If a human being was given the gift, or ability, or chance, or however you want to describe the ‘bestow’ of absolute power, what would happen?

Not really a exciting question as history is filled with people of great ‘power’. Hitler. Kings. Queens. Presidents. Dictators. Khan. Pharaohs… Such people had great power. The power over millions of other humans lives. And they all met the same fate as they become ashes and dust in death.

But lets say that a human body could be immortal, what then? Apply the same question and now the answers are many and varied.

Can a mind change over time? Take Hitler for example. If he was immortal would he come to find a path to becoming Jewish? Or would King Henry (of whatever number) tender the thought of trying his hand at carrot farming?

The answer of course is that a mind can evolve over time. And for a human it could swing from good to evil and back again. In an immortal body with the same ‘equipment’ born with, it would be fun to watch.

A better question would then be: What is power? Again, the answers can be many and varied, but basically power is a word used to describe control. Control over environments, control over whatever commodity that exists. Control over self. Power (pardon the pun) is a powerful word.

A human body cannot be immortal. It cannot be so because of many biological reasons such as pain, disease, ailments. Just because immortality is a ‘forever’ meaning it does not mean the body is free from everyday ailments. If you cut the arm off of an immortal human body it does not mean the arm will grow back.

I suspect that experimenting with a human body and giving it the power to exist forever, it would end where the body itself becomes destroyed mechanically leaving the brain/mind forever imprisoned in a nutrient rich environment in a jar. There the mind could be tortured forever.

Imagine an immortal Hitler being reduced over time to a soundless, motionless, brain floating in a brine… ‘Alive’ and wishing for death.

How poetic power can be.