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human
[X-Men/Real Life] What would be some of the social and political consequences of sudden introduction of Mutants into our modern world.


Say, tomorrow pubescent teenagers and a few lucky adults start manifesting near-miraculous mutant abilities. 

* How would society react? 

* Does reality conspire to suddenly create super heroes and villians of as comic books always suggest it would? Or are there merely "super normals" with no good/evil bent who just want to be left to their own devices? 

* What good is gun control when that guy over there has laser fingers?


It is my personal belief that, yes, super criminals would manifest, but only because certain crimes would be easy, and that's how morality works. There would also be those few who do indeed feel the need to dress up in spandex, but only because popular culture tells them that's what you do when you can suddenly fly.

It is also my belief that in the United States, most mutants would be Drafted into the armed services. Not immediately, but over about five years, legislation would be passed by the non-powered majority to corral the "growing meta-human menace" by either conscripting them or imprisoning them.


^^^^^^^^^^.


Thoughts from smarter people?
gpt
It depends almost entirely on what sort of abilities we're talking about here. It would be easy for people to reference the concept of "mutant" from comic books, but as a practical, legislative matter, a person who can fly poses a very different legal challenge (almost none, I'd imagine) than someone who can alter personalities (would require entire new bodies of law just to deal with the concept).

The heredity of mutancy is also very important. Are the children of mutants always mutants? Dating and mating would warp beyond recognition. There'd be sperm banks on every corner. In fact, depending on the selective pressure exerted, the entire human species might be converted in a few generations.

Our mainstream comics fiction also glosses over the theological implications of this transformation. Atheistic Western Europe may not bat an eye, but a lot of countries worldwide are highly religious, and the appearance of human beings with miraculous powers could shake and reshape the foundations of their respective faiths. I'd expect schismatic feuds over whether these beings are Bodhisattvas or weird new manifestations of the Messiah or what have you, and obviously (a hundred times obviously) a great paroxysm of eschatological terror as these mutants are put at the center of every flavor of apocalyptic paranoia that has ever existed.

The treatment of mutants as "basically the gays or the Jews" in X-Men does a disservice to the absurd complexity of the issue, although it may color the public's perceptions of it. Depending on the prevalence and average "power level" (difficult to quantify, but you can probably generalize) of the mutant population, they may not be a marginalized minority for long.

(Can they play professional sports?

Can immortal mutants be given life in prison? Can they draw Social Security?

Under what circumstances are telepathic mutants allowed to read minds? Never? Only with explicit consent? What if their telepathy manifests as a sense, like sight or hearing, that shows them the thoughts of others whether they like it or not? What if this is true of some telepaths, but not of others?

Can a mutant with an antiseptic body reuse plates at a salad bar?)

This is assuming, of course, that the degree of mutation isn't so great that society is fundamentally reshaped and that our institutions remain largely as they are. Enough mutants and enough power and you have a new natural aristocracy that quickly accrues (accretes?) all the wealth and power in the world in a few short years before anyone else knows what's going on. Imagine an entire command economy administered by a perfect telepathic mind, or a democracy in which that mind simply reads real-time thought data from millions of citizens at once. They could become the indispensable centers of government, commerce, and worship, such that the world could never function without them.