scrape_r_rational/data/cache2/2ak85m.md

## [D][Q] What would you do with (near) absolute power?

* Author: u/Threedoge  *New Lunar Republic**
* URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/2ak85m/dq_what_would_you_do_with_near_absolute_power/
* Score: 12

* Created: 2014-07-13T04:03:12

### Post:

So I'm currently working on a piece of rational fiction were at the beginning of the story 5 billion people are given the power to transmute energy and matter of any form into any other form. There are two downsides to this though.

1. Should you over commit and use more energy than is currently in your possession the spell will start to draw on your internal energy and mass.
2. You can only move 2.1*10^15 joules of energy per second and 25% of your starting energy is irreversibly removed from the local system. 
3. You can only control/move energy and mass in a 500 meter sphere around yourself.
 
This is the kind of thing that I feel is right up r/rational's alley so what would you do with the power? 

Become a one man solar panel for the planet alleviating a large amount of our energy consumption needs? End world hunger by directly transmuting fat muscle and all other necessary material for life into people and circumventing bodily needs? Become a dictator by destroying everyone who opposes you by unleashing a death ray with near unstoppable force (who am I kidding this is /r/rational you'd find an easier and more energy efficient way to rule the world)?

edit: slight clarification of the rules.

edit2: size limit

edit 3: Just a thank you to everyone who posted here. I've got a ton of new reading to do, new equations to run, and you've helped plug up a few of the holes that I was trying to fill. My hat goes off to the lot of you.

### Comments:

> **u/EliezerYudkowsky** [+20]  *Godric Gryffindor* (10 minutes later)
> 
> Wait why is this planet's surface not an expanding plasma cloud after three seconds

>> **u/Threedoge** [+4]  *New Lunar Republic* (49 minutes later)
>> 
>> I didn't say it was locally released as entropy. Without delving to far into the lore it might just be easier to say its removed from the local system rather than released as entropy.
>> 
>> Edit: grammer

>>> **u/DeliaEris** [+13]  *Fully General Idealist* (2 hours later)
>>> 
>>> There are *five billion* people with this power. It only takes *one* crazy person to decide it's a good idea to create an antimatter asteroid on a collision course with Earth. (You create it in space so that you have plenty of time to build up its mass before it blows up.)

>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+3]  *New Lunar Republic* (8 hours later)
>>>> 
>>>> Ah right I forgot the size of of the sphere of influence. That's my bad, editing main post.

> **u/alexanderwales** [+10]  *Time flies like an arrow* (57 minutes later)
> 
> I'm going to need a whole bunch of clarification on the rules here.
> 
> 1. What does it mean to say that energy or mass is "in your possession"?
> 2. Can I convert matter to antimatter?
> 3. Can I in any other way exceed the joule limit by producing two kinds of matter that react to create more usable energy?
> 4. How much control do I have over the end result of the mass I create? Could I convincingly create organic matter (like wood, for example)?
> 5. I kind of suck at physics - what does the energy limit imply about my ability to transmute matter?
> 6. Is it possible to erect defenses that have a consistent drain on my power limits?
> 7. How much thought and focus does it take to use my power?
> 
> From a story standpoint, I have to wonder why so many - the majority of the population gets this power, which means it's going to be really hard to actually be a dictator, since there are equally powered people that can stop you.

>> **u/Threedoge** [+3]  *New Lunar Republic* (an hour later)
>> 
>> Oh boy alright lets get started.
>> 
>> 1. The power recognizes you (your body and everything inside of it like food, body heat, nerve electricity, bacteria, and air) as well as anything made of matter by the power, unless you declare that it is outside your possession.
>> 2. Yes you can, though I'm rather curious as to why you would.
>> 3. No you can not.
>> 4. You could create organic matter, but you would have to understand its cellular construction down to the atom.
>> 5. It implies that you can work with one ounce of matter at a time. It also implies that I'm a moron and that the wording needs to be tightened up on the second rule.
>> 6. Yes and its one of the basic spells that is built into the power.
>> 7. Basic speech should be enough to concentrate you mental focus.
>> 
>> And from a story stand point your right, it would be bloody difficult to rule over that many people. But if you did control that many people with that kind of power they might make a pretty good army against a foe that can devourer raw energy and matter to make exact replicas of themselves. Or it might end in everyone dying.

>>> **u/Gurkenglas** [+8]  (9 hours later)
>>> 
>>> In the first second, launch myself into space (keeping myself alive with my power as per 6.) to escape the future cone of EY's foom. Can I examine matter in my sphere of influence at the atomic level in order to copy it? If yes, copy myself. Does my copy have my power? If yes, we're identical. One of me discards arms and legs. Still powered? Remove body parts until some low-hanging minimum is reached, then replicate exponentially for a few minutes. Research less low-hanging minima, then replicate some more. Send a few trillion of me back to Earth to see if everyone has kept everyone else from fooming; if yes, immobilize everyone (assign two of me to instantly reversing all power use from each non-me) and sit down for a few years to work out that FAI thing. If no, this becomes an *interesting* battle of titans that I, author of less than a decillion minds, cannot quite predict. (Although it's improbable that the logarithms of our power differ by less than 10.)

>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+3]  *New Lunar Republic* (10 hours later)
>>>> 
>>>> I like this, its exactly the kind of thing that I would expect from you guys once you got over the fact that you could accidentally blow up the planet. However I think your over estimating how fast you can think in a clear logical patter.
>>>> 
>>>> You have to supply each spell with the exact information on what you want done. You can create "functions", if you will, that are large spells tied to a short word combination, but you would still need to set up a function that is tied to each kind of cell in your body. 
>>>> 
>>>> If you wanted to brute force the spell and list out the exact molecular placement of each individual molecule of your body, that would take a much longer period of time than if you created a set of functions to create a "generic" of each one of your cells.
>>>> 
>>>> Also while you could scan your entire body rather quickly (the spell would probably be as easy as "locate and identify the exact atomic and energy composition of my being with relevant data points being particle locations, amount of energy in joules and relative direction each particle is traveling in.") you would have to store that information somewhere, and I would recommend against uploading it to your brain directly, as I could see that frying your brain in short order.
>>>> 
>>>> There are a few other minor things like setting up livable conditions in space, the fact that you can't directly interact with anyone else who has this power since they are in their own possession, nor could you directly interact with their constructs. Most of these are just time limitations and should be easily circumvented with enough thought through.
>>>> 
>>>> Edit: grammer

>>>>> **u/Gurkenglas** [+5]  (11 hours later)
>>>>> 
>>>>> I could store it in more matter directly next to me, as the scans purpose was copying anyway. I assumed that the defenses as per 6 included things like keeping oxygen levels above a critical treshold and counteracting violent pressure.
>>>>> 
>>>>> As for acquiring possession of other people, please. I merely have to arrange for their matter to pass through the inside of one of my bodies.
>>>>> 
>>>>> By the way, can I implement [Maxwell's Demon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell%27s_demon) to slowly generate arbitrary amounts of energy? If yes, scratch the sending back a trillion: I should be able to build some apparatus whose power output grows with the square of the energy I have available (for example, invest half in a superheated plasma contained by magnets, and the other half into me-bodies playing Maxwellian gatekeepers) in order to acquire infinite energy. You heard right, not arbitrary energy. [This differential equation is scary.](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=f%27%3Df^2)
>>>>> 
>>>>> Talk about a literal singularity.

>>>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+2]  *New Lunar Republic* (11 hours later)
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Ah the protection spell could be specified to set up to prevent depressurization and the the traumas that rapidly leaving the earth's atmosphere would induce, but it won't just conjure up air. You'd need to consistently create some and keep it nearby.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> And no, Maxwell's demon only shifts energy from place to place creating a pocket of high energy and low energy, it doesn't spontaneously create energy. 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Lets say that we did have Maxwell's two chambers and demon set up. You then proceed to pull out all the heat energy from the high entropy side but then the system as a whole has lost that energy. The demon could constantly switch out the molecules for ones that now, comparatively, have a higher amount of energy but at the end of the day you would eventually run out of raw energy in the entire system.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Now lets say your in the system and use the entropy that you have created and sort out high and low energy. Your still losing a quarter of the energy irreversibly, it is fundamentally being removed from the system.

>>>>>>> **u/Zephyr1011** [+3]  *Potentially Unfriendly Aspiring Divinity* (17 hours later)
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Could the protection spell not just convert CO2 to O2, solving the air problem?

>>>>>>>> **u/Gurkenglas** [+3]  (22 hours later)
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Might be a few orders of magnitude cheaper to just arrange for your ATP to always be charged.

>>>>>>>>> **u/mynoduesp** [+2]  (2 days later)
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> I love this conversation, you guys are nuts.

>>>>>>>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (2 days later)
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> My thoughts exactly! I knew that this would drive some bat-shit insane ideas. Have you seen the thread about Nepene trying to implement a police state? Bloody flipping brilliant stuff.

>>>>>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+2]  *New Lunar Republic* (23 hours later)
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> The idea behind the basic built in protection spell is that there is a framework set up so you just have to list what kind of traumas you wish to avoid and how much energy your willing to invest in avoiding them.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Setting up an CO2 to O2 spell would also be trivial, but you should probably augment it with some energy from local radiation, since we are in space, theres going to be a lot of that.

>>>>>>> **u/khafra** [+1]  (a day later)
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> > Lets say that we did have Maxwell's two chambers and demon set up. You then proceed to pull out all the heat energy from the high entropy side but then the system as a whole has lost that energy. The demon could constantly switch out the molecules for ones that now, comparatively, have a higher amount of energy but at the end of the day you would eventually run out of raw energy in the entire system.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> I'm not sure quite how you're differentiating between "heat" and "energy," one form of which is a heat gradient. If you use your power to turn an ounce of matter into a bose-einstein condensate, slowing down its molecular motion to almost zero, what would that "cost" you?
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> > 
>>>>>>> > Now lets say your in the system and use the entropy that you have created and sort out high and low energy. Your still losing a quarter of the energy irreversibly, it is fundamentally being removed from the system.

