The Paradox of the Bottle Imp(boingboing.net)

2 pointsby poetically5 years ago2 comments

https://boingboing.net/2019/02/07/the-paradox-of-the-bottle-imp.html

2 comments

The reasoning behind why nobody would (rationally) but the bottle is similar to the "Pop Quiz" or "Surprise Hanging" paradox, except the latter paradox is much harder to resolve.

I also recall reading a somewhat cheesy short story in the 1970s wherein the current holder of the bottle imp is sought out by a very doomed man, a man who has committed a heinous crime, and seeks out similar supernatural things to take upon himself. The very doomed man has found an utterly worthless coin of some laughably inefficient micro-nation, and purchases the bottle imp. I believe there's a scene where the very doomed man is washing his hands in blood.

poetically5 years ago

I think that's the ending of the story. Some drunkard buys it because he has decided to drink himself to death anyway.