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I wanted to measure how smart you think the various techies/geniuses from both major companies are when put into the real world. Most of these guys could dramatically push forward the human race but they usually spend more time throwing punches than anything else. If they decided to stop bickering, who could make the biggest change in the world?

Competitors
Tony Stark
Reed Richards
Lex Luthor
Mr. Terrific
Hank Pym
Bruce Wayne

Resources
Small Office
Laptop
Internet
Open Source Software: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_software
USA's public database: http://www.data.gov/communities/
$20,000

Each of them is stripped of their resources and put into the real world. They are given a small office building, laptop computer, and a $20,000 grant. They are given a cheat sheet of open source technologies they may want to reference and can only use the data-sets provided by the United States of America. No hacking for private data a normal citizen would not be able to access.

Their task is to create software that utilizes the public datasets for the explicit purpose of running a business and improving the industry they choose ie: Health, Education, Energy, Safety (Crime), or Enterprise software. They spend 3 years utilizing that software in their business venture - the whole goal being to address one or more of these categories and making the most measurable difference.

Who makes the biggest difference in the real world and how do they do it?

I see the best choice, Victor von Doom, has been omitted. sneer

I think Tony would likely make the best changes due to his knowledge of politics, business, and science, and having been hands on for most of his career. I'd imagine he'd choose energy.

I'd say Reed, with his crazy 'I can predict human behaviour with this equation' feats.

I do think Reed is overall the smartest person here, but he's not all that adept when it comes to politics and business, which per this thread, are just as important as being book smart, imo.

To that end, I think Tony is the most well rounded.

True.

Toss up between him and Lex, actually. At this level, its like debating infinity and infinity-1.

Reed can already predict via an equation what people will do.

That alone gives him an edge and put him head and shoulders above his competitors.

Originally posted by Bouboumaster
Reed can already predict via an equation what people will do.

That alone gives him an edge and put him head and shoulders above his competitors.

He's not the only super genius to do that.

Originally posted by Golgo13
He's not the only super genius to do that.

Whatever, he's Reed Richards. He don't loose this contest.

LOL! You'll always say that, even though Reed is far from the only one who has created awesome tech.

You have an unshakable faith in the Archenemy of the world, Bouboumaster.

It's unsettling.

Originally posted by JakeTheBank
I think Tony would likely make the best changes due to his knowledge of politics, business, and science, and having been hands on for most of his career. I'd imagine he'd choose energy.



I think Tony and Lex are probably the top contenders, IMO. I think Tony would gravitate towards energy software and Bruce would utilize the crime data somehow. I think Pym, Reed, Mr. Terrific might all do either health or education. Not sure about Lex.

Lex would cheat.

Originally posted by -Pr-
Lex would cheat.

He might. But the purpose is not to get rich, but to improve the world.

This all started with an idea I had for Iron Man. If I could have the licensing for him I have this really cool STEM education based idea.

Wondered just what could these fictional guys do in the real world.

Tony would supply free energy to the world.

Problem is whilst the people of the world would be warm this tech would also increase man's potential to kill one another.

Tony also seems a bit...naive to me. Lex would set about transforming the economy, and soon, it'll be a communist state, where everyone is equal!

Equally rich, that is.

The first thing they will all do is apply for the MacArthur Genius Grant and bump that money up to 500,000.

Originally posted by JakeTheBank
I do think Reed is overall the smartest person here, but he's not all that adept when it comes to politics and business, which per this thread, are just as important as being book smart, imo.

To that end, I think Tony is the most well rounded.
He may not have any quantifiable feats in that regard , but in F4#607 , he did come to Wakanda prepared for completely rejuvenating their economy , and considering how Wakanda is one of the most(if not the most) prosperous nations in Marvel Earth , that's saying something .

Anyways , as far as the thread goes , my vote goes to either Tony or Lex .

Originally posted by DarkSaint85
Tony also seems a bit...naive to me. Lex would set about transforming the economy, and soon, it'll be a communist state, where everyone is equal!

Equally rich, that is.
Lex is as stupid in real life as he is in comics?

You can't be "rich" when you're all "equal". It's a relative term, requiring the existence of non-rich people to give it meaning.

Anyway, Communism would probably be the way they'd go. Central planning, peddling dreams to the dopes and dope to the disillusioned.

Marginalise the detractors and murder the alternative... Lots of PR about how effective and fair it all is. Then 10 years down the line, massive famine and death.

I think Tony Stark would definitely be a big proponent of central planning and large state programmes.

Banner would probably be the most useful of comic-book geniuses, he wouldn't come with any totalitarian baggage or any desires to control the world, he would advance the iPod significantly and provide personal teleportation devices for all. Oh as well as Old Power augmented shielding and strength.

Originally posted by Blair Wind

Of the guys you list, Reed would probably make the best use of the data to create logistic channels between various cities (and states) where there is some form of natural resource or demographics based comparative advantage.

