User blog comment:CNBA3/Power Users and Real Life./@comment-5060540-20130715232632/@comment-5265497-20130716150259

"I believe the only way to durably insert meta-humans into society would simply be to create a special "caste" for them, offering superior status and priviledges in exchange for using their powers for the good of society, which coincidentally is also their good, as they now have a place of choice in it."

If they contributed to this world largely with their powers, they could revolutionize production and advance us to a level never seen before. Even without a special caste, they would still be the creme de la creme even within this modern society. We have moved beyond religious intolerance (Salem Witchcraft Trials) and most forms of prejudice (sexism, racism, discrimination) for the most part, and superpowered beings are definitely not a force to reckon with or antagonize, and one could go so far to say we actually need them more than they need us. That is the attitude they might take or not (depends on the character), but they would realize they could do more good to achieve whatever motivation they desired (the common mugger most of the time could never find work or attain enough financial security to make ends meet). What is the point of having the whole world fear you if you could have fame, fortune, etc with the casual use of your abilities? Because of this, heroes would likely vastly outnumber the villains, and while there would be a truly puissant forces of evil (nihilist, political ubermensch, omnicidal maniacs, etc) this also being a number game, we would pretty much have a lot of power on humanity's side. And I do agree there would be a lot of collateral damage due to the introduction of powerful villains and even cosmics *shudder* (If the world truly had to face Galactus, we would probably be doomed), but otherwise, looking at the population of potential superheroes as a numbers game, it's safe to say, society would be much farther along. I look at people like Mirror Master, Doc Ock, Poison Ivy, Reed Richards, Doctor Doom, and so many more if they weren't doing it for the evulz, they would have had exceeding renumeration and lines of nobel prizes.