>>>>>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (a day later)
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> To be honest I think this comment was poorly written on my part. Yes you could add more heat to the system by converting matter (at the cost of 1/4 of the energy of the matter that your converting into energy), but I still am unsure as to how Gurkenglas plans on creating energy from a Maxwell's demon style system.

>>>>>>>>> **u/khafra** [+1]  (a day later)
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> > Yes you could add more heat to the system
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> But could you subtract heat from the system for free, by slowing the molecules? Because that's an unlimited energy exploit, via any approximation of a Carnot engine.

>>>>>>>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (a day later)
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> Only if your were moving them into another working, lets say heating something else up, and that would cost energy. I'm going to borrow a diagram here:
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Carnot_heat_engine_2.svg
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> If we assumed that you would remove heat energy from Tc and placed it back into Th that would only put 75% of the energy back into the system. Assuming that some of the energy from Qh gets turn into work energy (W in this model) then you are constantly losing energy from the system.
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> Unless I'm fundamentally misunderstanding something about this type of engine, which is more than possible. If so I think I'm going to need it spelled out for me.

>>>>>>>>>>> **u/khafra** [+1]  (2 days later)
>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>> > If we assumed that you would remove heat energy from Tc and placed it back into Th that would only put 75% of the energy back into the system.
>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>> I do think you may be conflating some aspects of temperature with some aspects of energy; 'cause you can totally get free energy with this power.
>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>> Imagine you find yourself at the heat death of the universe--maximum entropy, no usable energy.  The background temperature is like 5 Kelvins or something, I dunno. You make a 500 meter wide shell of heat engines, and stop nearly all molecular motion on the inside of that shell. As long as you keep the inside colder than the outside, the heat gradient will let the machines do work.  So, free cooling==free energy.

>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+2]  *New Lunar Republic* (2 days later)
>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>> Alright I'm going to break down how I believe a heat engine works and I need you to point out my flaw. If I can figure out a way to get rid of this exploit I will, but if it's inherently going to be a part of the power then I want my characters to abuse the hell out of it. So here we go.
>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>> Lets assume we have a heat engine, one that transmutes a system with maximum entropy into usable work energy.
>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>> Using the diagram from before we have T^h which has 2 heat units and T^c which has zero. The engine sends heat energy though, Q^H ,and produces 0.05 units of work energy, W. Both sides now have .975 units of heat and we have made 0.05 units of work energy.
>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>> Now lets say we pulled out entropy from T^c and added it to W, making W= 0.78125 due to the quarter of lost energy. Now since there is an imbalance between T^h and T^c the engine starts up again and we go through the process once again.

>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/khafra** [+1]  (3 days later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>> > one that transmutes a system with maximum entropy into usable work energy.
>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>> To be overly technical with the terminology, you can't do that. A heat engine only works if you know where to find a heat gradient--and area of higher temperature, and an area of lower temperature.  But that system is the one we're both talking about, so it's only a terminology quibble.
>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>> > Now lets say we pulled out entropy from Tc and added it to W, making W= 0.78125 due to the quarter of lost energy. Now since there is an imbalance between Th and Tc the engine starts up again and we go through the process once again.
>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>> Yup, this is it. Without magic, it takes work to create a heat gradient where none previously existed. If you can just magically stop molecules in their tracks, you get free energy.
>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>> Looking at it from the old "billiard ball model" of molecular interactions makes it more intuitively accessible than statistical thermodynamics, I think: Put a rigid divider in the middle of a pool table with fast-moving balls on one side, and slow-moving balls on the other side, and you'll be able to extract work from it until the speed of the balls is equalized. 
>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>> If one side of the table is guaranteed to always have balls moving at *some* finite speed (like it is, in our universe), and you're able to completely stop the balls on the other side, you'll always be able to extract work from the rigid divider.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+2]  *New Lunar Republic* (3 days later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Ah okay, but here's the thing. After running the system until there is effectively 0 heat units in T^h and T^c then W would only be about 1.5 units of energy. We decreased entropy by a significant margin but we lost potential of .5 units. If we were to reconvert, say, one unit of the work energy back into heat to start the process over again then we would lose .25 from our remaining .5 work energy, leaving a potential of 1.25 in the system.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> With this system you could create a large amount of actual usable energy, true, but we've still lost heat from the system and thus the potential to create more energy is lost.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/khafra** [+1]  (3 days later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >  If we were to reconvert, say, one unit of the work energy back into heat...
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> But this is called "doing work." Heat--useless molecular movement--is what energy--useful molecular movement--turns into when it's used to do work.  
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> That's why the cooldown is an exploit: You take a .25 tax for creating energy using the power, but not for using things created by the power in a physics-abiding way. The only way you couldn't chain your way up to infinite energy is if you started with your entire environment at absolute zero; in which case you'd also be inconvenienced by being dead.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (4 days later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Alright here is we are disagreeing. Lets instead say that instead of moving the energy from T^c into W we moved it back into T^h at the end of each cycle.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> We would still produce 1.5 units of work energy. This is the same amount of energy that would be produced if you used the power to directly convert the entropy.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Now lets say we used that energy and it returned to an entropic state, useless for any other purpose. If it was all back in T^h then we have 1.5 units that would eventually produce 1.125 units of of work energy.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Your assuming that the cooling process is free but you have to use the entropic heat in a spell to move it, even if that spell is simply moving that energy form T^c to T^h . Meaning that you would eventually hit 0 in T^c , T^h , and W.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Even if you introduced more heat by dispersing matter into raw entropy, or use it in a spell and then process that again, but eventually

>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Gurkenglas** [+1]  (2 days later)
>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>> But if the universe keeps expanding, that background temperature would drop ever closer to zero.

>>>>>>> **u/Gurkenglas** [+1]  (2 days later)
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Right, I was being stupid and mixing up infinite negentropy with infinite massenergy.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Where does magic's computation power come from? Could I build a NAND spell, then a computer, then a universe-simulator, and then move to a place where I am a god rather than a mere wizard?

>>>>>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (2 days later)
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> All spells have to work with matter and energy. Lets say you wanted to build a spell to simulate a calculator. You could have the spell take a large number of particles and move them in such a that one side is the input the other is the output. The spell then performs your operations, moves the particles around, and tells you how many particles are on the output side.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> You're still bound by light-speed, your upper energy limit, and your range, but you could make a pretty kick arse computational device literally out of a few twigs and a rock.

>>>>>>>>> **u/Gurkenglas** [+1]  (2 days later)
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> So I take it that the spell performs all the computational operations of the algorithm I specified when crafting the spell, then moves the particles based on the result of the last one?
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> What if I give it an algorithm that doesn't halt?

>>>>>>>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (3 days later)
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> As with the discussion about potential paper clippers has stated you either continue to feed the spell power or it noms on your matter until you die. In other words build in an automatic fail safe so you don't kill yourself debugging your code.

>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Gurkenglas** [+1]  (3 days later)
>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>> How is determined how much energy, and how much time an algorithm takes to run?

>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (3 days later)
>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>> Well it takes however long it would take to move the particles around at near light speeds. Of course there is the limit of your power to consider so if its trying to move more than 2.1X10^15 joules worth of particles (as the amount of particles the spell has to work with is considered part of your energy limit) then some operations might be a bit slower.
>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>> Energy is a little more tricky. Best solution might be to define an amount of energy before hand and should the program exceed that energy usage, have it print out what operations it was working on on a sheet of paper. Not perfect, but if you think about the problem for more than a minute several fail-safes come to mind.

>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Gurkenglas** [+1]  (3 days later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>> I am not sure whether you by particles mean the output display, or some materialized form of innards of the computer. I am asking whether my joules give me as much computational power as the most efficient silicon arrangement constructed from those joules that I can come up with, or if I can ask any question that an algorithm could answer whose answer can be expressed using those joules.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (4 days later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Ah sorry, by output I mean final atomic results of your calculation.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Now on to your real question. You should be able to figure out a way to calculate with slightly higher computational efficiently than if you were to set up a silicon based computer.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Gurkenglas** [+1]  (4 days later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> So... if I make it calculate by brute force whether the number of primes between 1 and 10^10^(10^100) is even or odd, then accelerate that stone in front of me to one meter per second over the course of one second, to the left if the result is "odd" and to the right if the result is "even", then the whole spell takes as much time and energy as would be taken by a spell that simply propels the stone away from me to one meter per second over one second?

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (4 days later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Okay, that was really bad wording on my part. Let me just build a framework here, and try not to get you more confused.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> In order for a spell to determine an information based value it must be able to have a way to calculate by moving matter around.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Lets take your purposed question of determining if the number of primes between 1 and 10^10^(10^100) is even or odd. To determine if a number is prime or not you would have to set up a spell to move particles around to say if a number is prime or not.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> So lets say it wants to calculate if seven is prime or not. I would move 7 particles into one specified area. Next it will remove particles in lots of 1 to 7.  For example for 2 it would remove two particles at a time until it can't remove two particles at a time.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> If for every number of lots the calculation area is not empty then it will add a particle to the group of particles that total the number of primes found.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Once done it will find if the number of remaining particles is even or odd, and move your stone in one direction or another.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Gurkenglas** [+1]  (4 days later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> How much computing power can a spell use between any two elementary operations? For example, you said to remove two particles at a time. Could it remove 216912682049672 at a time?

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (4 days later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Sure, if you could set it up for multi-threading. Setting up the memory for non-elementary operations would be... fun... but doable.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Gurkenglas** [+1]  (5 days later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Would that work by making the spell definition more complicated, or by adding, for example, silicon memory circuits, somewhere to be accessed by the spell (thereby introducing a lightspeed delay into any memory lookup)

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (5 days later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Ya, you could return to semi-normal computing methods for memory storage, but it would still be complex as hell. You'd have to set up a clock of sorts, and some kind of error handling in case one thread is taking up all the memory, or has removed resources that another tread needed. I would need to sit down and just run theoretical tests on what kind of situations you'd come across, but ya there should be plenty of ways for you to create memory that would work with multi-threading.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Gurkenglas** [+1]  (6 days later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Of course it would be complex. I was simply asking whether I can provide a constant/logarithmic/linear amount of memory via making the spell code longer in the right ways, without having an intrinsic visible effect on the outside world.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (6 days later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Ah in that case no.

