Maurog's wish:
"
I wish all humans had four arms, with six fingers on each hand, the extra finger being another opposable thumb (with four regular fingers between the two thumbs)."
Not sure I get the point. Really.
Poof. It is done. All humans have 4 arms. In fact, all vertebrates are hexapodial instead of quadrapodial - it's always been that way.
Everything else is the same, because no one ever knew any different. All humans still have the same relative capabilities and social positions, there's still debates over whether we were created that way or evolved from the 4-handed hominids, etc. There's minor changes of phrasing (no more "
one hand, the other hand..."
) and some sports have different rules (but the new-ruled sports exactly fill the social positions of the old ones)... losing an arm is still considered crippling because everything's adapted for 4-armed people... it's considered the stuff of weird science fiction to conceive of 2-armed people... all the Star Trek aliens have 4 arms and funny foreheads... et cetera et cetera. I'd call this a neutral outcome except for one thing.
You, the wisher, remember your life before the wish because otherwise you wouldn't know you made the wish. So now you're looked at funny if you act like it's "
cool"
or "
funny"
to have 4 arms (why is it cool or funny to be normal?), you are awkward when operating things because you have to remember to use your other arms, or figure out how to apply them in ways that came naturally to everyone else since they were babies... you usually seem kinda slow and awkward, like you're having troubles operating your body, but no one knows or understands why.
I'm not sure what you were expecting, really.
---
current queue: 5 of 5 spots used.
1) Chaco, 1 at a time mode. 2 wishes and 42 words and 2 conjunctions used. Situation mildly bad (nosebleed), in interactive mode to study the consequences of the latest wish.
2) UrAvgAzn, 1 at a time mode. 2 wishes and 22 words and 0 conjunctions used. Situation painful.
3) eytanz, 1 at a time mode. 2 wishes and 46 words and 1 conjunction used. Situation depressed.
4) Jason, 1 at a time mode. 2 wishes and 65 words and 4 conjunctions used. Situation remains neutral, with a potentially mildly bad undercurrent.
5) Maurog, 1 at a time mode. 1 wish and 28 words and 0 conjunctions used. Situation awkward.
---
I'm reminded of another piece of "
wish literature"
that people should be familiar with: "
The Lathe of Heaven"
by Ursula K. LeGuin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lathe_of_Heaven
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[Last edited by silver at 09-13-2006 02:04 PM]
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