this post was submitted on 22 Dec 2024
104 points (96.4% liked)

Ask Lemmy

27253 readers
2391 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either [email protected] or [email protected]. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email [email protected]. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try [email protected] or [email protected]


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

For those who don't know, a Monkey Paw Wish is when you get your wish granted, but in an unexpected usually negative way.

Example:

  1. I wish human caused global warming would stop.
  2. It does, but because WW3 leads to Nuclear Winter.

The question here though, is what wish would you be willing to take even though it'll get monkey paw'd?

So basically you don't care if the consequences, or would be willing to take the sacrifice for it.

Others can come up with the negative scenarios if they want and the original wisher can decide if it's still worth it

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago (4 children)

I meet a beautiful intelligent woman, we are the perfect match for each other, we fall in love, get married and live happily ever after.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 day ago (2 children)

we fall in love

Missing specifier. You each fall in love with other people.

get married

Missing specifier. You each marry neither your perfect matches nor the other people you each fell in love with.

live happily

Mental illness can provide happiness. This seems almost good, and yet...

ever after

Insufficiently specific. You both die in the same mass road accident, travelling in separate vehicles with your respective spouses, not long after you're each married.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

I'd argue this is more in line with the literal genie trope.

Fun lore. Literal genies come mostly from players and DMs quibbling over the wish spell, but they do have roots in Arabian lore like A Thousand Nights and a Night: Most genies in bottles were trapped by Solomon and are in different states of bondage, so those who you beg for assistance might provide an untoward solution. An ifreet commanded Deliver me from this sandstorm might take you to antarctica.

The monkey paw version is to allow them to fall in love with each other and then, like Eurydice wedding to Orpheus, suffer an unfortunate accident and perish right after the ceremony.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 day ago

Excellent monkey's paw. I thought I was being specific, but apparently not even close. Definitely not worth it.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Ok take two, the wish is actually granted:

Your beautiful wife is incredibly intelligent and is perfect for you... as a result of profound psychopathy. She has chosen you specifically as the next in a chain of husbands with whom she has meticulously crafted idyllic relationships for the purpose of complete psychological and emotional control. Once sufficiently in her intoxicatingly romantic grasp, she convinces you of the simple joys of homicide. You eliminate her previous husband together, then your own family as a gesture of pure devotion. You fall into a pattern of orphanage arson, elderly abuse, and kitten stomping before she ultimately gets you both positions as mid level managers at united healthcare.

You couldn't be happier.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

If this was just some minor crime, sounds great honestly. I definitely draw the line at the murder of innocents though. Not worth it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

Yes, all kitten-stomping and the other stuff, but United Healthcare?

No way. I'm not a monster!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

As you celebrate your 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000th anniversary and witness the heat death of the universe, you realize that all matter and energy has dispersed, is no longer observable, and that you and your beloved will be floating in a void of nothingness forever.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

I kinda don't hate this, if it's an eternal youth / total invincibility sort of thing, and existing in the vacuum of space isn't uncomfortable.

Actually, with future technology it might be possible to modify our brains to make a sort of shared virtual dream world, with an avatar-style neural connection. Not a bad way to spend eternity.

Also even without brain/body modification, we might be able to train ourselves to hibernate and just wait for a big quantum fluctuation. Assuming the universe doesn't have an end, we would eventually meet intelligent life, even humans, again.

I'm honestly undecided. As a mortal human, I don't really know if I want true immortality or not.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

It is all the result of paranoid schizophrenia. She doesn't exist, you estrange your family, and you ultimately die from a slow descent into indigence and squalor because you are unable to escape the prison of your own mind.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

Well, reality is what we perceive, so it might actually be a worthy tradeoff for some people

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Realistic. Doesn't the monkey's paw have to actually grant the wish though?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

I was gonna say it would be to easy if every wish is just a mental problem skewing reality. it should do the thing in reality and fuck you in reality.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

Hmmm... yeah maybe. I'll take another crack in a minute.