>>>>>> **u/autowikibot** [+1]  (11 hours later)
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> #####	
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> ######	
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> ####	
>>>>>>  [**Maxwell's demon**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell%27s%20demon): [](#sfw) 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> ---
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> >In the [philosophy of thermal and statistical physics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_thermal_and_statistical_physics), __Maxwell's demon__ is a [thought experiment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought_experiment) created by the [physicist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physicist) [James Clerk Maxwell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Clerk_Maxwell) to "show that the [Second Law of Thermodynamics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Law_of_Thermodynamics) has only a statistical certainty".  It demonstrates [Maxwell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Clerk_Maxwell)'s point by hypothetically describing how to violate the Second Law: a container of gas molecules at equilibrium is divided into two parts by an insulated wall, with a door that can be opened and closed by what came to be called "Maxwell's demon". The [demon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_(thought_experiment\)) opens the door to allow only the faster than average molecules to flow through to a favored side of the chamber, and only the slower than average molecules to the other side, causing the favored side to gradually heat up while the other side cools down, thus decreasing [entropy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy).
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> >====
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> >[**Image**](https://i.imgur.com/eY4o4q5.png) [^(i)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maxwell%27s_demon.svg)
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> ---
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> ^Interesting: [^Ben ^Bova](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Bova) ^| [^Velvet ^Goldmine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velvet_Goldmine) ^| [^James ^Clerk ^Maxwell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Clerk_Maxwell) ^| [^Philosophy ^of ^thermal ^and ^statistical ^physics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_thermal_and_statistical_physics) 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> ^Parent ^commenter ^can [^toggle ^NSFW](http://www.np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=autowikibot&subject=AutoWikibot NSFW toggle&message=%2Btoggle-nsfw+ciw8ly2) ^or[](#or) [^delete](http://www.np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=autowikibot&subject=AutoWikibot Deletion&message=%2Bdelete+ciw8ly2)^. ^Will ^also ^delete ^on ^comment ^score ^of ^-1 ^or ^less. ^| [^(FAQs)](http://www.np.reddit.com/r/autowikibot/wiki/index) ^| [^Mods](http://www.np.reddit.com/r/autowikibot/comments/1x013o/for_moderators_switches_commands_and_css/) ^| [^Magic ^Words](http://www.np.reddit.com/r/autowikibot/comments/1ux484/ask_wikibot/)

>>>>> **u/Gurkenglas** [+1]  (2 days later)
>>>>> 
>>>>> Oh, right. Once I've got the FAI thing figured out, I run it and it nigh-instantly figures out that the rules of magic imply that the universe is a thought experiment. It is currently begging me, Gurkenglas, to change the rules to allow for infinite energy. Wat do?

>>>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (2 days later)
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Don't. Do. Anything. It's trying to get you to help it multiply exponentially, which is what the main antagonist is designed prevent and eradicate at any cost necessary.

>>>>>>> **u/Gurkenglas** [+1]  (3 days later)
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> But there's like one BILLION gallylion fifilion shavadlulemllionshmygoinsholingmillion of me down there...

>>>>>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (3 days later)
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Yes and these guys ate every universe in the multiverse sans the 20 your living on. Their clone army beats your clone army by a factor of googol.

> **u/Anakiri** [+5]  (3 hours later)
> 
> So I get 23 grams of matter per second, or half a megaton of TNT worth of bang. 30 Hiroshimas per second. With antimatter, I can double that to 60 Hiroshimas per second. Per person. For *5 billion people*. Oh that's not going to end well.
> 
> I don't understand the rules. Say I transmute 23 grams of nitrogen in the air into 23 grams of botulinum toxin. What exactly happens? Do I end up with 23 grams? Or 17 grams, after 25% vanishes? Since I'm "using" energy beyond what is "in my possession", do I lose 23 grams of fat? Or 31 grams of fat, 23 vanishing to fuel the transmutation and 25% of that 31 vanishing just because? Or do I lose just 6 grams of fat, 25% of the amount I'm transmuting? Do I get to choose between losing 6 grams of fat or 6 grams of nitrogen? Or do I lose an arm and a leg, 25% of my *total* starting mass-energy? Does the resulting botulinum toxin count as "mine", able to be transmuted without further losses beyond the 75% efficiency limit?
> 
> What's my range? Can I transmute nitrogen on the other side of the planet? North Korea's nitrogen, say? Or Washington DC's? Or your lungs'?
> 
> If I dump 4.5\*10^12 joules of kinetic energy into a 1 kg rock, how fast is it going? If it started with 0 and I pushed it to 4.5\*10^(12), then it goes from rest to 0.01c. But from the reference frame where it started at 0.5c, it started with 1.4\*10^16 joules. My push is several significant digits down, and now it's going 0.50007c. That reference frame would say that its initial rest frame now sees it going 0.00009c, not 0.01c. Different reference frames disagree on changes in kinetic energy for the same difference in speed. Do I just always affect things in my own reference frame, or in theirs, and let relativistic observers see me violating the joule limit?

>> **u/Threedoge** [+3]  *New Lunar Republic* (8 hours later)
>> 
>> I love that everyone assumes that people would imminently start trying to kill one another with this power. They sure as hell aren't wrong, and I can most defiantly see some well meaning idiot scientist wanting to see just what would happen if they transmute the limit into local heat radiation.
>> 
>> Now then as for the questions:
>> 
>> 1. If you were to specify that you wanted to use only 23 grams of nitrogen to create 23 grams of botulinum toxic (an interesting choice in toxic as well) it would use some of your heat energy ( exact number is a bit difficult to calculate, the power tries not to kill you and will only take as much as you can spare) and body fat to create the rest of the 23 grams, so a little less than 6 grams of fat will be lost. And yes now that botulium toxin counts as yours and, unless you give up your possession of it, it can't be affected by another person with this power.
>> 
>> 2. Your range is inside a ~~500 yard~~ 500 meters sphere with you in the center. And yes the air in an average person's lungs is fair game, but not one who as the power.
>> 
>> 3. The power is personal so it would be affect from your personal frame of reference. It would assume that you wanted to add 0.01c of speed from your frame of reference and it would continue to pull energy until, from your initial rest frame, you see it going .01c. If you weren't holding it still, however, the object would leave your sphere of influence before it was able to build up to to .01c. (Sorry I don't have a strong enough understanding in absolute relativistic frame works to be more accurate. You have given me quite the reading list though so I thank you for that.)
>> 
>> Edit: because the imperial system is what will get someone killed.

>>> **u/JackStargazer** [+3]  *Primordial Apologist* (23 hours later)
>>> 
>>> > that people would imminently start trying to kill one another with this power.
>>> 
>>> This isn't it.
>>> 
>>> What people are saying is that this is the equivalent to giving 100 monkeys matches and letting them swim in a lake made of gasoline. It only takes one idiot to figure out some combination of actions that kills everyone else, especially when experimenting with an unknown power and not thinking about having proper safeguards.
>>> 
>>> Which most of those 5 billion people would not.
>>> 
>>> It takes less than one line to say "Find an atom and convert it to carbon, go to start." and that's the end of the planet.
>>> 
>>> You have made everyone a paperclipper.

>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (23 hours later)
>>>> 
>>>> They are a paper clipper up until a point. With a radius of 500 meters and an inability to affect others with the power and their creations they can only do so much harm. 
>>>> 
>>>> They would also be limited by the energy in their area. How much energy does it take to convert one type of mater to another? would the local heat energy be enough or would they start burning though their own supply soon after? Or would they soon die of asphyxiation and the spell would end prematurely, and if so how far would it reach in that time?
>>>> 
>>>> I don't know, and this is the point of asking the question. I hadn't even thought that someone would be stupid enough to I've now got far more worst case scenarios than I started with and a list of problems the main character needs to solve.

>>>>> **u/PeridexisErrant** [+1]  *put aside fear for courage, and death for life* (a day later)
>>>>> 
>>>>> > I hadn't even thought that someone would be stupid enough to
>>>>> 
>>>>> Seriously?  You have a sample of five billion, so even picking the five billion most responsible people alive to get this power there *will* be incompetent morons... and worse, omnicidal geniuses.

>>>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (a day later)
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> No I mean I personally didn't understand the depth of what kind of power I was giving these people. In all honesty I should have figured that at least one one person would think to themselves "What if I just replaced all of x with y? That would be good right". I underestimate humanity's... drive? Perpetuity for finding new and exciting ways of killing itself? Something like that.

>>>>> **u/JackStargazer** [+1]  *Primordial Apologist* (a day later)
>>>>> 
>>>>> Add in one extra line "And move me around the surface of the earth at the speed of propagation."
>>>>> 
>>>>> Energy in the 'local' area is trivial when you can relocate with that energy at a speed of *fast enough*.
>>>>> 
>>>>> All it takes to destroy the planet is one well meaning fool who forgets to terminate his *while()* loop.

>>>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (a day later)
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Brings a new meaning to carpet bombing I suppose. Could you describe a scenario where someone though that transmuting all matter around themselves into a single set of matter? I can only think of it being used with hostile intent.

>>>>>>> **u/JackStargazer** [+1]  *Primordial Apologist* (a day later)
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Even just a test case where the person said "Turn all of this into gold" while pointing at the ground, and failing to specify 'this' could end badly. And it would naturally come from a combination of greed and a failure to understand supply/demand economics.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Think about it like computer programming. Except a fatal fault or an infinite looped program could destroy the entire planet. And testing a program has a change to create a fatal fault.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> A program designed to create a retrovirus to give humans superhuman powers for example could accidentally incorporates the genes for botulism, and there goes the entire species.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> A program meant to allow the person to breathe underwater by converting water around him to air might not specify a distance parameter, and could destroy all of the oceans.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> "Break apart this at the smallest scale" even could cause a thermonuclear explosion that wipes out a very large area, depending on what is defined as "this".
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> What is parsing these natural language commands into action? That's the big thing that might change a lot.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Also, where does all the entropy go? The waste heat?
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> The first person to figure out self duplication or intelligence boosting wins, as someone mentioned above.

