The Birth of The New Omnipotent Overlord, Zhaohan Sun

 Well, obviously, first I’d start flying. My favorite dreams are always those when I can fly through the fantastical landscapes my half-conscious mind pukes out, so materializing that to reality would quite literally be a dream come true. I’d probably have to invest in a windshield for my face and maybe a parachute, but since I can’t fail, I might just eradicate all mosquitoes and dodge all the other insects in my way. After obtaining the power of flight, I’d probably answer the fundamental questions that have plagued mankind for centuries: does God exist? What is the meaning of life? Are we alone? After that, I’d look into more technical questions. What is dark matter? How can we make XYZ technology a reality? How can we cure cancer and AIDS? However, these questions may be trivial. Would I really invest time and energy into a flawed world, if I could just recreate a perfect world from the ground up? Or if I were to fix this flawed world, just what steps should I really take? Is curing cancer and AIDs too narrow-minded? Should I eradicate crime as a concept? And even, is it my place to be seeking a utopia for my brethren? The capabilities of my new-found power are unbounded, but the consequences can be fatal if not properly judged. So to be honest, I’d probably keep it a secret. I’d try to gradually solve problems from behind the scenes, but there may be consequences to that as well. If I were to gradually clear up climate change, scientists would be left puzzled, and anti-climate change people would be vindicated. Of course, given I cannot fail, I could change human nature, but that seems much more dangerous and likely to destroy us. If I were to make climate change deniers suddenly believe in science, I’d become a dictator, and from what I’ve seen that never ends well. What I guess I could do instead is give everyone a good education. However, would I be able to stop myself from saving someone about to be hit by a car? And if I do save that person, is it right for me to not save every person about to get hit by a car? At what point am I doing too much? At what point am I doing not enough? These questions would plague me.

And taking a step back, I have to think about the mental effects of omnipotence as well. If I had the power to achieve all my goals with a snap of my fingers, wouldn’t that make trying meaningless? I would be knocked completely off course. What would I even try to do? Nothing would give me satisfaction. And if I just willed myself to be satisfied with my omnipotence, that would be such an empty life. Maybe I could construct a perfect illusion for myself to be happy, but once again I see moral concerns with that approach. Finally, I think that failure is what makes success so succulent. Nobody (except maybe psychopaths) is exuberant after beating up 3 year olds. It’s only when you try and fail and try some more, that you’re happy. That’s why becoming the world champion of boxing might be satisfying. You went through tough challenges and failure in order to become the best. Failure defines success.

That’s why, if I wasn’t able to fail, after flying around a bit, I’d maybe keep the power to fly and give myself the power to fail once more.