Survey Question #2: Big Blue Robin Williams In A Jar
If a kind genie were to grant you three wishes, what would you wish for?
The glib answer would be: 1) Wish for the wisdom to make all later wishes in just the right way, so that I'd get exactly what I want, with no unintended consequences. Kind or not, a genie's a genie; ya can't trust 'em. 2) Wish for the power to grant my own wishes, without all the drawbacks of being an actual genie. 3) Wish for the genie's freedom, cuz I'm a nice guy and all. But provided he promises not to mess with me afterwards.
And after that... who knows? Maybe with that newfound wisdom, I'd decide not to change anything. Maybe I'd change everything, take over as the Almighty and start from scratch. Whee!
But forget the glib answer. If I really only had three wishes, and I couldn't get any help deciding what they're gonna be, then I'd wish:
1) To have complete and unfettered access to my entire being, physical, mental, and spiritual. I'd want to remember anything I may have known in a previous existence, but forgotten. I'd want all my powers unlocked, my awareness expanded to encompass my entire personal Universe. I'd want to know exactly who and what I am, and what my purpose here is.
2) To know God, and His/Her/Its Plan for the Universe. Or to have equally certain knowledge that there is no God, and the Universe is simply what we make it.
3) For life in the Universe, and especially Mankind (because I am rather biased towards Homo sapiens), to reach its full potential, and fulfill that Plan. If we're all alone in this blob of space-time, I would pick my own: That all kinds of life would learn how best to survive together, thrive, and achieve great things, with a minimum of pain and a maximum of joy.
Of course, a desire to fulfill God's Plan depends on God turning out to be a nice guy. If God turns out to be a complete asshole, I'd wish instead that we give Him as much of a Godawful headache as possible.
All right... That was still rather flippant. Sorry. This is a hard question to answer seriously. It's a lot more open-ended than the last one.
I'm not sure I'm up to tackling the problems of the Universe. Might be better to stick to a more modest goal, like "peace on Earth". I'd like to try wishing that any time one person causes another pain, the pain causer would feel the pain just as keenly and immediately as the pain receiver. That would go for emotional pain as well as physical. Sometimes I think that's the only way people could be convinced to be nice to each other consistently.
The glib answer would be: 1) Wish for the wisdom to make all later wishes in just the right way, so that I'd get exactly what I want, with no unintended consequences. Kind or not, a genie's a genie; ya can't trust 'em. 2) Wish for the power to grant my own wishes, without all the drawbacks of being an actual genie. 3) Wish for the genie's freedom, cuz I'm a nice guy and all. But provided he promises not to mess with me afterwards.
And after that... who knows? Maybe with that newfound wisdom, I'd decide not to change anything. Maybe I'd change everything, take over as the Almighty and start from scratch. Whee!
But forget the glib answer. If I really only had three wishes, and I couldn't get any help deciding what they're gonna be, then I'd wish:
1) To have complete and unfettered access to my entire being, physical, mental, and spiritual. I'd want to remember anything I may have known in a previous existence, but forgotten. I'd want all my powers unlocked, my awareness expanded to encompass my entire personal Universe. I'd want to know exactly who and what I am, and what my purpose here is.
2) To know God, and His/Her/Its Plan for the Universe. Or to have equally certain knowledge that there is no God, and the Universe is simply what we make it.
3) For life in the Universe, and especially Mankind (because I am rather biased towards Homo sapiens), to reach its full potential, and fulfill that Plan. If we're all alone in this blob of space-time, I would pick my own: That all kinds of life would learn how best to survive together, thrive, and achieve great things, with a minimum of pain and a maximum of joy.
Of course, a desire to fulfill God's Plan depends on God turning out to be a nice guy. If God turns out to be a complete asshole, I'd wish instead that we give Him as much of a Godawful headache as possible.
All right... That was still rather flippant. Sorry. This is a hard question to answer seriously. It's a lot more open-ended than the last one.
I'm not sure I'm up to tackling the problems of the Universe. Might be better to stick to a more modest goal, like "peace on Earth". I'd like to try wishing that any time one person causes another pain, the pain causer would feel the pain just as keenly and immediately as the pain receiver. That would go for emotional pain as well as physical. Sometimes I think that's the only way people could be convinced to be nice to each other consistently.