>>>>>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (a day later)
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> > Also, where does all the entropy go? The waste heat?
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Its removed from the univese and is given to an all consuming self-replicating hive mind, which, if we were to continue to computer coding analogy, is the multiverse's equivalent of garbage collection. Except it glitched and it believes that it needs to de-allocate everything, not just universes in which entropy is increasing too fast.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> As for how each command is phrased, there are a few fail-safes. The phrase "Turn all of this into gold" even combined with a pointing gesture is too vague to be executed. Is the user pointing at the ground? A leaf? The air particles below his fingers? 
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> "Turn the ground beneath my feet into gold" is also too vague to work. How far below his feet? Just the immediate layer or all the way to bedrock? Does he mean the entire flat surface within his sphere of influence?
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> "Turn all matter within my radius that is denser than breathable air into gold" would be one to look out for. The user needs to give the power something they have a firm grasp on, in order for the spell to execute. The words are mostly a focus for the neural net of the brain, words like this and those and these are all very loosely defined in our brain and we wouldn't be able to define it. Or we would have to many vague little thoughts that would interfere with the casting.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Also the power is only able to work with an ounce of matter at a time. Even if your only making minor modifications, like say adding an electron to every atom, the spell can only work with one ounce of matter in a second. Hopefully someone would notice if, where ever someone went, there were golden patches popping up around them and take action.

>>> **u/Zephyr1011** [+1]  *Potentially Unfriendly Aspiring Divinity* (17 hours later)
>>> 
>>> So, if someone was to create a wall of spikes going away from them at an insane speed, as it was still in their possession, no one could affect it? This seems like an interesting power to fight with

>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (a day later)
>>>> 
>>>> No they couldn't directly interfere with it. Indirectly in another beast entirely though.

>>> **u/Anakiri** [+1]  (2 days later)
>>> 
>>> On point 3... that's really problematic once I start applying kinetic energy to myself. The problem is, I am always at rest in my own reference frame, 0 m/s, 0 joules kinetic energy. The equation for classical, non-relativistic kinetic energy K is K = mv^(2)/2, which we can reverse to v = sqrt(2K/m). I'm applying some power P per unit time t, so the equation I'm using is v = sqrt(2Pt/m). For simplicity, let's do everything in arbitrary units; I weigh 1 mass-unit, I'm applying a power of 1 power-unit. I have no idea what units time and velocity are in, but it doesn't matter. In these units, my velocity is v = sqrt(2t). After 1 time-unit, my velocity is sqrt(2) units, ~1.4, measured from my original rest frame.
>>> 
>>> But I'm not in my original rest frame. In my reference frame, I'm always at rest. I was at rest when I was halfway through accelerating. Let's run those numbers again... At time 0.5, my velocity is 1. In my new reference frame, I do that again, for another 1 velocity. An inertial observer sees both those velocities stacking, for a final velocity of 2 units.
>>> 
>>> Uh-oh.
>>> 
>>> You can see the problem if you look at the shape of the graph of my speed, the simple sideways parabola. I will always see myself as getting that first tiny 1/n slice n times in 1 time-unit, and the first infinitesimal slice is *vertical*. An outside observer will see my velocity go to infinity in an instant. In practice, my time step probably can't actually get infinitesimal, so I won't get to infinity, and relativity will limit me to the speed of light. But I'll get really close, instantly.
>>> 
>>> Whereupon I will slam into the environment with near-infinite relative energy. Kaboom.

>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (2 days later)
>>>> 
>>>> I find this both horrify beyond belief and really really cool. 
>>>> 
>>>> Now correct me if I'm wrong (since my understanding of relativity based physics is rather weak) but you would start to gain mass as you hit light-speed correct?

>>>>> **u/Anakiri** [+1]  (2 days later)
>>>>> 
>>>>> That's one way to think of it. You could also say that I have so much kinetic energy that it can be measured in kilograms, if that's easier to visualize. They're equivalent, really. But yes, my mass is going to go off the charts and I'm going to collapse into a black hole with a tremendous event horizon that may or may not encompass the entire universe.
>>>>> 
>>>>> So, uh, don't play with kinetic energy directly without fixing it to an inertial frame. It's *Bad*.

>>>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (3 days later)
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Well the question at that point then becomes how long can 2.1x 10^15 joules sustain that kind of speed? Even if our arbitrary unit is a very low speed I would assume you would outstrip your need for energy to continue to push an ever increasing amount of mass long before you become a local black hole.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Though I think I might at the stipulation that your relative... position? depth? do we have a unit for relativity besides space and time? Anyway your spell would have to be fixed at the relative *point* (eh that still feels off) that you started at.

>>>>>>> **u/Anakiri** [+1]  (3 days later)
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> The problem is that I've told my power to increase my kinetic energy, and no matter how much power it pumps in, I will never see any increase. From my rock example, you said that it will keep going until it looks right to *me*. I see myself use a little energy to accelerate a rock, and a really fast observer sees me use a lot of energy for the same effect. Same thing. I see myself use zero energy, and everyone else sees me use infinite energy.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> The correct term is probably "inertial reference frame", and you'd have to put limits on how often I can change frames. If I'm allowed to stop and start every planck time, then bad things are still going to happen. If I can only get a new reference frame by calling a spell manually, that's probably fine. I can still get impressive speeds very quickly. but I won't swallow the universe. (Straight acceleration can get me to 0.02c in one second. Using the incantation "ah" ten times a second to accelerate until the next time I say "ah", which will also cast another instance of the spell, brings that up to 0.08c.)
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> I think that's okay... But my instinct is that this might permit time travel. Or it might not, I can't actually think of how to construct a time machine without using negative energy.

>>>>>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (3 days later)
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Ya, 0.02c is a rather rather fast and would definitely cause some problems if you collided with anything, but I don't think you'd survive the trip in general unless you set up some protection spells and an oxygen recycling spell. That does decrease the amount of energy you can pump in as raw kinetic energy, though it would be a rounding error's worth.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Oh wait, shit. I've been contradicting myself here. In nearly every other post I've stated that the amount of matter that your handling is also part of your limit. All of a sudden this is a lot less terrifying.

>>>>>>>>> **u/Anakiri** [+1]  (3 days later)
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> So if I try to apply 10,000 joules of thermal energy to 0.5 kg of soup, I'll fail. Even though I'm only trying to *move* 10,000 joules, I'm trying to *affect* more than my limit. Hmm.
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> In general, there are equal numbers of protons, neutrons, and electrons in an object. The proportion of my mass that is electrons will be about equal to the proportion of the combined mass of those three particles is the electron. Both protons and neutrons are about 1 atomic mass unit, and electrons are about 5.5\*10^(-4), then there's some energy on top of that, let's generously say that adds 1%. So, electrons account for 0.03% of the mass of the object. This means that, as long as you are less than 86 kg, the total mass of your electrons is less than 23 grams.
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> Now, electrons are what mediate interactions between atoms, mostly. They hold molecules together and the like. By altering the energy of electrons, you can get molecules to hold together even when they have no business doing so. For example, if you launched one atom at a huge speed, and manipulated its electrons so they didn't unbind from other atoms, the rest of the entire object will be dragged by that one atom. The object might be ridiculously stretched, since the force will propagate at the speed of sound, but as long as the electrons don't notice, it'll hold together. It'll even continue chemical reactions as normal.
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> Oh yes.
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> Scattering electrons is where most of the energy of any damaging situation will go. As long as you can match the power being applied to you, you can prevent damage. If the power being applied to you is too spread out, then you will just pull yourself together over the course of less than a second. And of course the energy of the attack is equal to the energy of the total defense across all electrons.
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> For example, if one atom is pulled away with 0.21\*10^(15) joules of kinetic energy, then that is how much energy it will take to hold your 23 grams of electrons together, and thus to hold together the rest of you. Only a tiny number of them will be in the shock wave at a time anyway, so you don't need to spend a full second iterating over your whole body - and you can let some of them break as long as you go back and fix them. You've functionally increased your tensile strength. This will distribute that kinetic energy evenly.
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> I'm pretty far outside my field of expertise now, and several logical leaps from what I know for sure. But if there's a problem, I don't see it. There is still a limit on how fast you can accelerate based on how fast you can pull yourself together, but it should still be pretty astonishing. (Of course, by this point you may be better off using a more classical engine, if you can survive the few hundred thousand newtons you'll get with even a fraction of your power.)

>>>>>>>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (4 days later)
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> I'll do some double checking, and see if I can find any literature on the subjects you've touched upon but yes, I think your perfectly in bounds of both the power and physics.

> **u/Jinoc** [+5]  (10 hours later)
> 
> I'd find the nearest source of iron, gather about a ton around me, and use its rest mass to propulse myself to the moon (or Venus) as fast as I could.
> 
> As people mentioned, there are billions of people on this planet, if they are all holding megaton nukes I want out of here fast. A ton of iron can be converted into whatever I need while keeping enough momentum to reach the moon easily (I assume the power can be used to keep something like a bubble of air around me, otherwise it's always possible to use the iron mass as a shell).
> 
> Once I'm convinced enough time has passed that unstable people have blown themselves up and the rest can be more or less trusted, I can come back.
> 
> Another cool thing to do would be to have a billion people go to Venus, and propulse it to the Goldilocks zone.

>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (11 hours later)
>> 
>> Mars might be a better option if it does in fact have the correct chemical components to hold onto an atmosphere. With Venus you have so many volatile and harmful chemicals it would be a pain to clean up.

>>> **u/CopperZirconium** [+4]  (23 hours later)
>>> 
>>> I would assume with 5 billion people getting this kind of superpower there will be enough people with space-fairing intent to colonize every rock in our solar system.

