It is. This should be your baseline."
"There's no way..."
"Sometimes you should feel worse than this, sometimes you should feel better-"
"It's possible to feel better than this?"
"Yes. Much, much better. But the important thing for now-"
"I don't believe you." [Pulls away] "You're trying to trick me."
"No I'm-"
"I won't be manipulated!" [Runs away.]
"Damn it. Maybe I should have started with slightly less depressed."
-
And then comes the difficult process of convincing the person, "No, I wasn't trying to trick you, it's actually healthy to feel like that, you might want to look into seeking treatment."
Both would be very useful in diagnosing mental difficulties. Imagine Jasper's power used thus:
"Here, let me try something."
"Oh my god, that's amazing. What are you doing to me?"
"I'm just-"
"Am I high? Is this what being high feels like?"
"No. This is normal. I'm hitting you with my strongest dose of normal."
"This can't be-"
"It is. This should be your baseline."
"There's no way..."
"Sometimes you should feel worse than this, sometimes you should feel better-"
"It's possible to feel better than this?"
"Yes. Much, much better. But the important thing for now-"
"I don't believe you." [Pulls away] "You're trying to trick me."
"No I'm-"
"I won't be manipulated!" [Runs away.]
"Damn it. Maybe I should have started with slightly less depressed."
-
And then comes the difficult process of convincing the person, "No, I wasn't trying to trick you, it's actually healthy to feel like that, you might want to look into seeking treatment."
I want this to exist so much.
ReplyDeleteI read this when you first posted it; now I'm reading it again, and... yes, this would be great.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, these powers would be useful for a lot of things. Mental telepathy could finally answer the question of "is the blue you see the same blue someone else sees?" Precognition could do several million things. Any of these could give rise to a good book, if someone would think to use them that way!
This had me sniggering.
ReplyDelete