Also, he'd probably create programmes to teach children to programme in python and use Linux. So that would be a tremendous improvement for generations to come.


Tony might develop a kick-arse Desktop for FreeBSD though, which people would enjoy using (maybe also make a port for Linux too).

Lex Luthor is the most well rounded, IMO, followed by Tony.

I think all of these people could solve all of these problems pretty easily though. They're all dicks for not doing it already

Originally posted by srankmissingnin
The first thing they will all do is apply for the MacArthur Genius Grant and bump that money up to 500,000.

Pretty sure someone cannot nominate themselves. And no one in the real world would know who they are to nominate them either.

Originally posted by janus77
Of the guys you list, Reed would probably make the best use of the data to create logistic channels between various cities (and states) where there is some form of natural resource or demographics based comparative advantage.

Also, he'd probably create programmes to teach children to programme in python and use Linux. So that would be a tremendous improvement for generations to come.


Tony might develop a kick-arse Desktop for FreeBSD though, which people would enjoy using (maybe also make a port for Linux too).



I think Tony is the better programmer of the two and he understands marketing (how to make something sexy in this case) so in terms of teaching kids programming I could see him doing more.

Still, Reed makes things interesting. I wonder how Terrific or Pym would fare.

even they cant solve the economic crysis of USA AND EUROPE because they have more and more illigal imigrants who dont work and only make babies and live on the goverments money, sorry they cant win this.

Nothing to do with this thread. Tons of people are becoming rich in this economy - specifically the software/tech industry which all of them would be entering. I didn't ask them to solve the economic crisis but to further the world with their software. If one of them tries to take on the economic crisis of the government (in America it's not really an economic crisis but a healthcare crisis, at least imo), then good for them.

Pym- particles would negate land/property problems.
Peoples could live inside self sustainable Pym mega structures.
And prisons would be easily managed.
Just hope he doesn't venture into AI

Stark- would create amazing machines for manufacturing and policing. Could be bad for jobs.
Plus free energy.
Plus a host of wacky inventions.

Reed- I can't see him being all that great for the human race. As Eternity stated he's the "Explorer" He's a selfish scientist who struggles with the fact.

Lex Luther- would supply great economic reform. But would do it selfishly. He's not necessarily a villain but a cold and calculating mathematician. His deeds would eventually hurt the human race. Not so different than the men above. But at least they aspire to be heroes.

Wayne- would do great work creating batcops to police the planet. But such a feat won't be much better than Stark's attempts.
Bruce is too infatuated with stopping crime and super threats to deal with the larger picture. But on the job he would probably have the highest morals of the lot.

Mr Terrific- don't know him.

They all have potential. Lex seems the logical choice. But it feels like giving the reins to the Anti-Christ.

It's Pym for me. He can end border disputes. Can create infinite landmasses inside particles. And can have Jocasta tech police the lot.
Controversial but I see him breaking into the Star Trek fantasy alot faster than the others.

So Pym gains money?

He's the only person on the list who is routinely broke, reed on the other hand despite being at or above Pym level would probably have the hardest time with his inability to multitask

Reed and Doom could easily do it though imo, doom is more likely to succeed on it. Reed is can't be bothered to provide a plausible explanation to why he can't revert his best friend back from being butt-ugly, solving the world's problem would be such a monumental chore to him.

Doom isn't in the Op

Probably so magic wouldn't be argued

Ah my bad. for a minute there thought i'd saw him.

Then it's pym or luthor then in place of doom.

It's between Stark and Luthor, imo.

Those two have the best threefold knowledge of science, politics, and business. I think Stark's a better business man than Luthor and better at computer and engineering sciences, whereas Luthor is more unscrupulous and underhanded and willing to have the means justify the end.

Take out Terrific and put in Ray Palmer. He'd ace everything. He's basically one of the best thinkers in comics.

You'd put Stark above Luthor in business?

No Doom.

I mad.

We sad.

Originally posted by DarkSaint85
You'd put Stark above Luthor in business?

I would, yeah.

Lex is a better business man than tony in every way. The guy has created a business empire from scratch several times and won presidency while having a criminal record longer than most criminals and essentially destroying one of the biggest cities on earth. Tony otoh got pushed to his limit by a takeover by Obdiah Stane and we all know what happened after Secret Invasion. Lex has escaped worse scenarios without making himself braindead.

Vote for Lex.

Juntai I haven't seen you post in awhile

Originally posted by Newjak
Juntai I haven't seen you post in awhile Not around too much these days, though I look in and make a random comment occasionally.

Originally posted by Juntai
Not around too much these days, though I look in and make a random comment occasionally. Cool man.

BY the way I'm not voting for Lex

Still go with Reed "Flex Lex Sex" Richards ftw

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

Going with Lex. Reed seems lazy and unmotivated when he has to work on something that doesnt personally affect him.