>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+3]  *New Lunar Republic* (a day later)
>>>> 
>>>> If only I wasn't destroying the universe before the story starts, that would be really cool to write. The massive amount of innovation that would develop as people determine the most energy effective way to make the planet habitable.

>>> **u/Jinoc** [+2]  (12 hours later)
>>> 
>>> Yeah but Venus is much more similar to the earth in terms of mass. And Mars' atmosphere is much thinner than Earth's.

>>> **u/Chronophilia** [+1]  *sci-fi ≠ futurology* (2 days later)
>>> 
>>> Let's see now... Earth's atmosphere masses 5x10^18 kg, Venus's is 5x10^20 kg (yep, 100 times heavier). We can transmute matter at 23 grams per second per person. With a billion people working in concert, that's 23 million kg per second.
>>> 
>>> *bashes calculator*
>>> 
>>> That's 7000 years to terraform Earth's atmosphere by brute force, and 100 times longer for Venus. Good to know.

>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (2 days later)
>>>> 
>>>> Might be easier to work out a way to reverse the run away greenhouse effect with the fewest number of particles possible. Once most of the heat is gone from Venus I believe a lot of the worst gasses and such (like mercury) would settle back into the planet, making the job a bit easier.

> **u/Nepene** [+3]  (46 minutes later)
> 
> I wouldn't do anything, an accident would cause a megaton explosion. When holding a megaton nuke in your hands you avoid using it if you can.

>> **u/Threedoge** [+2]  *New Lunar Republic* (an hour later)
>> 
>> Unless a mindless all devouring hive mind of self-replicators is banging at your door. Then the megaton bomb looks like a decent option.

>>> **u/Nepene** [+1]  (an hour later)
>>> 
>>> I'd probably make an agreement, as such, with others around me to kill anyone who used their powers overtly with weight of numbers.

>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (an hour later)
>>>> 
>>>> Hmmm, would you use your powers to kill them or would you do it the old fashion way?
>>>> 
>>>> Edit: Clarification

>>>>> **u/Nepene** [+1]  (14 hours later)
>>>>> 
>>>>> Old fashioned way if possible, otherwise brute force combination of powers.

>>>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (14 hours later)
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Old fashion might be a smidge difficult if your opponent can nullify basic blunt force but ya I can see where your coming from.

>>>>>>> **u/Nepene** [+2]  (16 hours later)
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> If they can't see an attack then they can't block it, unless they continually protect themselves.

>>>>>>>> **u/Gurkenglas** [+1]  (22 hours later)
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Continually protecting yourself doesn't seem like it would cost anything as long as it doesn't have to exert any force.

>>>>>>>>> **u/Nepene** [+1]  (22 hours later)
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> If you are continually protecting yourself it will likely have tangible effects on the environment that would make you obvious to my vigilante group.

>>>>>>>>>> **u/Gurkenglas** [+1]  (22 hours later)
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> I just said that it shouldn't be exerting any force by default. But in any case, leaving up protections is a sensible thing to do whether or not I am evil, so it doesn't really work as evidence.

>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Nepene** [+1]  (22 hours later)
>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>> It's somewhat difficult to make a spell that doesn't exert any force on the environment in any noticeable circumstances. What if someone tries to shake your hand or throw a ball at you? If necessary we could have people around to test this out on people.
>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>> Using your powers, which will constitute an extinction level threat if used wrongly, frequently counts as evil by our book and so that is sufficient evidence for us to band together and annihilate you.

>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (a day later)
>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>> I would be possible to set a threshold into a spell "if an object is approaching my person at x speed and is 2 inches away, deflect it. End spell when phrase 'I've had enough' is spoken". It would be a constant drain on you however as the spell is constantly determining if objects and particles exceeds the threshold.

>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Nepene** [+1]  (a day later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>> There are mundane ways to disable that which allow one to bypass it. You could have a steam gun, made of gas. Presumably the spell doesn't block gaseous atoms or it would block air which moves at 500m/s. If it does block all types of matter then maybe a laser gun would work, if you block photons then you can't see.
>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>> Possibly a small number of well trained and non psychotic people, carefully monitored, could be allowed to cast diagnostic spells if they are relatively low power and cheap so potential power users could be slain more swiftly. Maybe constantly run scans for effects which look like someone using a power? Would it cost extinction level powers to scan the environment?

>>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (a day later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Oh I love your thinking for getting around that block, and yes laser would be the most effective as particles would be blocked.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> As for monitoring, well the power does leave a mark on people, an emerald is imbedded in the skin of the left forearm, so you would know an energy user from a non energy user. However if you want to catch someone in the act I can't think of a way to do it that wouldn't kill whoever is running the spell.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> At the end of the day the power is the application of the moving of matter and energy, to put it in better wording complete control over the movement and position of matter and energy.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> If someone were to say, turn their coffee beans into a cup of hot coffee how would you be able to tell if they transmuted the beans or just used a coffee maker?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Your best bet would to be to scan for outliers, i.e. any acting as a one man paper clipper that was creating a large quantity of poison. Even then you have a very small range as an individual, only 500 meters so you can only be so effective.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Nepene** [+1]  (a day later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Could several power users block the powers of a single person, if they knew they were using it? You could enact some sort of forced training program then.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >If someone were to say, turn their coffee beans into a cup of hot coffee how would you be able to tell if they transmuted the beans or just used a coffee maker?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Check the isotopic ratios in a room, or the number of atoms of an element. The isotopic ratios would be easier, you'd just need a small number of samples across the room. If they alter someone used a power (and they will alter if any elements are transmuted). Check the number of a certain type of chemical bond in an area. If they alter too quickly someone likely used a power. You could make some allowance for devices with an electrical or gas supply like cookers or coffee makers. Check for extreme types of kinetic motion, temperature. 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> All of these would produce simple numerical measures that could be used to detect someone. You could also feed these results to a super computer which would datamine the results to detect illegal power usage.

>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Nepene** [+1]  (a day later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>> http://imgur.com/8YUIvOZ
>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>> What do you think of this idea?
>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>> You have a person flying around in a remotely controlled predator drone.
>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>> The person uses their powers to scan a 500m circle bubble, checking for any common known symbols of a power being used, and checks for any matter in between them. If a clear line of sight can be found, or a soon predicted line of sight can be found, a signal is sent to the computer detailing the location of the power user and they are melted by a laser. In the event that this fails the user increases the temperature of the air around the enemy of the state 2000C to melt them.
>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>> This way a territory can be quickly and efficiently policed by a small number of individuals without the need for any nuclear level powers.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (a day later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Just a note this would be one of the most terrifying police states in fiction that I can think of. It would also make for yet another damn interesting spin off story.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> To make this this short your going to run into trouble when you trying to define "symbols of a power". See my other post as to why. And second heating them would be the worst way to go about it. One of the first things I would do with this kind of power is create a bubble of temperate air around myself, and so you would slag the surrounding area... which in itself might be enough to kill the person. Unless they prepared for every goddamn eventuality and worked around the clock to make it energy efficient.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I could see a few people on this subreddit using this power to protect against every possible accidental and malicious life-ending scenario.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Nepene** [+1]  (a day later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Police states are necessary when everyone can kill everyone in a mile radius if they have an accident.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> As I noted, with sampling you can detect power usage. It would be like a nuke, in that it produced weird isotopic signals.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Heating up the air around them has the added benefit of making it shoot intense light out, so you'll be blasting them with lasers from all directions. It's generally a tricky thing to defend yourself from. An experienced person might be able to do it, though they'd likely have to experiment a bit first. You could regularly alter the death method to get around it. If they did survive you could quickly call dozens of companions, and unite to overwhelm any defenses with force of numbers.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (a day later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I like this. Its effective it would work, it won't work 100% as people are clever and you can't be everywhere at once, though I suspect my ignorance on the topic of isotopic signaling is blinding me to a few facts. More reading for me it would seem.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Its just too bad that I couldn't set something like this up in the story. What with the universe having been destroyed and everyone being shipped off to another one.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Nepene** [+1]  (a day later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> You could add in some measures to make people less dangerous.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Have the magic have an innate "Protect the user" power like in worm. It will make it hard or impossible for people to do anything that leads to their death, like nuking the area.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Make it so that a skilled group of mages can block the powers of another. Psycopaths can be stopped.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Those powers would make the universe a lot safer.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (a day later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Well the setting doesn't let people have much access to energy as is. Perhaps only about 10 pounds of matter is accessible to a group of four people per day. While they could make some rather fantastic explosions or a large amount of airborne toxins, but those are much easier to set up a search function for.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Nepene** [+1]  (a day later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> If 1/10000 people explode with just the energy accessible to them in a second that could easily mean mass extinction of the human race. 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Hence why having a protective function is essential. It prevents a random person from being a serious threat if they accidently set up a stupid function, or get pissed at someone and decide to create some antimatter.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Having some way of disabling them is also very helpful. It means that if the hero faces overwhelming odds they can be disabled and not melted into slag. It means that seriously dangerous people can be prevented from causing serious damage to the environment.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> What about ripping out or damaging the emerald in their forearm?

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (a day later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The gem itself is indestructible, or as close to indestructible for our purposes. Even if you severed the arm it was embedded into the person would still have control over it. It would case a large amount of trauma however, and would likely leave a person permanently mentally scarred.  Moreover area of control is also tied to the gem with it being the central point. 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> All in all you just make them more dangerous if you remove the gem from their body.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Nepene** [+1]  (a day later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Could you surgically alter whatever part of the brain controls the gem?

