[Pxtl]

Not to mention the basic premise of the "science hero" in which a single man develops world-changing technology and then never shares it with anyone.

That's why I loved the show "Dollhouse" - one of the central themes of the show is how the brain-rewriting technology is progressing and how it will change the world. As much as everyone gushes over Firefly and Avengers, I think Dollhouse should be remembered as Whedon's sci-fi creation that really focuses on the classical themes of SF - speculating on how a science/magical event would change the world.

also, how many Congressmen and pundits could the X-Men have bought with the money they spent on an invisible jet and an underground fortress?

[talmand]

One often thought is that the technology is too dangerous to share with people or governments considering the bad things they might do with their creations.

Related to article; I remember once Parker needed money so he approached a tech company as Spiderman to sell them his web formula. He demoed it by suspending some heavy equipment from the ceiling.

The scientists were amazed and couldn't wait to see the formula. That is, until the equipment came crashing to the ground.

Turns out, Parker created his formula to wither away after about an hour or so; to prevent him from covering the city in webs.

Parker decided he couldn't wait the months it would take to remake the formula to be permanent as demanded by the scientists, so he moved on.

That day the Marvel Universe almost had SpideyGlue.

[Pxtl]

> One often thought is that the technology is too dangerous to share with people or governments considering the bad things they might do with their creations.

When one hero does this, it's reasonable. When every science hero does this, it's suspicious. It's mostly visible in the Marvel Universe, which is notably science-hero-heavy. The fact that civilians aren't driving around in flying cars in Marvel is incredibly conspicuous.

And yeah, the commercial applications of spideyglue are obvious and numerous, even with its short lifespan.

[talmand]

I just take it that government agencies like SHIELD prevent mass commercial uses of certain technologies so they can have all the cool stuff for themselves.

After all, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe there are flying cars but only SHIELD agents have them.

[frost_knight]

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ReedRichardsIsUse...