LAST EDITED ON 03-27-14 AT 09:53 AM (EST)Invisibility can also be psychological. You move to a new place, walk down the street, and no one sees you. Apparently songwriters experience this a lot.
But to the point of the trope. As a real ability, the old questions (and this isn't a new discussion, I ponder on this a good portion of every day, don't you?) of what is invisible with you blink off are still there.
Your clothes? Do you have to disrobe to become really invisible? Do you also become insensitive to ambient temperature? And do you no longer need foot protection? Can you walk in hot sand or down an asphalt street in the summer? And are you innoculated against sun burn? Would blistered skin also be invisible?
Or would your clothes turn invisible too? If so, how far does that ability extend? When you blink off, is what you have in your hands also invisible? Is luggage allowed on trips of invisibility? Do you have to pay a premium for the second bag?
If the clothes and things in contact with you when you go invisible also become invisible, do you have to leap into the air when you go to avoid turning the earth invisible? And what about that air? OK, it's basically invisible anyway. Nevermind about that.
The last meal you ate? Would there be a mangled waffle floating around in coffee and orange juice, or is this part of the no-seeum stuff? Which begs the questions “Can you eat while invisible? And what happens to the food you eat while invisible”. Does the bib you wear to avoid salsa on your shirt also become invisible? Do the stains? Does the steak go invisible when you cut it, or when you put it in your mouth, or when it is digested and becomes part of your body? And what about the fraction that doesn't incorporate? It would go toward answering the question “Do turds float in air too?”
Which brings up a subset of questions in regard to toilet activities. For a guy it would be disconcerting to be relieving oneself and notice a stream into the next urinal appearing out of thin air. An extra heavy stream would be doubly disconcerting, not to mention a really serpentine waggle when he's done.
And the body. Since up to 80% of the cells in the human body are symbiotic but independent life forms (bacteria and such), would they also have the power of invisibility? Do they each also have an off-on switch, or is there a vote taken? This could be a complication.
What about the frustrations an exhibitionist would suffer? I mean, he finally gets his wish to be able to flash in public with no legal consequences whatsoever. Except that he would be invisible. What could irritate an exhibitionist more that to have his junk invisible? This problem could be solved (I suppose) if he had the power of selective invisibility, and could make visible selected body parts.
It's a Topper of a problem.