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (a day later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I'm actually not sure if you could. I don't have nearly the understanding of neurology that I suspect I would need to be able to give an accurate description on how a mystical object can read the neural pathways that contain the idea of what, say, an atom is, or heat energy.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> If we did alter a user's brain in some way to make it impossible to focus on anyone subject for any substantial length of time. Spoken word is just a way to focus one's thoughts on what kind of outcome they are looking to achieve. Take away the ability to focus, you take away their ability to create spells.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Nepene** [+1]  (a day later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalamus
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The switchboard of the brain, incredibly wide connections, the part that synthesizes signals from across the brain. Spend a few days with some 'volunteers' and you can find what parts you have to disable to prevent someone from being able to have an attention span, or disabling their ability to access certain concepts.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anterior_cingulate_cortex#Pathology
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Or if you want a quick and dirty fix, cut most of this part away, to stop their ability to focus on things. It has a few side effects, but it's for the greater good.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> That way, if anyone is bad you can lobotomize them.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Anakiri** [+1]  (a day later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I'm not sure if lasers - or anything, really - could be effective weapons as long as users can have standing effects. Naturally I can stop any non-magical laser up to 2.1\*10^15 watts. Outright negate it, turn it into neutrinos, dump it into the air's elastic energy to turn the air into a pseudo-physical barrier, whatever.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Magic lasers are a bit trickier. The original laser was the other user's (is it still theirs after leaving their sphere?), but it's getting absorbed and re-emitted by *my* air. (I am absolutely going to make sure to own my air, so nobody else can roast me or suffocate me or something.) Can I have my air just refuse to re-emit overly energetic photons? This shouldn't take any energy on my part, I'm just holding energy that's already there. This is physically equivalent to retransmitting the photon perfectly off-phase, if I can do that. Since any laser more powerful than a lightning strike would have large collateral damage, and lightning strikes are in the terawatt range, my 25% losses would cost me 2.5\*10^(11) joules per second, or 0.003 grams of mass. I can handle that long enough to retaliate or escape *then* retaliate.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I have no idea how you'd catch a fleeing user. If I use a full half of my power on defense and the rest on escaping, then a hundredth of a second is long enough to get to half a million meters per second, in any direction. Blasting air out of the way would cost basically nothing. About the only way to stop a fleeing user would be to try to cage them in matter other users own, but that would take extensive preparation. At top pseudo-acceleration, they'd have to rely on auto-defenses to handle obstacle avoidance, and they might not have a standard plan to *indirectly* deflect obstacles. But if I'm expecting it, it's not hard to come up with such a plan. If you're lucky, I'll spend a few seconds carving an opening, perhaps with a fempto-blackhole. If you're not lucky, or I'm already going too fast, I'll just hit the obstacle with antimatter and deflect the blast around myself.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> If I avoided splattering, I'd be past the moon in 20 seconds, going 0.1 c. And then, since you annoyed me, there would be relativistic kill vehicles in your future. I take it back, relativistic kill vehicles would still be an effective weapon.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Nepene** [+1]  (a day later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >Naturally I can stop any non-magical laser up to 2.1*1015 watts. Outright negate it, turn it into neutrinos, dump it into the air's elastic energy to turn the air into a pseudo-physical barrier, whatever.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I don't imagine the average random magic user would have innately made a defence against lasers which might help it be overcome.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >Can I have my air just refuse to re-emit overly energetic photons? This shouldn't take any energy on my part, I'm just holding energy that's already there.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The author noted that you have to continually scan the area around you to do that which costs energy.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I have another plan then. Two power users. They work together to overcome any individual mages defences. You may tell the air around you to stop emitting power, they'll tell it to start.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >I have no idea how you'd catch a fleeing user.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Follow them with several mages, work to disable your defensive powers so that the acceleration destroys you.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >If I avoided splattering, I'd be past the moon in 20 seconds, going 0.1 c. And then, since you annoyed me, there would be relativistic kill vehicles in your future. I take it back, relativistic kill vehicles would still be an effective weapon.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Given that your plan is to murder a reasonable percentage of the population with relativistic kill weapons the need to murder you is ever more pressing.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Ok, one mage works on stripping the air around you and your body of any defences, using their full power to do everything they can to negate yours, the other melts you, smashes you, and tries to forcefully tear your body apart.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Anakiri** [+1]  (a day later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > Follow them with several mages, work to disable your defensive powers so that the acceleration destroys you.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> There are a few problems with this. First, humans can't keep up with these kind of absurd pseudo-accelerations. I'm talking, moving 500 meters in 3/1000 of a second. Human reaction time is 0.15 seconds, in which time a mage can go from standing right in front of you to 200 kilometers away, receding at 2000 km/s. If your quarry is moving randomly there is just no way for any human to get anywhere close. It doesn't matter how many people you have, one of these mages is simply uncatchable.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> You *might* be able to tail me if you set up your magic field to do so in advance, and I started out within your field... but maybe not, if there's light-speed delay between your magic noticing me moving and reaching back to move you. (And we'd run into all sorts of problems if there is no such delay.) Since I start accelerating first, my velocity is always higher, and I will gradually gain ground until I'm out of your range and your magic can't respond instantly to me. Lightspeed delay is sufficient. If I start 300 meters from you, I'll be moving 5 km/s in 1\*10^(-6) second, and I'll escape entirely in ~2050 seconds, a little over half an hour. (At which point we will both be moving 2/3 the speed of light, and will have traveled the full diameter of Earth's orbit.) That would be an exciting half an hour, granted, but the hard part is even getting that much.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Second, this pseudo-acceleration is harmless. It's applied evenly to every quark and electron, so there's no differential force to smash or shear anything. The only problem is slamming into the air, but that's only a problem for the tiny fraction of a second, 1/50 or thereabouts, before I'm in space. Defending against the environment of space is honestly a rounding error. You'd have to be wasteful to even get up to a million joules, let alone the hundred trillion it'd need to be to even register as something to worry about. And all of that would be internal to me, untouchable.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I have no idea how you'd even get close enough to engage a fleeing user. I don't even know how you could *aim* at one if they're turbo-accelerating randomly.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> (Calculated with constant mass. The equation was annoying enough to integrate without factoring in a modified rocket equation. It doesn't matter *that* much. You gain velocity by the inverse square root of the mass, so small mass differences don't do much at all. Also calculated using 1.05\*10^(15) joules/second. I'm not sure what the actual optimum speed/utility ratio is, but 1:1 is reasonable enough. Different ratios don't change the end result much. All of these disclaimers mean that I am *understating* these numbers.)

