I.
Imagine a genie appears before you and makes you a simple offer: you can ask him any question you want, and he'll answer it. No tricks - genie society has seen sweeping reforms and made great moral progress, and the days of the malicious trickster genies have been left long behind. No, this genie is entirely benevolent: if your question turns out to have been ill-formed, he'll explain exactly why it was ill-formed, and then answer the question you intended to ask. No matter what question you pose to him, you'll find yourself completely satisfied with the answer he gives.
However, genies being genies, he still feels the need to follow ancient tradition... (read 3548 more words →)