this post was submitted on 16 Aug 2026
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No Stupid Questions

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You Have found a genie that grants 3 wishes! What are your wishes, how do you avoid loopholes or "the monkeys paw"? (lemmy.ca)
submitted 2 days ago by WizardGed@lemmy.ca to c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.ca
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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€“] CanadianCorhen@lemmy.ca 3 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

i've given (too much) thought into the wishes:

  1. I wish all public officials, both elected, appointed, or otherwise, work to maximize the well-being of the people they represent, and the world as a whole.

  2. I wish to invent practical, sustainable, achievable FTL propulsion, and live to share the knowledge to parties who can and will implement it.

  3. If there is no positive life after death, I wish there was, retroactively, and it was roughly inline with the form of the Good Place at the series end.

WIshes arn't perfectly bulletproof, but are robust enough i think it would be hard to twist.

[โ€“] WizardGed@lemmy.ca 2 points 10 hours ago (1 children)
  1. a state of pure anarchy comes about due to the inability to the inability to maximize the well being of the people they represent to any extent as no method of measurement is defined and as one manages to maximize one metric it minimizes others making public officials disappear!
  2. you discover FTL propulsion as you fall into a black hole and share it with others on the same ship. unfortunately even if you find a way to escape it eons have passed and either everyone already is aware of FTL travel, or they have disappeared with the heat death of the universe.
  3. unfortunately this affects higher powers!
[โ€“] laranis@lemmy.zip 2 points 9 hours ago

I love a good monkey's paw thread.