What if you had three wishes?

[Kajhera]

My god, what a bunch of megalomaniacs. I wish for nothing more than health, and these guys wish for total and utter domination of everything in sight (and out of it) + immortality and omnipotence. I'm glad there's no such thing as a genie who fulfills wishes.

For me at least, if I made three unrestricted wishes, and knew there was a set of three wishes I could have made that would do infinitely more good in the end, I don't think I could live with myself.

I may be overthinking this.

[Dienekes]

Most of the commonly proposed wishes are either way to tame (Money, really? unlimited cosmic power at your disposal and you want to win the lottery?) or to ambitious (being omnipotent all the time sounds like it would take all the joy out of life) for my taste. So there is an obvious balance to be struck here.

Ehh, I'm a pretty simple guy. I don't want to rule anything, I don't like the concept of manipulating other peoples personalities and emotions on a fundamental level. However, never having to worry about money again seems fantastic, and allows me to go and do all the random insane things I've wanted to, and with my first wish I can actually survive them.

Also, turning into a bird and flying, that's just awesome.

[Jon_Dahl]

I wouldn't wish for money because I don't know how the Revenue Service would react to such windfall.

[snoopy13a]

You know, I'd be a little wary of a monkey paw's scenario. So perhaps I would stay away from the wishing.

[Mutant Sheep]

I've had a couple of occasions to think about my three wishes over my time on this planet, and in the past three years a strong pattern emerged.

So, of the roughly dozen times I've thought about this for more than ten seconds in my living memory, this is what me and my past selves tend to think of.

1. The combined powers of Superman, Martian Manhunter, and throw in Wolverine too, without the weaknesses and reliance on recharging my powers.

(Superman for idiotically powerful body, immunity to earthly diseases, longevity and always looking young, superspeed, flight, super-intelligence or whatever he has, and the uncanny ability to always be comically buff without doing anything for it, because I'm vain like that. Martian Manhunter/ DC martians for telekinesis, telepathy, shapeshifting, backup super strength, backup flight, backup immunity and assorted powers. Wolverine for the healing factor, long life of semi-youthfulness, facial hair.
^If three heroes is cheating, go for Superman without weaknesses. The other guys are just off the top of my head backups for his powers. Also, shapeshifting is awesome. Or if superman is too much or vague, go for young superman "tall buildings in a single bound" non-flying variety. Or other kind of superhero with general invulnerability, super strength, and ability to move faster than a normal running human. Point is, i want superpowers, and good ones. And not green rocks or flames are going to kill me.

2. The unlimited ability to time travel, keeping all my powers intact (a brief power drain right after doing it would be acceptable, though). Preferably with alot of control over this power, and it needed a few seconds to do, and I cannot be expectionally angry/emotional when I do it. Travel to anywhere on the universe at any point in time, very accurate, needs me to wait a sufficiently long time (Say, a week to a few months) to do after I've done it.
Edit: This includes a working, unlimited use of a reset button.

3. This one, if it didn't go first as an anti-evil-genie-twisting-wishes-wish or a form of world-aiding charity, goes towards the ability to make sure I die. If genie is nice, it goes towards some well worded phrasing towards increasing human goodness and universal kindness.

Time travel means fun/enjoyment is only a few philosophic discussions away, or a few obnoxious power-flaunting things, or using superpowers to benefit mankind. And that when I die, the world won't be in a decaying chunk of overheating rock. (Hopefully.)

[Flickerdart]

1: Wish for infinite genies.

[Yanagi]

1. A complete understanding of the metaphysics or whatever mystical processes that define a cosmos where wishes can be granted.

2. The ability to create, destroy, and freely redistribute matter.

3. Sufficient scientific knowledge to use (2) to correct existing ecosystemic problems on Earth, and theoretically construct Earth-like planets.

[ghost_warlock]

Thought about it for a while and realized that all of my wishes would just be incredibly self-serving. I'm not in a "good place" right now so I think I'll refrain from spelling them out.

