Those Tweeting Superheroes!

Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance #2 by Joe Casey, Andre Coelho and Eduardo Pansica (2009)

In his new book, Create Your Own Economy, Tyler Cowen writes:

The current trend--as it has been running for decades--is that a lot of our culture is coming in shorter and smaller bits. The classic 1960s rock album has given way to the iTunes single. The most popular YouTube videos are usually just for a few minutes long and most of the time the viewer doesn't stay for longer than the first ten seconds.

Indeed, as evidenced by the prevalence of such social networking mediums as Twitter, Facebook, blogging, etc., people are more interconnected than ever, albeit receiving their information in smaller and smaller chunks. And this phenomenon has even permeated into the world of superheroes.

In the old days, there were only very few superheroes. Whenever somebody was being terrorized by alien robots from outer space, or simply had a cat stuck in a tree, Superman would come and save the day. Whenever mobsters would rob a bank or low-life thugs would assault a rich couple in an alleyway, Batman would materialize from the shadows.

And people loved them. Superman, in particular, was the single most exciting thing that human beings had ever witnessed. He could leap tall buildings in a single bound and run faster than a speeding bullet. He stood for truth, justice and the American way. He inspired people. Every word he uttered projected a sense of unfailing hope and strength. People traveled far and took significant risks just to get a glimpse of him. Countless times, people have actually jumped off of rooftops just in the hopes of meeting him. Lois Lane and Lex Luthor alike dedicated their entire lives (and careers) to discovering his secrets and sharing them with the world.

But things have changed since those days. The market has actually become over-saturated with superheroes. There are now multiple heroes in every major city in the United States, as well as pockets of imitators in Europe and Japan. New individuals with new powers and gimmicks are popping up each day and forming new teams to beat the bad guys. There is an entire Wikipedia page just on all of the teams and organizations in the DC Universe. And it's not even a complete list. Just scanning briefly, I noticed it's missing, "Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters."

As a result of this abundance of superheroes, individuals are becoming less interested. Sure people are still grateful when they are saved and are still fascinated by some of the new powers and abilities on display, but in general superheroes have become commonplace and, I would even say, a bit banal. As a result, more new superheroes are embracing this new culture of "small bits" in order to sustain the public interest and maintain relevance. As Cowen writes:

When access is easy, we tend to favor the short, sweet and bitty. When access is difficult, we tend to look for large-scale productions, extravaganzas and masterpieces.

Consider the "Super Young Team" from Japan, recently popularized in the United States after playing an integral role in Darkseid's defeat during Final Crisis. Do you think anybody cared about the Super Young Team prior to a few months ago? Even now that they have literally saved the world (no doubt a large extravaganza), people seem to have returned to their natural state of complacency. This is why the Super Young Team has engaged in all sorts of marketing and branding in order to continually provide the public with news about their exploits and heroics. The Most Excellent Bat even keeps a Twitteratti, which is cleverly used as the narration of Final Crisis: Dance.

Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily. On the one hand, in an attempt to appeal to younger crowds, superheroes might be becoming a bit more materialistic, as is the case with some of the Super Young Team. This does somewhat negate the classical concept of a selfless hero. Yet, on other hand, superheroes can now stay interconnected, not just with each other, but also with the public. I bet @mosexbat has millions of followers on Twitteratti. Should some of them choose to reach out to him with a problem, he may very well respond, especially since he seems to be the only one in the team interested in actually being a hero. By staying connected and embracing this technology, if there is danger then the Super Young Team might be in an even greater position to become aware of it. Possibly even more so than the Justice League. They might have a moon base and a satellite that can monitor human beings around the world, but the Super Young Team has Twitter and Facebook.

Oh, and it's not just the new superheroes that are using this new technology to stay connected.

Detective Comics #845 by Paul Dini and Dustin Nguyen (2008)

That's right. In a semi-recent issue of Detective Comics, Batman actually logs on to detective chat room in the Batcave in order to discuss a tough case with some like-minded sleuths. It turns out that as a result of discussing the facts with who ended up being The Riddler and Detective Chimp, Batman was able to solve the case and stop a crime.

So this new culture might actually have some advantages, both for the superheroes embracing it and for the public.

I open the floor to the readers. What do you think?

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Alien Technology and Economic Growth: Lessons from Solow

(Guest Post from Metropolis)


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.

Aside from physical capital, economies must take advantage of their human capital to grow. But even with metahumans this is a tricky proposition. In an earlier post Mark discussed the potential benefits of having mutants performing tasks such as construction if they ever took a break from blowing stuff up. However, looking at economic development through the lens of the Solow model I feel that these mutants may ultimately prove unable to increase long-run living standards. Any effect that Magneto may have on productivity will only temporarily move the economy to a higher steady-state output per person (y/n). With his death the economy will move back to where it was (and probably experience some unpleasant distortions during the transition). The reason is that Magneto is essentially no different than a tractor or any other piece of capital equipment. He ages, depreciates and eventually dies. More importantly however, is the basic result of the Solow model: sustained growth in y/n can only be achieved if there is concurrent growth in our stock of knowledge and technology, something Magneto cannot contribute to. Without technological change, the economy will eventually reach a steady-state level of y/n and all growth will cease. Even so, the Marvel universe does have one ace in the hole, and he’s got a big green head!

Samuel Sterns was just an average Joe working at a chemical plant when he was exposed to massive amounts of gamma radiation. Thus was born The Leader, a villain whose only real power is superhuman intellect (maybe some telekinesis, but whatever). This guy probably has enough ideas in his head to keep scientists busy for millennia. Imagine the technological advancements that could be made if the government hooked him up with a research position! And if there’s one Leader, then it’s possible to have more metahumans with precariously large crania. Given the right incentives, maybe some of these bums turned mutant geniuses will come up with life-enhancing inventions like 3D holographs or a flying car. There should be grants and subsidies to promote their research activities and encourage investment into new technologies, so guys with green skin and giant brains can yell at MIT grad students instead of toppling civilization with armies of plastic humanoids.

Finally, aside from investment from within our planet, economic growth can be sped along by Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows from other civilizations. But what’s surprising is that with an entire galaxy of highly advanced civilizations, no interplanetary investment seems to be reaching earth. Capital should flow to where its return is highest. Being mere humans in a giant multiverse of galactic powers, it’s a fair assumption that earth is an LDP (less developed planet) with a comparatively small capital stock. According to the Solow model, alien entrepreneurs should be jumping at the opportunity to invest in Earth. Add a growing stock of technology from metahumans and falling debris and you can get productivity and standards of living rising indefinitely. The only thing I can think of that deters aliens from investing is the unstable sociopolitical climate. I mean, who really wants to deal with the risks of a Luthor presidency or an Emperor Joker? It seems that now, more than ever, the earth needs superheroes to stamp out crime so that other planets might feel safer about their investments.

Even without additional capital inflows, all people on comic book earth have a real shot at modernizing if the proper steps are taken. And it’s not just the responsibility of the governments, but also of the superheroes. The Green Lanterns have access to technology and information from all the planets in the galaxy. Superman can travel through space and time almost instantaneously and in fact spends much of that time in the 31^st century with the League of Superheroes. It’s about time some of this technology makes it back to Earth.

After all, maybe one of those alien spaceships had a toilet that could conserve water more efficiently, or something. It can’t all be hyperdrive this and giant laser cannon that!

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