I think Mr. Terrific would make the most significant impact in the education field. He'd create a highly adaptive instructor AI and holographic teachers/professors which would cut down on a lot of the overhead in education (it would put a lot of teachers out of work in the short term, however), allowing funding to be spent more diversely and raising the overall intelligence of the general populace, making higher education more readily available and bringing down, if not outright eliminating, tuition costs, and which would bring about an intellectual renaissance and a better trained, highly educated populace that would be able to contribute in the new tech/idea based economy, which would also lead to all of the other fields being addressed as well by the now highly knowledgable populace.

Originally posted by MF DELPH
I think Mr. Terrific would make the most significant impact in the education field. He'd create a highly adaptive instructor AI and holographic teachers/professors which would cut down on a lot of the overhead in education (it would put a lot of teachers out of work in the short term, however), allowing funding to be spent more diversely and raising the overall intelligence of the general populace, making higher education more readily available and bringing down, if not outright eliminating, tuition costs, and which would bring about an intellectual renaissance and a better trained, highly educated populace that would be able to contribute in the new tech/idea based economy, which would also lead to all of the other fields being addressed as well by the now highly knowledgable populace.



Glad someone brought up Terrific. I agree that if he did that he'd significantly forward the education field. I'm not sure we would enter an intellectual renaissance but it's a good goal to shoot for.

Good god, are you all closet technocrats and state-ists?

Never occur to anyone that we would be terribly boring a species without said problems? They're an expression of our latent chaotic nature... Orderliness is a dead-end.

I'd really be quite weary of a world where "geniuses" sought to apply themselves to "solving" all of our "problems"...

Well, maybe a Renaissance is a stretch, but making all levels of education affordable across the board and eliminating a large expense (instructor's salaries, administrative costs, etc) from local and national economies would free up a lot of tied up funding, which would allow a lot of other issues to be addressed immediately, and in the long term make the populace better equipped for a variety of occupations as well as creating new fields. More engineers, more scientists, more architects, more programmers, etc.

Originally posted by janus77
Good god, are you all closet technocrats and state-ists?

Never occur to anyone that we would be terribly boring a species without said problems? They're an expression of our latent chaotic nature... Orderliness is a dead-end.

I'd really be quite weary of a world where "geniuses" sought to apply themselves to "solving" all of our "problems"...

I'll take a boring world where everyone's needs are met and there's more reason for peace over all the excitement we have nowadays.

Originally posted by MF DELPH
I'll take a boring world where everyone's needs are met ...
Hopefully you won't get it, or else it'll mean we're all lobotomised lefties and dead-hearted corporate automatons.

Yeah.

Because that's the only possible outcome of people using their minds to solve problems.

Originally posted by MF DELPH
I think Mr. Terrific would make the most significant impact in the education field. He'd create a highly adaptive instructor AI and holographic teachers/professors which would cut down on a lot of the overhead in education (it would put a lot of teachers out of work in the short term, however), allowing funding to be spent more diversely and raising the overall intelligence of the general populace, making higher education more readily available and bringing down, if not outright eliminating, tuition costs, and which would bring about an intellectual renaissance and a better trained, highly educated populace that would be able to contribute in the new tech/idea based economy, which would also lead to all of the other fields being addressed as well by the now highly knowledgable populace.

I was just thinking - he could do the same thing by creating a smartphone app. Distribution is already there - no need for it to be holographic if it can do the same function.

Originally posted by MF DELPH
Yeah.

Because that's the only possible outcome of people using their minds to solve problems.

Yeah, I have no idea what that guys problem is....


As for the OP. I'm with the majority. If lex was in the real world and actually wanted to solve the worlds problems he'd be able to. The main thing that's ever stopped his plans were a god-like being from another planet, and we have none here. He is willing to manipulate his way into power to change whatever he wants. (assuming again he actually does have good intentions)

Stark would be good as well but I don't think he has as much political experience. Luthor was president. Stark would make a successful company and invent a whole bunch of good junk but politics would be his failing. His plan to stop warfare from his companies weapons was just make an even bigger weapon and control it himself. Nuclear arms race all over that tactic and while I do trust tony more than any world government (even with the alcoholism), it's not the most analytical of reactions.

I don't know too much about Mr. Terrific to really comment.

Bruce would be ok but besides crime, all he seems to do with everything else is throw money at it. I feel lex could do better than that. And bruce seems to guard his tech too much. doesn't trust anyone with anything so his tech advances may not be as well distributed.. may be a good idea in the real world actually...actually i'll use that as a plus for him vs stark. :P

As said, Reed would get too distracted in his crazy quantum, cosmic, nano research stuff.

Pym would be a more focused reed but he seems to have a lot of life problems that has made him less productive in the past.