[Ajadea]

Hmmm. I'm going to assume a not actively malicious genie and wishing for more wishes/more genies/etc. is off the table. No infinite wishes.

So then my wishes would be (as inspired by other Playgrounders in this thread)

1) For humanity to create a safe and efficient FTL drive or long-distance teleportation device by 2025 without creating any temporal paradoxes or otherwise having any negative effects on the stability and well-being of the universe.
2) At the moment of the death of this or any other future bodies I may inhabit as outlined in this wish, my conscience, including all my memories and my full intelligence, will be transferred into a healthy embryo without any genetic disorders of the species and gender I desire at the location I desire that will be born, hatched, or germinate within the next five years as specified in the time units of 2013 Earth, but that if I choose to die permanently, I die as a normal human would.
3) That I can recall at will any or all of the knowledge, memories, and skills of all my past lives with perfect accuracy, and suppress that knowledge at all other times such that I have only the information I would know from my current life, with the exception of the knowledge of the three wishes I have made today which I will always retain with perfect accuracy.


If I have those wishes, I want to use them to explore the universe. As said universe is very, very, large, this will almost certainly take longer than a human lifetime. But the universe almost certainly won't last forever, and so I need an out at the end. Or when I really have seen it all.

Also, I'm not going to limit any future reincarnations to humanity - specifying birth, hatching, and germination allows me to in effect be reincarnated as any multicellular organism, which seems like a reasonable limitation. Being a fish might be interesting, and I won't rule out being a plant on the basis that life is long and it could be cool, but I have no desire to be a bacterium, and strongly doubt that will change at any point.

[Swordprince]

It's a thread about making wishes, what did you expect was going to happen? Of course people are going to wish for the craziest things they can think of, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, and I certainly wouldn't accuse people of being megalomaniacs. Perhaps you should take a step back, take a deep breath, and realize this is a thread for fun.

I was kind of joking there guys, relax :P I've read the thread, I know it's for fun.

Oh and Jay R - good wish! xD

[Starwulf]

I was kind of joking there guys, relax :P I've read the thread, I know it's for fun.

Oh and Jay R - good wish! xD

Ahh, I apologize then ^^ I suffer from the inability to recognize sarcasm and subtle jokes on the internet, lol.

[Felandria]

1. Be my Avatar.

2. For everyone I know to have long, happy and successful lives.

3. Disappear into the Nexus.

[Swordprince]

Ahh, I apologize then ^^ I suffer from the inability to recognize sarcasm and subtle jokes on the internet, lol.

Nah, it's ok. It's always hard to tell on the internet :)

[Jay R]

Superman for ... the uncanny ability to always be comically buff without doing anything for it,...

"Without doing anything for it"? He lifts mountains, fights giant robots, digs tunnels through the earth, catches jet planes, etc. He has a far more physically active life than mere Olympic athletes.

Ahh, I apologize then ^^ I suffer from the inability to recognize sarcasm and subtle jokes on the internet, lol.

That's because the internet takes away the two most important clues for detecting sarcasm - tone of voice, and the presumption that the other person is sane.

[Bulldog Psion]

1. Immortality with an Off Switch only I can press. (And it's deliberately very difficult to press even for me.)

2. Magic - I want magic to exist and for myself to be capable of learning it. I don't need instant mastery (I have all the time in the world to learn after all); but I do intend to achieve phenomenal cosmic power.

3. I'm saving this one for an emergency in case I manage to royally screw up the world messing around with my first two wishes. Having a reset button is handy.

Put simply, I don't think you can achieve something like World Peace instantaneously without some horrific side effect... but I do think it can grow organically over time; and having an immortal sorcerer behind the scenes nudging things in the right direction would help. And should something horrible happen I can always go superhero if need be.

Heck, if it really comes down to it I can don some golden power armor and lead a crusade to the stars, becoming the Squirrel-Emperor of Mankind >_>/

At the risk of having no originality, I think your choices are pretty close to what mine would be.

