Bottle Imp Paradox

Devans99

You are offered to buy a bottled genie who will fulfil your every desire. The catch is the bottle must be resold for less than you paid else you will goto hell.

No-one will buy the bottle for 1¢ because they would then goto hell.
No-one will buy the bottle for 2¢ because they would not be able to resell it.
No-one will buy the bottle for 3¢ because no-one would buy it for 2¢
And so on with induction, the no-one would purchase the bottle at any price.
But if the bottle was for sale for $5000, surely someone would buy it?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bottle_Imp#Bottle_Imp_paradox

What happens I think as the price of the bottle goes up, it attractiveness as a purchase gradually (imperceptibly) increases:

- At 5¢ it is very unlikely that anyone would buy it
- At 50¢ it is merely unlikely that anyone would buy it
- At $5 maybe someone would buy it
- At $5000, almost certain to find someone who would by it

So our perception of the risk of the purchase changes gradually as the risk becomes a more distance prospect?

ZhouBoTong

Sorry to be the ass in these hypotheticals that just tries to solve them using loopholes, but...

Why is money the only medium of exchange for the "sale"? As soon as we don't use money, then it is easy for everyone to sell at a lower value because we all place different values on different items or actions. So I could buy it for a penny and then sell it for a high five. The next person could ALSO sell it for a high-five, but say they do not value high-fives as much as I do.

The other loopholes would be related "fulfill your every desire". Notice most genie games have rules like "no wishing for more wishes". In this case, I could just wish that hell does not exist, or something along those lines.

Terrapin Station

An obvious problem with this one is that plenty of people would buy it for one cent.

One would have to be unfamiliar with "sell your soul to the devil" literature, and the desire of many people to actually do so if only it were possible, to think otherwise.

Devans99

↪Terrapin Station

Not a rational transaction though obviously. Long term in hell > Short term in the genie's care. A quick poll in my immediate environment indicates that people don't want to sell their soul to the devil. You know people dumb enough to buy it for 1¢? Maybe people in desperate short-term situations?

↪ZhouBoTong

I guess if the genie will "fulfill your every desire", your desire to sell the bottle could be for-filled... I am not sure I tightly worded the paradox enough...

sime

What if a buyer of the bottle believed 100% in the curse, but had a 'non-standard' understanding of "eternity", whereby eternal hell was understood to eventually end?

Devans99

↪sime

I guess it would come down to how long hell was, versus his life expectancy and how painful hell is versus the genie enhanced life style. I hell was not so bad or did not last so long, then buying the genie at a low price might make sense.

Terrapin Station

Not a rational transaction though obviously. — Devans99

It doesn't have anything to do with rationality, really. It's simply a matter of what individuals relatively value, what their preferences are. That doesn't imply that someone might not make a different decision under different circumstances or at a different time, but it doesn't really hinge on rationality.

TheMadFool

↪Devans99

Assume this takes place in a group of 3 people A, B and C. Fix the price at 3 cents. A buys it first and asks for an infinite amount of money among his wishes. B buys it for 2 cents and does the same. C buys it for 1 cent and also does the same. Now C gives it to A for free i.e. 0 cents.

What is A to do?

I think a bit of math will solve the problem. Instead of B buying and giving money to A, A pays B 1 cent to take the bottle. Essentially A has sold the bottle for -1 cents which is less than 0 cents. Continue this way and have fun with the genie. Afterall they all have an infinite amount of money.

noAxioms

Buy it for 2 cents, and one of the wishes is to produce a buyer at a penny.

This exercise seems chock full of loopholes.

Another way is to set up a Hilbert's Hotel sort of arrangement where each new buyer pays but a cent which is passed up the list to prior sellers, thus each time raising the price at which it was bought by a penny. You pay in installments of one cent every time the bottle changes hands. Problem solved.

Bottle Imp Paradox

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