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Comment by iand675 | Hacker News Reader

Well, I've not tried to publish this on HN so far, but I guess given such a counterpoint, I should at least attempt to share: https://www.iankduncan.com/engineering/2026-08-07-getting-fr...

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Feels like some good points but the llm writing makes it feel less trustworthy

I'm reminded of my father in law, who when asked what superpower he'd want, it was flight, so he could get to work without waiting in traffic.

If all of your employees are AI's, clarity of vision trumps choosing boring. And if you're having boring visions... well the world is already full of competition for you, so good luck I guess.

It’s easier to imagine a super power than the end of capitalism, apparently.

It's famously easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.

> I'm reminded of my father in law, who when asked what superpower he'd want, it was flight, so he could get to work without waiting in traffic.

That is tragically sad.

It's better than saying invisibility as that always leads to someone being creepy. Laser beam eyes is of limited use. Moving through walls seems kind of meh to me as that's not a really limiting factor in my day to day. Shooting webs from my writs maybe kind of cool, but if its main use is for moving around it is much more limited than just being able to fly. Lasso of truth isn't really a super power but an interesting artifact. Of all of the super powers, the ability to fly does feel the most utilitarian to me. Plus, think of how environmentally friendly that super power would be if everyone could do it

Telekinesis strikes me as the most practically useful. How often I have yearned for a third hand to hold something at a tricky angle. Depending on how fine of control you get, you can also heat/cool matter.

Flight -is it as hard as running? Can I fly faster than I run? Do I get a force field or will I be constantly eating bugs?

> It's better than saying invisibility as that always leads to someone being creepy.

I'm sure plenty of people would choose invisibility simply out of extreme introversion.

Boring isn't bad. Ideas are cheap: often the execution is what counts. Doing a boring thing to near-perfection looks like the Japanese Shinkansen trains that average 1.6 minutes of delay annually and have operated with zero fatal accidents over decades of service.

Sure, if the thing is worth doing in the first place. How many of us can say that about our jobs though?

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