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The Invisible Man (Monsterbus p.37)

Actions have consequences. I like that about Kirby's work. He thinks like an engineer. Yes, we could have this cool thing, but the cost of doing it is too high. For example, you could live with half the sleep that you do, and think of all that extra time you'd have! But you'd feel terrible and die young.

Likewise, you could take performance enhancing drugs for all your life. But those drugs work precisely because they mimic existing body chemicals.  If the body could simply produce more of those chemicals for better results without some nasty cost, competitive evolutionary pressures mean it would already be doing so.

In most fantasy or science fiction stories we have great powers and no real cost. But Kirby knows that reality doesn't work that way.

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