Ahau Kin : I hope I’m not misconstruing you by understanding that, by saying “This is about as useful a thought experiment as what I would wish for if I happened to find a Djinn bottle,” you actually are implying that this “thought experiment” is quite good.
I hope that is what you mean.
First : Could you explain what a “Djinn bottle” is? I’m thinking this is the magic bottle which, when one rubs it, a genie appears and grants you your wish. Most people in the United States might associate that with the old TV show called “I Dream of Genie.” Or some people might actually have read fairy tales or had them read to them about such bottles and genies. Or there’s Aladdin and his magic lamp. That sort of thing.
But is there a sense in which the “Djinn bottle” and the genie idea is in fact a serious type of “thought experiment” – of a nature and of a culture of which I’m not aware. I’m thinking that may be the case. So, I’m interested: Could you explain this? Thank you.
And yes, nice to consider what you’d LIKE to do, whatever you mean by that. I gather you’re implying that whatever you’d LIKE to do is somehow selfish and intrudes on others’ abilities to do what THEY’D LIKE to do – something like robbing a bank, which would actually deprive the bank’s customers of their hard-earned (hopefully hard-earned…) money in order that you might have it to spend on your own selfish needs or pleasures or wants.
You say that there’s nothing you “might LIKE to do, or contemplate doing” that “appeals to your nobler nature.” That’s too bad. You have a theoretical opportunity here, you know, you might not get such an opportunity again. And you can’t think of even ONE thing that you might LIKE to do – that is illegal and for which you’d receive no blame and no credit – that would appeal to your nobler nature? Hmmm. Just how “noble” are we talking here? And, my goodness, all you can think of are “base imaginings” – yeah, it won’t happen, this thing that you could do that’s illegal and which you could get away with totally and absolutely, but wouldn’t it be nice to just IMAGINE what such a thing would be?
And why indulge? Maybe indulge because in thinking through what you’d do – that is illegal and for which you’d receive no blame and no credit – you might discover a few things, or even just one thing, that you could do that maybe wouldn’t be illegal but which would appeal to your nobler nature – and maybe you’d never thought of it before – but for which you’d never ever ever get any credit whatsoever – and you MIGHT actually do that thing. THEN you might think of that ILLEGAL thing that you could do that just might possibly do EVEN GREATER good than that.
Is that not worth just a little further consideration?