[Proud Tortoise]

I only need one wish.

I wish that any wish I make preceded by the phrase "By the great gods Zeus and Odin I do wish..." would come true.

(The key phrase makes it somewhat difficult to make wishes accidentally.)

I like this one too:

3. Disappear into the Nexus.

[Bulldog Psion]

I only need one wish.

I wish that any wish I make preceded by the phrase "By the great gods Zeus and Odin I do wish..." would come true.

Isn't there some ghastly doom that befalls those who wish for additional wishes?

[ben-zayb]

Isn't there some ghastly doom that befalls those who wish for additional wishes?

Not if your first wish is the revocation of such rules. Or heck, wish for the ability to completely revise wishing rules at your whim.

[Frozen_Feet]

1. Ten years outside of normal space-time continuum during which I do not age, to live a life of adventure and wonderment in some exotic locale, while learning karate, kobudo & judo with a competent sensei, ending with my return to my original place in space and time with my newly acquired skills and physique intact.

2. Enough extra money to buy a new car, a violin and lessons to play said violin.

3. That when I die, I be allowed to go back and eradicate every source of suffering, in all universes past and future, with my own bare hands.

[Proud Tortoise]

What about this? Is that allowed?

[mowerplus]

#1 wish: to become perfectly healthy or have a long life.
#2 wish: to be able to build a large animal shelter, provide food and medicines for maltreated/abused and stray animals.
#3 wish: to become rich so I can help others financially.

[ShadowFireLance]

Three more genies.

In more honesty;

1: Total immunity to harm, like Superman, but without the weakness.
2: The ability to Teleport, and become invisible after said teleportation.
3: To become Immortal, and remain youthful, but when I want, I can die.

[Greatmoustache]

1. going back to a specific date that i was so happy (keeping my memories ofcourse) trying to change the things i screwed up. (and maybe making some serious cash, biff tannen style! )
2. seeing things get screwed up anyways, undoing the first wish.
3. if it's forbidden to wish for infinite wishes, something about the current government in turkey. bla bla real world politics are forbiden yeah k bie.

[Lord Raziere]

1. I wish for the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage for the things I can and the wisdom to tell the difference.
2. To live forever.
3. ultimate power over reality.

[Ravens_cry]

Perfect Immortality,
Perfect Shapeshifting,
Independent wealth sufficient that spending 25 million on a trip to the ISS wouldn't break the bank.

[Razanir]

Wishes I wouldn't make:
*Anything involving immortality.
*Anything involving other people's free will. (Including wishing for world peace)
*Oddly enough, money. I don't actually spend that much, being in college, and I'd prefer to earn what I spend.

So wishes I would make, then. Well the fun ones.

1) To be a polyglot. Languages I'm interested in learning at some point: French, German, Latin, Greek, Quenya, Sindarin.

2) Shapeshifting powers.

3) The ability to gain basic knowledge of my new forms, while still retaining my personality. So pretty much the ability to blend in.

[PallElendro]

1. Faster-than-light learning trait. I want to be able to master anything I can practise.
2. Peak health. Not quite immortality, but I want to be at my best all times of the day.
3. For this thread to not be closed.

[Mauve Shirt]

1. 2 extra wishes
2. Being quick to perfect a skill, and better recall of skills I've already perfected.
3. A brain that is not so quick to worry and to dwell on past mistakes.
4. Enough money to get myself and my sister out of debt, and to buy some nice property.
5. An end to thread necromancy.

[Jay R]

1. I wish for the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage for the things I can and the wisdom to tell the difference.

I wish for the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can change, and the weaponry to make the difference.

Better yet,

I wish for the Serenity...

Just that. Once I have a spaceship, I think I can handle the rest myself.

[Domino Quartz]

1. To fix everything wrong with my body.
2. To gain the intelligence and motivation necessary to fix what's wrong with my life at the moment.
3. To know every Germanic language that has ever existed.