Wish strategy

1. If you ever find a genie in a bottle or some other wish-granting mechanism, here's how you do the most good:

I wish that every decision ever made from now on will be optimal on as broad a level as possible.

If you get more than one wish, make the your subsequent wishes under the influence of that first wish.

2. Conversely, if you're wholly selfish, your first wish should be:

I wish that every decision ever made from now on will be optimal for me.

3. If you want to do good and are also a bit selfish and have more than one wish, your first wish should be:

I wish that nothing will ever get worse for me or anyone I care about.

Then wish for broadly-optimal decisions under the influence of the first wish (if it still comes out that way), and the third wish under the influence of broadly-optimal decisions.


4. Conventional wisdom is that you can't use wishes to make anyone fall in love with you, and, really, we want to be loved for who we are, not because the object of our affections has been brainwashed.

I previously theorized that a getting-to-know-you spell would be a good alternative to a love potion, and I think you could also do the same thing with wishes.

If you're brave, your wish could be:

I wish that [object of my affection] will know everything about me.

If you're more cautious, your wish could be:

I wish that [object of my affection] will know everything about me that they perceive to be positive.

That way, they still fall in love with you (or not) on your own merits, they just fast-forward to knowing what those merits are.