Emotional Intimacy Question: Wishing

[ysabetwordsmith]

Folks have mentioned an interest in questions and conversations that make them think. So I've decided to offer more of those. This is the current list.

19. If a genie granted you three wishes right now, what would you wish for?

1. I wish you free.

Comments

[siliconshaman]

I think that might be my second wish. First one would be for a way to have my wishes granted, independent of any Genie or so on. Or at least, the power to actually work at making them come true myself. Although I'd tell the genie what I planned to do first. So he/she/it wouldn't be tempted to screw around with it. [pretty sure the whole trope of 'careful what you wish for' is a subtle way of saying the genie is screwing with you out of revenge.]

[jtthomas]

Ooh — what about a genie who was perfectly happy, thank you very much, and managed to find a way to retie themself to the object whenever freed? “It’s a home, comes with a good job. And I get to help all the people.”

My wishes would be having a stable house somewhere in not-Massachusetts, having pets, and having better instrument-playing skills.

[rafiwinters]

1. Financial solvency.

2. World peace.

3. The gluten-intolerance to GO AWAY.

[flamingsword]

1. I wish you to bring me every trapped genie.
2. I wish for you to have your own kingdom somewhere humans have fucked up too bad to inhabit.
3. I wish you all free.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> 2. I wish for you to have your own kingdom somewhere humans have fucked up too bad to inhabit. <<

0_o

Djinn are spirits of air and fire.

They thrive in deserts.

Climate change is driving desertification.

So it's kind of like djinniforming instead of terraforming.

One of the most common wishes is for absurd amounts of wealth.

Demanding wishes of enslaved djinn ends badly.

Suppose that people have been wishing for wealth, and the djinn have been saying, "Yes, Master. Drill right here ... and here ... and here ..."

Knowing all the while that removing fossil fuels from the ground will make a world better for djinn to inhabit, and worse for humans to inhabit.

Re: Thoughts

[flamingsword]

I think nobody really wants the Sahara, but what if djinn don't either? What if they want to go live somewhere cold so they can cool their hot blood? The Andes has some really nice, high altitude desert. And the rains there due to climate shift has killed off even the *soil bacteria* that had been surviving there.

Nobody is gonna fight them for it. They could have a homeland, and humans can expand the djinns' borders as we fuck up our planet. It might even cause us to give enough of a crap to fix this mess.

[technoshaman]

I have a cop-out approach to this, and an odd idea about it as well:

First wish is the wisdom to make the other two well spent.

Second idea is that the first two are (1) an inordinately large sum of money, and (2) to make it no longer cool to hoard same, but cool to use it to improve as many lives as possible. The third would somehow involve karma on various people large and small that have committed grave injustices that are difficult for mere filthy lucre to solve.

[wispfox]

I initially interpreted this as you wishing everyone reading this to be free. I was a little confused. :)

[fayanora]

What if the genie is Jafar?

[flamingsword]

I think he's done his time.

[fayanora]

Yes but he'd still have his powers, and he'd still be dangerous. In fact the Return of Jafar was all about him trying to get wished free so he could use his powers to rule the world.

[flamingsword]

Was Return of Jafar before or after the invention of the car?

Because I haven't seen it, but I think human timelines run to having done at least two back to back life sentences.

Shallowness alert.

[pronker]

That the old saying applies to myself:

1. Live Fast
2. Die Young
3. Leave a good-looking corpse.

[mama_kestrel]

First tell Djinn that final wish is freedom not only for it, but for all its kind that desire it.

First wish: Lasting good health for a long list of people, with the option to add to it when indicated.

Second wish: Enough money to help others when I see the need. That might be as small as a car repair, or as large as a reforestation project.

Third wish: Freedom for all those djinn who want it, from that time forward.

[alatefeline]

💜

[terrycloth]

Congratulations, you just destroyed the world?

Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Back in college, I read "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas." The teacher asked us whether we would stay or walk away.

I said I'd break out the poor scapegoat, pour a trail of accelerant to the city gate, and throw a match behind me as I left. Because a society that depends on slavery does not deserve to exist.

I still feel that way. I may not be able to remove slavery from the world altogether, but if a slave is within my power to free, then I will do it. If that destroys the world, so be it. I'll move to one that isn't founded on something heinous.

Re: Well ...

[terrycloth]

Omelas at least was founded on the trapped child being tortured; genies are more 'we trapped these insane murderers in bottles to keep them from destroying everything, and I guess you can try to use their powers but it's a terrible idea'.

There are very few genie stories where actually making wishes is a good idea.

Re: Well ...

[zeeth_kyrah]

I've been helped to the realization that the slave of Omelas was probably an AI.