this post was submitted on 16 Aug 2026
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No Stupid Questions

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Lets assume that genies grant wishes literally, but will twist your words. How do you wish without unintended consequences? Typical rules of no more wishes, no resurrection, no forced love, no altering the past, can't defy logic, can't break physical laws, can't create paradoxes, and can't affect higher powers (this is one tough genie!).

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[โ€“] CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Ive generally been of the view that instead of wishing for three specific things, one should instead wish for some kind of power that would then enable you to then grant yourself the things that you want (the most obvious thing might be wishing for omnipotence but this probably breaks, well, all of the rules since being able to do anything definitionally is incompatible with limits, but I suspect the limits of what is possible in this direction without breaking the laws of physics are still far beyond what humans are capable of), so as not to need the genie later when the wishes run out.

However, if you know the genie will twist your words, Im not sure that its safe to wish at all, its unlikely that you can come up with something that cant be twisted into something you dont want, language is just too ambiguous for that and the implication is that you're dealing with something that is both incredibly more capable than you and actively malicious, doing your best to avoid its attention is probably the safest bet.

That being said, if you must wish, I figure the way Id try to do it, if boring, is to say the outcome you want, without an "I wish" but with some clear marker on when your description starts and stops, like some gesture or nonsense word, and then something like "I wish that the statement that I previously made in between the two [whatever your marker was] is now true in the way that I, the person making this wish, presently desire and in no alternate way." It probably wont work because again, language is nearly infinitely ambiguous and the genie is much more powerful than you, but at least youre trying to avoid unintended interpretations.

Alternately, back when I still used reddit, I did once try the "monkey's paw" subreddit with "I wish to be satisfied with whatever the result of this wish is." and dont remember any of the answers I got actually twisting it much. Maybe something like that at least robs the genie of some of their fun.

[โ€“] WizardGed@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 days ago

See This is the kind of wish the genie respects! someone who realizes they've really run into effectively a lovecraftian God and actually suggests they wouldn't take the genie up on the wishes! I feel like the genie might do something minor for you like making sure you never stub your toe again or ensures you never rip your pants.

I think the proper answer to the whole make the genie do what I mean/understand me from the genie's perspective is to drive you insane by trying to give you genie like intelligence with our limited minds.

As to "I wish to be satisfied with whatever the result of this wish is", id imagine making you a very short lived being with abundance of every kind and only enough mental capacity to enjoy that would work.

Well done, I can tell you thought about this one!