Posted 6/10/2008

SUPERMAN MAY NOT BE FICTION

Superman first flew in the comic books in 1938. Drawn by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the man in the cape created quite a stir.

Kids loved him. Parents were appalled. Especially when some kids made capes and jumped out of second-story windows. Many parents were up in arms, demanding the Superman be banned.

But fortunately for the Man of Steel, World War II came along to make us all more comfortable with wounds, broken bones and death.

Those little boys who jumped out of windows were simply representative of imagination, which says that anyone can be Superman.

That Superman is not fiction. He can be real. And he might be you.

How?

Science and technology are working hard to make us all into superhuman beings.

Inspired by the incredible strength and agility of the grasshopper, the Army has just let production contract out on an exoskeleton purported to increase a man’s strength by 200-fold. A soldier just straps on the exoskeleton, hooks it to a power source and he can become a Superman in strength.

The Army thinks it will be great for heavy tasks like unloading cargo, lugging heavy supplies across difficult terrain, and even repairing tanks with their heavy spare parts.

Non-military types see the exoskeleton as a boon for the wheelchair-bound elderly whose legs are too frail to support them. They can just strap on a pair of leg devices and walk about the golf course without the need for the proverbial cart.

Women will no longer be disqualified for lack of upper body strength. Just hitch one of these devices up to your arms and shoulders and you can knock the gee whiz out of the heavyweight boxing champion.

Those with new artificial legs are so fast they can outrun track stars. Recently a handicapped lady was disqualified from the Olympic trials because her artificial legs were judged to give her an unfair advantage over sprinters powered by flesh-and-blood legs.

All right, you say. Maybe you can duplicate Superman’s strength and speed, but how about flying? Can any of these new devices make a man fly?

Well, a fellow just made himself a flying wing which straps on. The wing is propelled by miniature motors. He just jumped out of an airplane and flew around a bit before setting down in a perfect landing. And he didn’t even need a cape. He says that his next flight will be over the English Channel.

So there you have it. In the next generation, everyone can be a Superman.

Who knows? Maybe we won’t even need a car to get to work.

Whoops! Cars. Electric cars. That reminds me. The new high-powered devices require power. At this time, exoskeleton batteries last only thirty minutes. So you won't be able to fly very far tethered to an outlet.

This makes me realize how much we are being held back by inadequate battery technology.

Will someone please invent an efficient way to store electricity?

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