Should Our Superheroes Turn Over Alien Technology?

Irredeemable #7 by Mark Waid and Peter Krause (2009)

Here's one thing that distinguishes the universe of Mark Waid's Irredeemable from the DC Universe: the Plutonian (the Superman equivalent of this world) and his squad of Justice-League-like superheroes, the Paradigm, don't seem to have a very optimistic view of human nature. They equate giving humans access to alien technology to handing out hand grenades to orangutans. Earlier, the Plutonian referred to Earth as an ant farm. It seems that, unlike Superman, who possesses an almost naively positive view of humans, the Plutonian has established himself as a de facto Hobbesian Leviathan. He is there to stop humans from destroying themselves--to aid in the escape from what he sees is their natural state of war, jealousy and corruption.

That being said, the two do have something in common. Namely, given all of the technology that these superheroes have access to on a daily basis (remember, Superman frequently travels through space and time), Earth remains at relatively a similar level to how it is in the real world. Why is this? What exactly do superheroes fear will happen if the humans were given access to these marvels in science and magic? In a previous post, we had discussed the harms of keeping this information hidden:

Ever wonder why people in comics aren't teleporting to work, watching TV through a personal projection device while walking down the street, or attending seminars hosted by an android via group-telepathy?

Instead, the worlds in our favorite comics still have potholes, poverty, and petroleum-powered cars. In fact, aside from the occasional reality-bending crisis involving metahumans, it’s hard to distinguish our world from theirs in terms of technological progress or standards of living. This begs the question of what happens to all the alien wreckage after the Justice League fends off another alien invasion, or to the abandoned spaceships when interplanetary thugs with a grudge against Superman land on Earth. Do men in black immediately cart them off to secret government facilities and weaponize them? If so, then these governments are doing a great disservice to their people. The fastest way to achieve economic growth is through the free and unfettered dissemination of knowledge. Governments should encourage the private sector to develop commercial uses for all the space junk that winds up on earth, thereby simultaneously increasing both the capital stock and total factor productivity. [...] And it’s not just the responsibility of the governments, but also of the superheroes.

Indeed, if it is the case that the superheroes of the DCU are keeping this technology from the humans intentionally, then they are setting the race at a disadvantage. And by the way this does seem to be what they are doing--one needs to look no further than the gadgets available in the Justice League watchtower to know that there is a gap between space and Earth. There is no telling how much Earthlings could potentially benefit from both the physical and human capital available at their disposal. In the Marvel Universe, for example, mutants could be put to work in ways that don't involve them living somewhere out on the San Francisco Bay and having their resumes consist exclusively of the phrase "Fight Magneto."


So then, what's the deal guys? Well, what the major superheroes fear is that humans will either intentionally put this technology to inappropriate uses or that their lack of sophistication and experience would inevitably lead to the mishandling of such overwhelming power. This is what the Plutonian and the Paradigm explicitly state (and what I imagine Superman and the JLA think too).

But, is this really a legitimate concern? It turns out that in this particular instance, it was justified. Eventually the Plutonian caved to the pressures of the scientific community and handed over a tiny device found on an alien ship. Here was the devastating result:

Woops. Now we can see why the Plutonian turned evil. This would be enough to make anyone doubt humanity's potential. Even the purest of superheroes might decide that we simply aren't worth saving.

But it's really not humanity's fault. At least not entirely.

First of all, I think it takes a pretty pessimistic person--superhero or not--to hide possibly life-saving technology from others. The fact that this sort of act was fully supported by the world's most noble protectors is highly suggestive of their real views on humans. And I'm not just talking about the Paradigm here. Despite all his preaching of believing in the goodness of man, Superman was still in the company of those who fended off the alien invasion, scavenged the alien ships for useful technology, threw that technology in a trophy room aboard the Justice League watchtower, and did not even alert the people of Earth to its existence. Even if Supes would justify this by claiming that humans would be better protected with such materials in the hands of the League, it still demonstrates a fundamental lack of trust. And if deep down the Superheroes don't trust the humans, how could the humans trust the superheroes?

Of course this does not mean that Superman and the Plutonian are wrong, nor does it justify humans using these devices haphazardly. So if withholding these alien goody bags is not the answer and if the Plutonian has such a profound lack of trust in the people of Earth such that he fears turning over the tech. freely, is there anything else that can be done? Well, why not donate, but heavily regulate the research and development projects?

With the exception of Batman and possibly a few others, it is generally known that no Earthling is as smart as Superman. Given a piece of technology, Superman and the League could most likely figure out precisely what it can and should be used for. Why not have a look at it themselves first and then donate? If there is an alien device that has the potential to conserve water more efficiently, why not use it to built a really awesome toilet for the humans?