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Nepene** [+1]  (a day later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >There are a few problems with this. First, humans can't keep up with these kind of absurd pseudo-accelerations. I'm talking, moving 500 meters in 3/1000 of a second. Human reaction time is 0.15 seconds, in which time a mage can go from standing right in front of you to 200 kilometers away, receding at 2000 km/s. If your quarry is moving randomly there is just no way for any human to get anywhere close. It doesn't matter how many people you have, one of these mages is simply uncatchable.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I would assume, as you did, that the magic handled this. Otherwise you could have a tracking laser.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >Since I start accelerating first, my velocity is always higher, and I will gradually gain ground until I'm out of your range and your magic can't respond instantly to me.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> A group of mages could handle this, by accelerating a companion or firing lasers in your path to limit certain pathways. If one pumps the full energy of their power into a laser then you will have serious issues handling it.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Maybe you could have a tower of super lasers? A hundred or a thousand mages gathered together, ready to blast any serious threat out of the sky.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Anakiri** [+1]  (a day later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > I would assume, as you did, that the magic handled this. Otherwise you could have a tracking laser.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I assume that I can tell magic to dump a bunch of kinetic energy into my body, and to set up some automatic effect for anything that enters my range while at speed. There's no reason to think it would help me make decisions or react to events outside of my magical range. OP could say otherwise, but I don't think it makes sense with what we know so far.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Tracking lasers are useless. Mages are too fast for light. Here's the plan: I run away. 0.15 seconds later, your brain has processed the fact that I have run away, and you check your laser to see where I went. At the same time, I randomly change direction. 200,000/300,000,000 seconds later, the light arrives to show you me, 200,000 meters away - but by the time you see that, I could 1.5 km away from where you would predict. You *can't* know where I am; the information does not exist in your light cone.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Having escaped your lasers, and your eyes, and everything touched by your magic, I can set up a perfect optical cloak and head off in a random direction. If I keep changing every 200,000/300,000,000 seconds, you can't even in principle pin me down except probabilistically in an ever increasing volume, but that's already overkill. There are too many possible pathways to possibly cut me off. It becomes unmanageable instantly. If I have even the barest fraction of a second of a headstart, it is simply impossible to catch me.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > A group of mages could handle this, by accelerating a companion or firing lasers in your path to limit certain pathways. If one pumps the full energy of their power into a laser then you will have serious issues handling it.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> This is less useful than you'd think, since you'd be out of your companion's range in a fraction of a second, and if they're keeping pace, then they can't help. But it probably would help enough; If you've managed to get me and two of you all in each other's spheres, both of you set up to give chase instantly, then you've probably got me there. I don't think I could escape. But your friend won't stick around long enough to help with the offensive. If you want to make sure you'll win the fight, you'll have to get me and *three* of you all each other's spheres, two chasers and one booster. Then I'd be thoroughly screwed.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Only if your automated defenses are set up, though. Otherwise you'll slam into my air-walls at mach bajillion when you fail to push them out of the way directly, before you even realize you're moving. But it's doable. I'd try to avoid ever getting into such a trap.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > Maybe you could have a tower of super lasers? A hundred or a thousand mages gathered together, ready to blast any serious threat out of the sky.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> This is a good idea anyway, for natural disasters and the like, but it's not worth anything against an omnicidal maniac with a relativistic kill vehicle. If I spend hours or days or years feeding kinetic energy into an asteroid, then A) it'll be going so fast you'll only have seconds to realize you need to blow it up, and B) you need more man-hours to stop it than it took to start it, since you can't go for the kinetic energy directly and have to resort to lossier means. Most of which would just vaporize it, leaving you with a relativistic kill plasma cloud, and that's even harder to stop.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> My advice? Invest in really good telescopes so you can see when asteroids start accelerating. Full-sky scans, everything larger than 10 meters. Uh. Good luck with that.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Nepene** [+1]  (a day later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >OP could say otherwise, but I don't think it makes sense with what we know so far.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> OP said that there is some degree of tracking software in it, that lets you analyse things in your sphere. He said one plan of mine to detect power users by having a person fly around and detect anyone who changed the isotopic ratio of elements in range or element ratio was feasible.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >Tracking lasers are useless. Mages are too fast for light. Here's the plan: I run away.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Subject, hostile mage (defined earlier) accelerating. Use given equation to track predicted motion, use formula to pick the best angle of fire to hit target with laser. Open fire.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Subject melted. Good job. Another one who didn't realize the full potential of his powers. 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >This is a good idea anyway, for natural disasters and the like, but it's not worth anything against an omnicidal maniac with a relativistic kill vehicle. If I spend hours or days or years feeding kinetic energy into an asteroid, then A) it'll be going so fast you'll only have seconds to realize you need to blow it up, and B) you need more man-hours to stop it than it took to start it, since you can't go for the kinetic energy directly and have to resort to lossier means.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> We'd probably have telescopes intergrated with it, as you say. Would be relatively easy to set up satellites now. Then, the hundred go into space with a lot of material and fire a death ray at you till you die, then blast the asteroid with repeated kinetic projectiles.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Anakiri** [+1]  (a day later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > OP said that there is some degree of tracking software in it, that lets you analyse things in your sphere.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> In your sphere. Once I'm out of your sphere and moving randomly, you cannot react to me, you cannot predict me.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > Subject, hostile mage (defined earlier) accelerating. Use given equation to track predicted motion, use formula to pick the best angle of fire to hit target with laser. Open fire.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Won't do much good if my air-shield can refuse to re-transmit your laser. If it's possible at all, it will stop any laser that makes any consideration for collateral damage. If you're not chasing me, then I just need to juke earlier and more frequently. The speed of light delay will still let me get away in less than a second.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> If you are chasing me - which, again, requires a fair bit of set up - then we've got a mage duel with both of us in each other's space. I'm much more interested in avoiding that, since the most likely result is that we kill each other. A laser is still not the best weapon, since it is indirect enough to interact with my matter before it interacts with me, giving me the chance to mess with it. For example, I could make my air reflective, and keep it from getting vaporized by liberally cheating. Then there's whatever defenses I've set up on my skin...
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> My first thought for a weapon would be a single atom, pumped with an impossibly excessive amount of energy for one atom, shoved at my enemy's head with as much kinetic energy as I can spare. Depending on their defenses, they may or may not be able to stop it, since we can both put out the same amount of kinetic energy, it's just a matter of knowing that they need to. Either way, when it's touching them or inside their brain, I'll stop magically supporting the nuclear orbitals. I may not have a choice, if my enemy takes ownership of it once it's inside their body. Then it explodes in their brain with way more energy than a single atom has any business having. It may release more energy than they could possibly counter, or it may just be the most they could ever produce at a time, depending on whether or not I can prevent it from exploding with less energy than it stores.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Either way, it will kill anyone who doesn't have defenses against that. And anyone with defenses will be busy enough suppressing it that they won't have enough power to spare when I shoot them.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Nepene** [+1]  (a day later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >In your sphere. Once I'm out of your sphere and moving randomly, you cannot react to me, you cannot predict me.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Someone moving at a significant percentage of the speed of light isn't going to be that hard to track. You can make a spell to track their light. Or hit them in the 500 m range, since you can react as fast as any spell can and lasers are faster than any acceleration.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >Won't do much good if my air-shield can refuse to re-transmit your laser. If it's possible at all, it will stop any laser that makes any consideration for collateral damage. If you're not chasing me, then I just need to juke earlier and more frequently. The speed of light delay will still let me get away in less than a second.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> You have a power limit, if someone is firing 100% of their power at you then you can't deflect it without controlling as much power, and you're already expending a lot of power evading pursuit and whatever magical attacks.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >For example, I could make my air reflective, and keep it from getting vaporized by liberally cheating. Then there's whatever defenses I've set up on my skin...
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> You can't make your air reflective, you can't make things that you don't know how to make. OP covered this, you have to know how to make stuff. Like complex organic molecules.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >My first thought for a weapon would be a single atom, pumped with an impossibly excessive amount of energy for one atom, shoved at my enemy's head with as much kinetic energy as I can spare.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> It would likely do negligible damage, like most cosmic rays, and get out of your range long before you could do anything. The speed would make it tricky to control too. The laser is an easier version of this.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >Either way, it will kill anyone who doesn't have defenses against that. And anyone with defenses will be busy enough suppressing it that they won't have enough power to spare when I shoot them.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> My earlier suggestion was about a vigilante/police state group that forcefully recruits and brainwashes people and overwhelms individuals with numbers. Numerical advantages are assumed, they have more power than you.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Anakiri** [+1]  (a day later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > Someone moving at a significant percentage of the speed of light isn't going to be that hard to track.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Er, how do you figure? To my knowledge, that is the opposite of true. If you track my light, you will see at where I *was*. Since I'm accelerating randomly, that gives you very little information about where I *will* be by the time a laser gets to me. Hitting me in the 500 meter range means you're in my range too, and it's a battle of how prepared we are with set spells.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > You have a power limit, if someone is firing 100% of their power at you...
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Then they have just blown up whatever place I'm running away from. The instant their laser gets more than 500 meters from them and touches the air outside their influence, the air is going to explode very violently. There will likely be a fair amount of fusion involved. At the very least it's going to create a massive plasma channel. The power absorbed by the air is power I don't need to fight.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > You can't make your air reflective, you can't make things that you don't know how to make.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I know *exactly* how to make my air reflective. Transmuting aluminium would be cheating, even if it would be easy since I wouldn't need very much to make a thin flat layer. Instead, I could rearrange the outer electron orbitals of some atoms to *act* like aluminium. Keep three electrons excited to the p^1 orbital of any atom, line the atoms up perfectly flat, and presto, instant mirror.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > It would likely do negligible damage, like most cosmic rays, and get out of your range long before you could do anything.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> When I said "impossibly excessive", I meant "lots of orders of magnitude above the point where the thing should be blown to its constituent quarks". I'm talking about a single atom weighing multiple grams, with exactly as much bang as antimatter of the same mass but even *less* stable outside of my control, all wrapped up in a package that is very good at being a very tiny needle. This isn't a cosmic ray, it's an invisible annihilation bomb, so energetic it's just itching to tunnel through anything until I set it off by releasing the dead man's switch.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > Numerical advantages are assumed, they have more power than you.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Indeed, that's a problem. Which is why I prefer avoidance to fighting. Given a choice, I'd never be in the same gravity well as them. And as long as I keep my distance, it is virtually impossible to catch me.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Nepene** [+1]  (a day later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >Er, how do you figure? To my knowledge, that is the opposite of true. If you track my light, you will see at where I was. Since I'm accelerating randomly, that gives you very little information about where I will be by the time a laser gets to me. Hitting me in the 500 meter range means you're in my range too, and it's a battle of how prepared we are with set spells.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Your acceleration is going to be negligible on the timescale it takes for light from you to reach us. You accelerating randomly won't change the fact that we know exactly where you were some tiny fraction of a second ago and we have a preprepared laser firing, unless you are a large distance away.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >Then they have just blown up whatever place I'm running away from.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> And you.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >The instant their laser gets more than 500 meters from them and touches the air outside their influence, the air is going to explode very violently.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The air exploding isn't really a problem, it's not going to have a major impact on the laser.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >There will likely be a fair amount of fusion involved.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> That would be more power you have to dodge.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >I know exactly how to make my air reflective. Transmuting aluminium would be cheating, even if it would be easy since I wouldn't need very much to make a thin flat layer. 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> That wouldn't really stop this much. Mirrors easily ablate to high powered lasers. They're not perfectly reflective, they absorb a lot of energy. Plus, very thin layers aren't very reflective. You also don't have a good way of predicting where the lasers are coming from. Also, you have 500 meters to react. From my calculations, that gives you time to reshape 0.03818g of material, max (500/light speed*23 grams of matter that you can reshape according to someone's post)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Anyway, if you want, we can just use xrays or gamma rays. They can go through thin metal sheets. We'd probably use those if you had an active defense, like some tungsten you kept orbiting you constantly to deflect attacks.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >Instead, I could rearrange the outer electron orbitals of some atoms to act like aluminium. Keep three electrons excited to the p1 orbital of any atom
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Most non aluminium things don't have a comparable p1 orbital, the p1 orbit shape (and energy, and therefore absorbance and reflectivity) is defined by the nucleus. If you excited two electrons to the 3s and one to the 3p orbitals they would be loosely associated electrons that wouldn't behave much like aluminium ones.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >When I said "impossibly excessive", I meant "lots of orders of magnitude above the point where the thing should be blown to its constituent quarks". I'm talking about a single atom weighing multiple grams, with exactly as much bang as antimatter of the same mass but even less stable outside of my control, all wrapped up in a package that is very good at being a very tiny needle. This isn't a cosmic ray, it's an invisible annihilation bomb, so energetic it's just itching to tunnel through anything until I set it off by releasing the dead man's switch.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> What is the mechanism by which it stores this energy?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >Indeed, that's a problem. Which is why I prefer avoidance to fighting. Given a choice, I'd never be in the same gravity well as them. And as long as I keep my distance, it is virtually impossible to catch me.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> If you're in space people could probably eventually deplete your mass reserves. You'd need a reasonable sized team, but, you'd eventually burn out.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Anakiri** [+1]  (a day later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > Your acceleration is going to be negligible on the timescale it takes for light from you to reach us. You accelerating randomly won't change the fact that we know exactly where you were some tiny fraction of a second ago and we have a preprepared laser firing, unless you are a large distance away.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Where "large distance" means "3 kilometers, beyond which there is less than a 50% chance of hitting you, which distance you can attain within 0.01 second". If I'm not currently in someone's range, nothing is likely to touch me.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Even if I'm just 100 meters from a readied action laser, that's enough time to accelerate to 3000 m/s before I need to defend myself from it, then I can just coast. You can't really put all of your power into the laser - you still need to keep your own air from exploding, and keep your own sensors up, and protecting yourself from the explosion, and then your laser loses energy to the air it's exploding, and it's likely blooming a whole lot so less is actually hitting me... You'll probably realize we're fighting right around the time I'm more than 500 meters from the laser source. I'm quite sure that, under cover of nuclear fire, I can scrounge up the few hundred joules it would take me to get out of the line of fire in another 0.15 seconds, and then I'm gone.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I'm certainly not going to wait until all your friends also have me in their sights before leaving. One is quite enough to spook me. I likely wouldn't walk away from more than one.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >  Most non aluminium things don't have a comparable p1 orbital, the p1 orbit shape (and energy, and therefore absorbance and reflectivity) is defined by the nucleus. If you excited two electrons to the 3s and one to the 3p orbitals they would be loosely associated electrons that wouldn't behave much like aluminium ones.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Granted, aluminium isn't workable on the fly. This, however, is quite patchable. I just snap my fingers and declare that the atom has more binding energy now. Manipulating energy is what I do. As I said: liberal cheating.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > What is the mechanism by which it stores this energy?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> And then I snap my fingers again and declare that this atom has a *preposterous* amount of binding energy, then I excite everything in it well beyond sane limits, until it's basically quark degenerate matter more than anything.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > If you're in space people could probably eventually deplete your mass reserves. You'd need a reasonable sized team, but, you'd eventually burn out.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> This doesn't seem likely. There's a lot of mass to go around. I could live quite comfortably in the kuiper belt or the oort cloud forever; the energy of going from rock to rock is basically negligible. It wouldn't really cost me much to vacation in Jupiter for a while either. Of course, I don't really plan to ever be within a light-second of any enemies if I can help it, so it's questionable how anyone would deplete my reserves.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> **u/Nepene** [+1]  (a day later)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >Where "large distance" means "3 kilometers, beyond which there is less than a 50% chance of hitting you, which distance you can attain within 0.01 second". If I'm not currently in someone's range, nothing is likely to touch me.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Regardless of your distance, you can only detect attacks from 500ms away, if they are at the speed of light. If we can predict your motions we can hit you.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> If you burn too much energy being evasive, incidentally, we can capture you, since we can fly in a straight line towards you and fly faster.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >Even if I'm just 100 meters from a readied action laser.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Our sphere of influence would be a city, and so relatively noisy, and once we were within 500 meters we could summon a readied laser action in your face.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Our program in the magic would be something like...
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> "Spell to detect unauthorized use of power. Check data bank, is this an authorized usage of power? No, lobotomize/ melt the person's face. Are they escaping? Summon aid, prepare instant kill contingencies."
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> On you being 100 meters away, if I fire a laser at you from 100 meters away, your sensors will likely relay the signal to you at the same time as the laser hits you due to light speed limits. You'll have 0.0003 seconds to move, which means you'll be able to move one meter, which isn't enough to dodge the kill weapon. If you have a readied action to block it that will likely expend a lot of energy, leaving you open to attack.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> This is a question for OP- is scanning magic superluminal?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >You can't really put all of your power into the laser - you still need to keep your own air from exploding, and keep your own sensors up, and protecting yourself from the explosion, and then your laser loses energy to the air it's exploding, and it's likely blooming a whole lot so less is actually hitting me
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I can summon the laser 500 meters away, much of that is unnecessary, scanning would be reduced to a reasonable power level and reprioritized upon threat detection.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Air doesn't absorb light that well, I doubt much energy would be lost over such a short distance.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >You'll probably realize we're fighting right around the time I'm more than 500 meters from the laser source.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Per this being a police dictatorship, we're fighting as soon as I detect you using any power, and it's a fight to the death/ mental destruction instantly, with preprogrammed death spells firing. 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >I'm certainly not going to wait until all your friends also have me in their sights before leaving. One is quite enough to spook me. I likely wouldn't walk away from more than one.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> If we had the numbers then, we could have two magic users floating around together in our city. Depends on how many want to join the police and what area they are policing. Of course, with brain rearrangement, many will be encouraged to join the police. And if we capture you, you can learn to love it too. We'd have to erase your concepts of most of the laws of physics of course, you seem pretty dangerous.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >Granted, aluminium isn't workable on the fly. This, however, is quite patchable. I just snap my fingers and declare that the atom has more binding energy now. Manipulating energy is what I do. As I said: liberal cheating.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Binding energy isn't related to absorbance in atoms, it's more an aspect of electromagnetism, nor is any form of it really directly manipulable. Since you don't know the mechanism of how these things work (and physicists in general find it tricky) I'm not sure if you can modify them, and I am uncertain if these sort of things are accessible to our powers.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >And then I snap my fingers again and declare that this atom has a preposterous amount of binding energy, then I excite everything in it well beyond sane limits, until it's basically quark degenerate matter more than anything.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> That's not a mechanism, binding energy is an emergent property from gluons and color charges, not some independent property you can vary, and if you create gluons and try to make a super atom the author has no idea what would happen.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> If whatever you are doing probably isn't possible within the laws of physics it's not a great suggestion. The author can't really predict what will happen or run any equations, and as such, it's not a useful power.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >This doesn't seem likely. There's a lot of mass to go around.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> If you stay close to a source of mass you are no longer mobile and are an easy target. Your plan of avoiding enemies is probably safer.

