Would you want this superpower?

[coronatiger]

Seems there are lots of situations that my original idea didn't cover, but let me address some of them:

- You can make shorter jumps to break up a long travel, like stopping in Istanbul, Mumbai and Hong Kong on the way from London to Wellington, and you can eat, drink and sleep in these places to prepare for the next leg of the journey.
- Travel time is calculated based on how a law-abiding and health-and-safety-conscious person would get where you want to go, under the conditions that face a person traveling the mundane way. So, you're slowed by rush traffic, and can't take shortcuts by speeding.
- To go somewhere you're not normally allowed, time taken is based on how a person with access/authority would get where you want to go. Imagine you have a bank director over for dinner. When you activate the power, he/she could walk out of your house, drive downtown, walk into the bank, unlock the vault and go inside, just as you pop back into existence right next to them. You might even be there already, if they got distracted along the way.
- You don't need to have an actual vehicle available. As long as the infrastructure is in place (roads, airports, harbors...), you can calculate travel time and cost as if you had an appropriate vehicle. In other words, you don't have to bring your car to work to avoid having to walk home.
- For the purposes of this thought experiment, your bank doesn't care how you spend your money, and will allow you to overdraw your account, within reason.
- If you're on a deserted island in the middle of the Pacific, you'd better know where you can stop on the way home. A speedboat could come by the island and pick you up, but it might not get you anywhere useful before you die.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Celjabba

I think it would be a very useful power in many cases : you can cross the street
-without being seen by anyone during the crossing
-potentially without anyone ever knowing you crossed the street, depending on how the power work

-without anyone being able to stop or interrupt you
-without being exposed to the weather or any environmental hazard
-without being exposed to the risk of traffic, mad bomber, drunk peoples with guns, ...

-potentially without any authorisation or permit, depending on how the power work (think of a border, or Check Point Charlie)
-potentially without any key, access card, password, etc depending on how the power work

If the amount of time and cost the power requires is as if no barriers existed, sure, it's an advantage. However, every point you mention is in fact a cost or barrier you would normally have to deal with when trying to move, and thus as written would be expected to make movement take more time and/or cost more money.

[Celjabba]

Originally Posted by Anthony

If the amount of time and cost the power requires is as if no barriers existed, sure, it's an advantage. However, every point you mention is in fact a cost or barrier you would normally have to deal with when trying to move, and thus as written would be expected to make movement take more time and/or cost more money.

If there are danger or unpleasantness along the way, most people will happily trade time and money to avoid those.
And stealth is often worth time/money too.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Celjabba

If there are danger or unpleasantness along the way, most people will happily trade time and money to avoid those.
And stealth is often worth time/money too.

Yes, but if I can just trade time/money normally for getting past problems, why am I bothering with the power?

[Þorkell]

Oh, and to answer the question posed. NO

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by coronatiger

- For the purposes of this thought experiment, your bank doesn't care how you spend your money, and will allow you to overdraw your account, within reason.

I wasn't worried about any of those. I was wondering who these mysterious withdrawals were credited to?

Also, these bank records do create a record of how far and when you've travelled and thus compromise the "secret" nature of this travel resource.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by coronatiger

- Travel time is calculated based on how a law-abiding and health-and-safety-conscious person would get where you want to go, under the conditions that face a person traveling the mundane way. So, you're slowed by rush traffic, and can't take shortcuts by speeding.
- To go somewhere you're not normally allowed, time taken is based on how a person with access/authority would get where you want to go. Imagine you have a bank director over for dinner. When you activate the power, he/she could walk out of your house, drive downtown, walk into the bank, unlock the vault and go inside, just as you pop back into existence right next to them. You might even be there already, if they got distracted along the way.
- You don't need to have an actual vehicle available. As long as the infrastructure is in place (roads, airports, harbors...), you can calculate travel time and cost as if you had an appropriate vehicle. In other words, you don't have to bring your car to work to avoid having to walk home.

What about cost? If you want to 'port into the White House, do you (double) pay for what a tour would cost, or does the power treat you as someone with free access? For an airline flight, does it charge (and time things) as though you were flying coach, or first class, or using a military discount (or even flying free - if the power can treat you as though you were a bank employee with access to the vault, why not as though you were a working flight attendant or pilot?)... or flying a private jet? For road travel, is the resource cost based on driving a Hummer, a motorcycle, or an electric car... or riding a public bus? Given a police officer could legally reach your destination much faster if in pursuit of a speeding vehicle (or responding to an emergency at said destination), could this justify you getting there faster?

[Anthony]

I will say this sort of power seems like it would be interesting to study, though it appears that it could be implemented as "you turn bodily control over to an autopilot that gets you where you want to go".

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Also, these bank records do create a record of how far and when you've travelled and thus compromise the "secret" nature of this travel resource.

I mean, if someone already knows what the power is and how it works, maybe. Knowing what we know, we might be able to determine someone with two mysterious withdrawals of $12 two hours apart teleported ~50 miles away, stayed there for an hour (if they traveled by highway; if the only route involved going through towns, they would have had to stay less time), and then teleported back (gas is roughly around $3 per gallon, most vehicles get around 25 miles to the gallon, so $12 fits with a doubled price for 2 gallons - 50 miles - of gas). Not knowing what we know, that's just two withdrawals of $12 two hours apart, potentially alongside a lot of other mysterious (small) withdrawals. Clearly, something is going on, but I feel one would more immediately think someone else is fraudulently withdrawing money from the account than that the owner is using some bizarre teleportation power that withdraws twice the gas/ticket/etc money from his account with each teleport.

Also, I thought of another potential legitimate use (or unexpected delay/expense, depending on how the power works). While I don't typically travel to busy enough destinations for this to be an issue, I know in many places it's difficult and time-consuming to find a convenient place to park. If the power can treat you as though you dropped yourself off at the curbside of wherever you were going, you can avoid that issue, allowing you to actually reach your destination a bit faster than you would otherwise (still a net loss in terms of age, unless the parking situation where you are going is so bad it actually takes more time to find a parking spot and walk to your destination than it took to reach it in the first place).

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Varyon

IKnowing what we know, we might be able to determine someone with two mysterious withdrawals .

The bank records aren't going to be listing withdrawals to "mysterious". If they're honest they list transfers to someone like "Whamalamiel, Archangel of Toll Roads". Even if they only say "mysterious" that will become as obvious a tip off.

Will people look for these sorts of clues? They wiil if you're ever caught on surveillance camera somewhere that can't be explained in proximity to an important event.

I'm still probably safe going to the grocery store. No one will look for how I got there.