Precognition: A Blessing or a Curse

A superpower that might be a blessing or a curse depending on the situation and how it can be used is precognition. Precognition is the power of being able to see the future before it happens. Precognition could be a blessing or a curse depending on both the nature of time, what you have knowledge of and what you can do with the knowledge.

The first big thing that would be important is whether the future can be changed or not. For example, let’s say you have the power of precognition, and you have a vision of someone committing a crime. One important point is whether fate exists. If fate exists then the crime is 100% going to happen and there is nothing you can do; you know about the crime, but you cannot stop it. On the other hand, if fate does not exist, you can change the future. You can stop the crime from happening and be a hero. In a world with fate, having precognition would be a very sad life.

The point is very similar to the first but is less related to fate as it is to the quality of the information. For example, if I know a crime will take place but I don’t know where, when or how it will happen, having precognition would be useless. I would not be able to do anything. Similarly, having good information but not being able to do anything would also be frustrating. For example, if you knew about a crime on the other side of the world which was going to happen in one hour, it would be very difficult to stop it. Being able to stop future events but having too many visions to deal with would also be bad.

Therefore, the main things that could decide if precognition would be a blessing or a curse would be whether the future can change, the information you receive about the future and the ability you have to change the future. In addition to that, there are several ways the type of information might be a blessing or a curse.

If you only see visions of stock prices or lottery numbers, it might be very pleasant to have precognition, as you would be able to live a pleasant life without having many worries. On the other hand, if you often have visions of bad things you need to stop, your life might be filled with worry and regret. Probably the best situations would be if you occasionally had visions of things like lottery numbers or stocks; that way you would have the resources and power necessary to change things and, at the same time, occasionally have visions of bad things you could stop with your resources. That way, you could live comfortably while being a hero at the same time.
Overall, whether precognition is a good power is based on a lot of different conditions. I think it could be a really good power under certain conditions but a nightmare under others.

Nathaniel

Vocabulary
blessing (noun) – something that is lucky or makes you happy
curse (noun) – something that causes harm or unhappiness, often over a long period of time
let’s say (phrase) – a phrase used when you are suggesting a possible situation or action
vision (noun) – an idea or image in your mind of what something could be like in the future
fate (noun) – a power that some people believe decides what will happen
frustrating (adjective) – annoying because things are not happening in the way that you want, or in the way that they should