Duping the Genie [#16]

You find yourself in a magical cave, holding an old oil lamp, spilling out of which is a magical Genie. You know the drill: you have three wishes and you cannot request more.

Okay, but those wishes are still pretty open ended. Sure, everyone inherently knows what is being inferred here, how the story is meant to be played out. The Genie is likely expecting some combination of the big three, normally health, wealth and happiness. But if you can ask for something as complex as happiness, then that means each wish can include a plethora of logical operators. That leaves this rules open to abuse.

So there you are, lamp in hand and an idea that, just maybe, you can beat the system. Here's an idea where to start.

Wish 1: Ask for a means to instantaneously record and recall an infinite amount of knowledge, infallibly, all in a handy portable format.

Wish 2: Ask to know every possible wish you could ever want or would ever desire, in the optimum format for success.

Before we get onto Wish 3, use your first two wishes in combination: record all those perfect wishes, all of your hearts desires, everything you've ever thought of or ever could think of into the magic recording device. Then it's time for the final wish!

Wish 3: Ask for the Genie to grant you everything contained within the recording device's memory.

It probably isn't fool-proof logic, the Genie might deny your final wish, but it's a pretty good attempt at bending the seemingly incontrovertible rules to your own will. And ultimately, isn't that far more fun then simply being another Aladdin?

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  • Murray Champernowne.
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