There are many theories out there as to the origins of Abilities. Though there may actually may be more, I have narrowed it down to five main theories that I have constantly come across over the last half year.

DNA Theory: This is a very wide and popular theory among the different communities out there. Some believe that our abilities are apart of our DNA. That there are several markers, or key strands, or unique codecs that separate us from the rest of society. This theory also gains support due to the fact that a seemingly numerous amount of Metahumans have inherited their abilities from one or both of their parents. Since a lot of our DNA is inherited from our parents, this could explain why it is in our DNA.

God Given Theory:  This theory is based on what is known as "Charisms," or God given gifts to help mankind believe. There are numerous parts of the Bible that list the different spiritual gifts that God may give people in order to better serve his purpose on Earth. Not only that, but there are several people in the Bible who display "out of this world" feats, such as Samson, in the book of Judges. He was said to have super strength, which its source came from his long hair. Just before his death, he brought down a large sized building with only his two hands. Samson is but one reference to many people like him in the Bible. People with Abilities given by God.

Chakras or Ki Theory: This theory is less known about, but it draws its belief that our abilities manifest themselves through the different Chakra points throughout our body. I believe that that are 6 or 7 different chakras in the body, and that any or all of them are responsible for our Abilities to manifest.

Natural Selection Theory: This theory isn't the most known or popular one out there. But some believe that People with abilities(Metahumans) have these gifts out of sheer dumb luck. Random occurrence that has no explanation nor does it need one. It is simple chance. 

Spiritual Theory: This one can be considered as the "Charisms" theory, but it is not. It gets its belief that there are spiritual forces that have divined to grant certain people with unique gifts. Now because when you say "Spiritual," it can mean a hundred different things to a hundred different people. Some believe that it is the "Force" as made popular with the Star Wars franchise. Others that it is mother nature choosing people, or even angels who give the gifts of abilities. This theory can really be broken up into several theories just by itself.


Here is a Blog post that was written by a person named "IAMAT." It is his theory on the difference between Super Powers and Abilities, as well as his view on Psychic abilities. I haven't edited the text, only omitted the last part for relevance purposes. You can view his post HERE.

The difference between "Super Powers" and "Abilities"


"Super Powers",as portrayed in fiction, do not actually exist. There are some interesting traits a lot of people have that RESEMBLE super powers, but there are some crucial differences.

 

1) Super Powers have on/off switches, while genuine traits don't.

In the Heroes episode "I Am Become Death", the Haitian uses his powers to negate Future Peter's regerative abilities so that Future Claire could kill him. As the Haitian supposedly blocks powers by tapping into people's brains, this makes the scenario with Future Peter absurd, given that the whole "brain controls healing" thing is pseudoscience (as evidenced by starfish, who have no brains yet regenerate whole new starfish from severed limbs). Super Powers can be switched off, whereas a genuine heal factor would keep working regardless of the Haitian's presence.

 

2) Super Powers are superficial traits, genuine abilities are not.

The Haitian's presence wouldn't have been required if not for the fact that Peter has so many powers. For those who don't watch the show, Peter's super power is that he can mimic anybody's power after being near them. Mimicking a healing factor is just as absurd as negating one, for the same reason. Such a trait is firmly encoded into a person's DNA, and is controlled by about 20 different genes. The thought of one's DNA changing to incorporate those 20 genes just by being in the same room as somebody who had them is just as ridiculous as having an X-chromosome turn into a Y-chromosome because you stood too close to a boy.

 

3) Super Powers have a common cause, real abilities don't.

Heroes would have us believe that Telepathy, Super Strength and Regeneration are all caused by the brain and adrenal glands. Anybody with common sense and basic anatomical knowledge will tell you that Telepathy is caused by the brain, Super Strength by the density of muscle tissue and Regeneration all comes down to cell division. Telepathy's got more in common with playing the piano than it does with healing from stab wounds.

 

4) Super Powers are supernatural, genuine abilities are not.

You're probably all protesting now and saying "How dare you", presuming you actually read this after seeing my name at the top of it, but I am being quite serious here. Regeneration, Super Strength, Super Intelligence, all those are genetic traits. They have a scientific explanation and lots of well-documented research. Psychic stuff, on the other hand, has no research because people keep looking for it in the wrong way. They state the conclusion and try to observe the phenomena that support it, rather than observing the phenomena and then drawing a conclusion.

I don't doubt that psychic phenomena are real. I do doubt the reliability of people here, but that's a completely different issue. The difference is that I don't believe psychics to be supernatural. You ever heard of micro-expressions? They're involuntary facial gestures we make that give away our true emotions. Anybody can learn to read them, but only a few have a natural talent for it. Sounds like mind reading, doesn't it? That's because people probably do look for subtle clues like that when reading minds. Cold reading, micro-expressions, guesswork, self-fulfilling prophecy, hallucination, it fits the observations perfectly and accounts for the high levels of inaccuracy. I'm not being derogatory about your powers here, I'm accepting that they work to a certain extent and am offering a reason why.

For telekinesis, however, I'll wait until I see it before hypothesising.

 

5) Only morons believe in Super Powers, while real abilities merely require an open mind and a sensible head on your shoulders.

Blind faith is accepting something without thinking about it. It's also known as being gullible and it's what the RPers play on.

Close-minded is when you cling to your old beliefs religiously (pun intended) despite all evidence to the contrary. Also called being stubborn and is what a lot of firm believers in the supernatural use here.

Open-minded means you're willing to investigate new possibilities, and will change your views if they seem to be wrong. This should be accompanied with scepticism. Scepticism is not a stubborn refusal to believe, it merely means that we require evidence before we believe... which isn't an unfair request, is it?

 
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