Invisible or Invincible?

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Submitted by brad on

Finally, something to type about other than immortality and the futility of life. I've been a bit tunnel visioned lately. This comes courtesy of an amazing 21st century technology known as Terse Entries Transmitted (tx'd or X'd) Telephonically, or TEXT. It is a means of transmitting short bursts of information across great distances from one handheld device to another.  I assume to act as some sort of communication system in cases of emergency.  In this particular case, it was to pose a philosophical question as old as man himself (well, 12477.5 years younger to be precise, but that's another story):

  Would you rather be invisible or invincible?

My first response is invisible, of course. I like the stealth. What teenaged boy going through puberty hasn't known exactly what he'd do if he was invisible?  But I'd never considered the two together. Now that I think of it, invisibility probably has a much greater chance of being injured. Crossing the street, standing in a construction zone, walking underneath a piano. Heck, crossing a playground could get you a baseball to the head. And good luck getting medical treatment.  Still, it offers the potential to quietly 'help' the world and still provide for your family via the occasional shifted roulette ball.

Invincible, on the other hand, is more in your face. Sure I could do whatever I wanted, but everyone would know. I'll be feared/reviled/worshipped and someone's going to think they can take me down.  That'd lead to countless altercations that would get annoying. I'd never have a moment's peace. Plus eventually someone would try the nuclear option which'd cause a lot of collateral damage. And frankly, I don't know if I can pull off the invincible attitude. Imagine Wolverine if he was afraid to leave a pop on his desk while he picked up a printout because someone might spit in it.

Although, either way, Invisible or Invincible, without superstrength...You could be locked up in a straight jacket in a concrete room 500 feet underground pretty easily. I think I was lumping invincibility in with super strength or size.  And being invincible but puny and weak would suck big time. At least invisibility offers the potential for the sweet release of death when I'm inevitably captured and experimented upon.

So all in all, I think I'd have to say neither. If I was FORCED to choose, invisibility. But now they're both sounding more like punishment than fun.