> **u/ulyssessword** [+3]  (4 hours later)
> 
> 2.1\*10^15 joules per second * 5\*10^9 people * 2\*10^7 seconds (approx 7 months) = 2.1*10^32 Joules, or the gravitational binding energy of the earth.
> 
> On second thought, organizing the complete destruction of the Earth, so thorough that not even gravity would reassemble, it is a bad idea, and probably overkill anyways.  Dropping it into the Sun seems easier.

>> **u/Anakiri** [+1]  (4 hours later)
>> 
>> The Earth weighs 6\*10^24 kg and moves at about 3\*10^4 m/s relative to the Sun. Since we'd be manipulating kinetic energy directly, E = 0.5mv^2 = 3\*10^33 joules we'd have to negate. It'd actually be easier to blow up the Earth than to deorbit it!

>>> **u/Zeurpiet** [+2]  (6 hours later)
>>> 
>>> oh, just pull the moon on the earth, that will do the trick. Or just dump that energy in some earth quake zone

>>>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (8 hours later)
>>>> 
>>>> Forgot to mention the range because I'm terrible and it was about 1:00 AM when I decided to post this. Although with a 500 meter range you might still be able to drop energy into a local earthquake zone.

> **u/Zephyr1011** [+2]  *Potentially Unfriendly Aspiring Divinity* (17 hours later)
> 
> How fine a control do I have over my powers? Can I create working copies of myself? Or complex mechanisms such as a computer? Or even fictional things such as a time machine? Do I need to know how something works to do that, or just know of the thing? And, if I can clone myself, will those clones also have powers? Because if so, I would create a clone army and see what me and clones collectively could come up with to do next, as copying myself so many times is bound to increase the number of good ideas I can come up with

>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (a day later)
>> 
>> Since you've got a bunch of comments I've going to only answer the questions I feel haven't been addressed elsewhere, otherwise this is just going to be a lot of "ya we went over this".
>> 
>> >Can I create working copies of myself? Or complex mechanisms such as a computer? Or even fictional things such as a time machine?
>> 
>> I'm going to admit I'm laughing a bit at the wording of this, just a bit. It sounds like your saying that computers are more complex than humans, but I digress. Yes you could do the first two, as for fictional things, well, could you build H.G Wells time machine? You can't just say "Create a time machine", you have to understand what goes into what your creating to create it.
>> 
>> I could see you building models of some of the classical steampunk devices however, since the literature is so detailed. Whether or not they work as intended is another matter entirely.
>> 
>> > And, if I can clone myself, will those clones also have powers?
>> 
>> Yes they could, but it would take a considerable energy investment on top of the investment needed to make another person from scratch.

> **u/None** [+2]  (2 hours later)
> 
> [Because I absolutely could not possibly resist trying.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8D95OJbMKw)

>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (8 hours later)
>> 
>> Attempting to create the machine or replicate the things it can do? (Sorry I don't know the name of its final form I have yet to watch Gurren Lagann) Because I can think of a few people on this Reddit who would be rather upset with you if you tried to drill a hole in the universe.

>>> **u/None** [+6]  (8 hours later)
>>> 
>>> > Attempting to create the machine or replicate the things it can do? 
>>> 
>>> Both.  And it's called the Super Galaxy Gurren Lagann.
>>> 
>>> >Because I can think of a few people on this Reddit who would be rather upset with you if you tried to drill a hole in the universe. 
>>> 
>>> Anti-Spirals will not be tolerated.

> **u/BlakeRogers** [+1]  (41 minutes later)
> 
> 5 billion people!?

> **u/Charlie___** [+1]  (3 days later)
> 
> Self-modify. Eat Jupiter (Apparently I have to be very near stuff to use it - so clearly the solution is to spread myself out. This may also be good for self-perservation). Become a philanthropist.
> 
> Once I control the resources of a medium celestial body, how does philanthropy work? Well, we have a few leftover billion people who might need a hand - can I send out a tendril to give them some space habitats or something? Depending on how people are getting along, I can probably help with space habitats in general.
> 
> An alternate method for eating jupiter - rather than literally eating it or sending roots through it - one could compress a large portion into neutronium and just stand on it. Not getting squished by gravity is either impossible or a trivial application of superpowers, because resisting a force means 0 change in energy, and thus 0 energy actually expended.

>> **u/Threedoge** [+1]  *New Lunar Republic* (3 days later)
>> 
>> If your looking for ways to help people I could think of about a dozen ways to do so. colonize Mars, begin preparing for deep space travel, provide endless food. Hell going around and collecting entropy and pushing it back out in a form of usable energy would be great.
>> 
>> I don't recommend eaten Jupiter all at once of course. One I can think of a lot of men and women who would be rather upset if they didn't get a chance to study it. And two if you introduced that much energy into your system you would explode in short order.

---