OK, granted many of the bigger superheroes have things to do--guy jumping off a roof here, fourth-world deity trying to enslave humanity there. But not all of them, right? And certainly not all the time. The Justice League has lots and lots of members. I'm sure it can afford to delegate a task force of some of its scientists to working with human researchers at developing proper uses for this technology.

Also, superheroes regulate everything already. They counsel world leaders in making policy choices, they get called in to speak in front of the UN Security Council, they help set international public health initiatives, the list goes on.

This seems like something that is not only feasible, but even responsible. Moreso anyway that simply continuing to foster insecurity and suspicion among the public. And perhaps it would further cement humanity's trust in the superhero community, to the extent that your Joe Everyman would cease being so easily persuaded by clever villains to start hating on Superman and Batman.

The Plutonian did eventually submit, but it was for all the wrong reasons. It was not for an interest in the advancement of society or in an attempt to usher in an era of harmony and cooperation. It was, instead, to mitigate some bad press towards him. It was primarily selfish. With some regulation and a little bit more effort, this whole thing might have been averted. Sorry planet.

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The Plutonian and Economic Growth

Irredeemable #5 by Mark Waid and Peter Krause (2009)

In Mark Waid's series, Irredeemable, former God-like superhero, The Plutonian, goes on a killing spree throughout the world, exacting revenge for a yet unknown series of events that had led him to turn into the world's greatest supervillain. In a recent issue, he ponders the number of people that he had killed so far in his rampage, and concludes that the number is well over 8 million, which includes the destruction of virtually all of Singapore.

What would be the effect of such a large-scale and sudden population decrease on the world economy? Well, we can imagine that the destruction of an entire nation would lead to a decrease in overall labor, which would lead to a decrease in world production. In addition, despite its small size, Singapore is the fifteenth largest trading partner of the United States, and in fact generates much of its revenues from the exports of electronics and chemicals, including petroleum products, food/beverages, telecommunications, transport equipment and others. Further, Singapore has a large biotechnology industry, which includes aggressive manufacturing of pharmaceuticals. With Singapore destroyed at the hands of the Plutonian, this will interrupt the world's trade balance.

Speaking of production, there have been many theories that have attempted to detail the relationship between population growth and economic growth. Malthus, for instance, feared that population growth would lead to the exhaustion of the world's resources, and thus theorized that significant population growth would one day lead to massive famine and death. The Simon-Steinmann Economic Growth Model poses that an increase in total population would lead to increase in total number of researchers, which would produce more innovation yield a greater per-capita income.

Some of the most interesting research, in my opinion, has focused on this relationship. For example, this paper by Charles I Jones of Stanford University points out that this intuition of population growth leading to long-term per-capita growth goes against 20th century empirical evidence of the postwar OECD boom, in which increased R&D was associated with stagnant growth.

Alwyn Young of the University of Chicago proposes a different model to attempt to explain this:

This paper modifies models of endogenous innovation to allow for the possibility that a rise in the profitability of innovative activity could lead to an increased variety of differentiated solutions to similar problems. An increased variety of technologies (e.g., an increase in the number and types of contraceptives) will increase the level of utility of the average consumer. If, however, continued improvement of this increased variety of technologies requires increased research input, a rise in the scale of the market could raise the equilibrium quantity of R & D without increasing the economy's growth rate.

So, one potential impact of the Plutonian's reign of terror is less overall technological innovation. Although research suggests the effects of this on economic growth are dubious, such a large and sudden disintegration of the world's population is almost sure to send a deep shock to the economy. After all, some historians have argued that the Black Death had intensified a recession that had already been underway in the European economy since the beginning of the 14th century. Perhaps the Plutonian's ultimate goal, then, is to conduct a massive empirical study of economics. He could be granted an honorary doctorate.

One thing is for sure, as the Plutonian himself points out...

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How Do Fictional Countries Affect the Comic Book World's Economy?

The long publishing history of Marvel and DC is filled with many powerful events. Terrorist attacks, government revolutions, totalitarian regimes, conquests, and liberations. And for the sake of political correctness, these events could not occur in real countries. After all, if a story calls for a government run by corrupt drug lords to be attacked by Batman or Iron Man, it isn't really fair to label an existing country as a place where crime and evil reigns. As a result, Marvel and DC have created fictional countries to be the locations of their stories.

Talking about ethnic cleansing in Kosovo may be too insensitive for a comic book. But ethnic cleansing in the fictional Slorenia is ripe for an intervention by Force Works. You can't really have Iran creating mechanical terrors to plague their neighboring countries. But Bialya is completely free to launch super-powered attacks on Kahndaq. It's politically correct, safe, and just makes good sense for a developing story. And it's fairly easy to create a country when you do so in regions that are nebulous to your America audience like the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe, and east Asia.

