donaldhobson

donaldhobson t1_j5rpnjz wrote

You say nothing. You had considered other possibilities. You had considered " I wish for everything I would wish for if I had unlimited wishes time and wisdom". You had considered "I wish for the best possible thing to happen". But overall, you decided that wishing for unlimited wishes was the safest, most controlled way to bootstrap yourself to the sort of world you want. You hold your carefully chosen list of wishes and wait, ignoring the genie. Then, flipping to page 83, you read off the next wish.

"I wish that you don't attempt to manipulate me, impart false beliefs into my mind or psychologically attack me"

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donaldhobson t1_j5rfwpc wrote

A slip of paper telling you the answer totally fails to materialize. Clearly you will enjoy figuring it out more than being told the answer. But that can wait for later. You step out onto the peak of Olympus Mons, ignoring the laws of physics that keep different places different.

"Granted" replies the genie, with a swirl of light. On a deep metaphysical level, reality twists. The laws of ethics become as hard to break as the laws of physics were. The laws of physics become as easy to break as the laws of ethics were.

"Really, that worked" you mumble. "Has no one in the world got the least bit of imagination? You just have to phrase your wish to do what you want, while also squeezing in some random password. Actually how come no one asked for anything that world changing before? Am I the only person with any imagination? "

A slip of paper telling you the answer totally fails to materialize. Clearly you will enjoy figuring it out more than being told the answer. But that can wait for later. You step out onto the peak of Olympus Mons, ignoring the laws of physics that keep different places different. With a whim, ski's appear around your feet. Untroubled by temperature or atmospheric composition, you begin to ski.

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donaldhobson t1_iwo2kr4 wrote

I sneak along the corridor. No one is around. I slip into the room and open that mystery forbidden book.

I see a date, 1962. A scribbled authors name, Feynman perhaps. Technical drawings and calculations cover the paper. An object, perhaps the size of a large suitcase. Some common electronic components. A few mechanical parts. And in the middle, a pair of spheres labeled "Thorium". And an estimated blast of several mega-tonnes.

You realize what this is. A nuke. And one of such elegant simple design that any reasonably skilled and equipped person could make it. Gone is the need for centrifuges, to mine many tonnes of uranium to get enough U 235. Gone are the high precision timing sequences, even the need for chemical explosives. Half the parts here are from a repurposed alarm clock.

Slowly you close the book and walk away, understanding why some knowledge should be hidden.

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