But making up fictional countries willy nilly is bound to have consequences. These new countries are additional economic variables added into the equation of Marvel or DCs fictional global market.

The techno-tribal monarchy of Wakanda is the primary source of vibranium for the Marvel Universe. And vibranium has all sorts of uses from making unstoppable shields to making unstoppable robots and other generally unstoppable things that may or may not be sentient and angry at humanity. This makes Wakanda an important nation that has a great effect on the global market. But because Wakanda is a fictional country which provides a fictional resource to the world, it's nearly impossible to calculate the effect Wakanda's creation has on the world economy. Granted, calculations could be posited and international trading agreements (likely between Wakanda and a nation that wants to use vibranium to make something unstoppable) could be postulated but the accuracy of such calculations would be flawed without a real world equivalent to base them on.

And Wakanda is only one small example of this process. As time goes on, writers continue to deform the geography of the comic book world, and with it the fictional global economy. International defense spending likely increased after Dr. Doom's Latveria was made and Black Adam resumed control of Kahndaq. The creation of these nations has far-reaching consequences for the comic book global economy. And yet writers continue to invent these countries with wild abandon. And I will greet each new comic book nation with the particular brand of mock outrage expressed above.

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Could New Krypton Have Stayed on Earth?

The Citizens of New Krypton by Pete Woods.

It's truly a shame that Kandor's temporary stay on Earth did not work out as well as Superman had intended. But, economically and politically, it was doomed to begin with.

After Superman defeated Brainiac and retrieved the stolen city of Kandor, he restored it in its original integrity near the Fortress of Solitude at the North Pole. Overnight, Earth became the new home for approximately 100,000 Kryptonians. Hopes were high to assimilate the Kryptonian population into the Earth community and to teach them the way of Earth cultural and democracy. Yet as tensions rose (unfortunately human tendencies towards xenophobia and paranoia garnered the mistrust of many ill-tempered Kandorians), an exectuve decision was made by Alura-El (Superman's aunt and Supergirl's mother) to retreat completely into autonomy. Kryptonians were to live within their sanctuary at the North Pole, mining their own resources and disconnecting completely from the affairs of the primitive humans.

In effect, Kandor had become an autarky, a completely self-reliant society, economically independent of other nations. Unfortunately, prohibiting a society of 100,000 citizens from international trade or any sort of economic interdependence with other nations is not easy in 21st century Earth. The world is globalizing--fast. Technology, communication, and industry are rapidly expanding into global markets and more nations and societies are quickly being integrated into this system of trade and interdependence. This is why recessions tend to have global impacts; the increasd interconnectedness of these markets makes local economic collapses that much more difficult to contain.

Economic autarkies today either are not real autarkies, or are not doing so well. Consider the case of North Korea. It maintains an "autarkic" command economy and a strict isolation policy from Western countries. The problem is that it is not completely cut off, as Kandor intends to be. In 2008, North Korea's trade rose 30%, three-quarters of which came from China. It has even begun conducting small amounts of business with South Korea. Actually, North Korea also receives considerable foreign aid, from countries including South Korea and even the United States. Beyond that, its economic conditions aren't so hot. Growth is significantly hampered due to its trade restrictions, even though GDP has been rising in recent years. Poverty continues to be a huge problem as well.

Kryptonians do have certain advantages that would aid them in remaining isolated from human existence. A major one is that, apparently, they do not need to eat (how sad!). This means that finding resources that can be made into a source of food is not a problem. Yet, there is no denying that the Kryptonians do need some Earth resources. They have established science and medical guilds, meaning they are interested in innovation and technology. Obviously, they're going to need more fancy crystals to put into crystal tubes. They have labor guilds, which means they need to use tools. And Krypton is a society which pours most of its resources into its own rapid development.

Since its resources on the original Krypton were all but depleted, it needs to make due with the scarce ones available on Earth. The North Pole has untapped minerals and fuels, but I'm betting Kandor will need more that, especially if it wants the kind of technology that will send a child through the galaxy in a crystal ship. This is why Alura sent teams to explore human nations -- it wasn't just to spy on them, it was also to gather stock of what resources might be available to them.

Eventually tensions rose so high that, following an epic battle with the Justice League, the citizens of Kandor left Earth and established a new society on a different planet altogether (New Krypton). It's truly a shame. Imagine the implications for Earth's economic growth and technological innovation if we could have worked out or differences and integrated Kandor into the global marketplace. Once again, we blew it.

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