Suppose I could press a button and instantly grant you the power to do the Jedi Mind Trick.
For the 9 people on Earth who’ve never seen Star Wars, the Jedi Mind Trick enables its user to persuade someone to do or believe something they otherwise would not. It appears to be relatively short term and its effectiveness is conveniently stunted when the story needs it; according to Obi-Wan Kenobi, it works only on"the weak minded," so you can use it to convince some stormtroopers they don’t need to see your identification, but not convince Darth Vader to be a nice guy. It seems to be possible to use it to cause people to see and hear things that are not actually there, on a very simple level.
So let’s set the ground rules aboiut my ability to grant you this power:
You can use the Jedi Mind Trick an unlimited number of times on any living creature in the universe with an actual brain. You never run out of “Strength.” Using it repeatedly does not have any adverse effect on you.
For the sake of this exercise, it’s not limited to the “Weak minded.” Any person in the entire world is susceptible to it.
The only circumstances in which it may not work are,
On yourself
On someone who is aware you possess this power and are using it against them
To convince someone to do something to which they would be extremely, instinctually averse; committing suicide, murder, or an act of gross and horrific violence. Asking someone to commit crimes may or may not work depending on their predeliction to criminal behaviour.
The Jedi Mind Trick is a temporary, not permanent, effect. You can convince the bouncer to let you into the exclusive club, but you can’t make him gay for the rest of his life if he’s not gay now.
My questions:
Would you use this trick?
If so, are there limitations on how you’d use it?
In what circumstances in your life would you find it most convenient?
I have no idea, just maybe in general whenever I needed it it’d be nice. :waves hand: “Please repeat your last statement CLEARLY and ENUNCIATE, dammit!”
Pfff. Not until I was sure I was the only one who had this, and even then probably not more than the fingers on one hand.
:waves hands: In fact you forget I ever told you and of these things. I have no powers, and this is only the internet.
Lots of ways, from the mundane “You’d like to stop talking now” to “You want to come home and have sex with me now, don’t you?”. Of course you could actually use it for good too, one thing that immediately comes to mind is hostage negotiating or talking down potential suicides - “Why don’t you let them go?”, “Why don’t you come down from the ledge so we can talk about this?”.
No coercing people into doing any action whatsoever, especially stuff they wouldn’t want/choose to do by themselves. eg, no “you want to suck me off, Jessica Alba”.
“You want to leave me alone” and “Chill the fuck out” would take 99% of my power time :). If deeper, more subtle suggestions work, I could also easily go for “Be happy.”, or “Be patient”, “Be kind” etc…
Probably not since it risks disabling my powers when I really need them to work.
I would find it most convenient in satisfying my desire to be an agent of instantaneous cosmic justice.
No. In fact I’d issue all my commands through a ventriloqually manipulated rubber chicken; so if anybody did trip to my occult power, they’d think the chicken was somehow responsible. It would be the Jedi Mind Chicken.
“You weak-minded fool! He’s using an old Jedi prop comedy routine!”
I wouldn’t use it for Evil- defined as “Actual Evil”, not “Selfish or Dickheaded but ultimately not all that harmful”.
In getting people to come around to my way of thinking, to make my life and that of my friends and family more comfortable. “Why yes, Mr. Prime Minister/Mr. Speaker, I think you’re right, I am the best person to be Governor-General of Australia/Secretary-General of the United Nations. And all my friends and family will need cushy Government Jobs which won’t require them to do anything, too.” It goes without saying I’d be using my powers for good as well, of course. But initially it’s about getting set up properly.
Of course not. That would be silly. Besides, nobody likes a showoff. I’d already be Governor-General or Secretary General of the UN; adding Jedi Mind Powers to my Resume would just put me into the “Big-Noting Wanker” category instead of “Intriguingly Charismatic and Persuasive”. And I don’t want people being immune to my powers, for obvious reasons…
If so, are there limitations on how you’d use it? Yes
In what circumstances in your life would you find it most convenient?
At the checkout lane of the supermarket.
“I paid you already.”
“Yes, you paid me already.”
“Thank you, have a nice day.”
Well, some. I really don’t condone violence myself, and wouldn’t go that route, but it would be really awesome in some circumstances, I think.
In what circumstances in your life would you find it most convenient?
Dozens and dozens i suppose.
Would you tell anyone?
I would probably tell my SO. I want him to benefit, and I don’t want him to be susceptible to it - I never asked for a slave, I wanted a partner. We could have some good times together.
Yes, definitely; I’d probably have reservations about the ethics of it under all circumstances, but I really wouldn’t want to use it to score free money / goods / sex.
Dealing with students: “You will drop this class, since you are failing spectacularly anyway and will make my life miserable.” “You will proofread your paper before you turn it in.” “You will read all of The Duchess of Malfi, enjoy it, and come prepared to have an intelligent conversation about it.” Actually, this would probably come close to being an ethical use of the power, since I’d be coercing them into doing things that are good for them anyway
I would be tempted to use it to cheat on the course evals and get a few articles into print without going to the bother of revising them, but I hope I would be able to restrain myself.
I would use it to convince someone like Bill Gates to give me 100 Million dollars, call it a “charitable contribution” (so he doesn’t get screwed on taxes) and then probably use it seldomly after that.
My conscience probably wouldn’t let me convince someone to just sleep with me, or to cheat on a SO or something…but I’d have no problem taking money from someone who wouldn’t miss it, and thus leaving me set for life
Ah, but be careful. This ios the sort of area where the Jedi Mind Trick can get you in trouble.
For one thing, your tax dodge wouldn’t even begin to work; you are not a registered charity, and even if you were, $100 million is far above any legal limit for charitable donations.
For another, $100 million would cause you to get a LOT of attention. Bill Gates might spend the rest of his life happy he gave you the money, but his accountants would be very interested indeed in finding out more about you. You’d probably become very famous.
Log on to Windows.com/setforlife and put in your Name, Age (must be 18 or older to play), Address and phone number.
On Jan. 1 one of the names will be randomly drawn to be “set for life”. The winner would get $100 Million from Bills own pocket and they will be happy and set for life.
I’d mind trick Bill for the idea to work, and I would mind trick the programmers to write some code to single out my name, age, address, and phone number (so there are no accidentals) and I would be the random winner (Then since I can’t make em forget anything I would trick em to think everything is normal).
I would get famous or whatever for being the guy who won, but there would be no strings attached to it cuz I would mind trick all the corps people who would be participating.
I think I’ve covered my bases with this one now…any loopholes anyone?
My own personal moral code, which is a pretty good one, if I do say so myself. I’m happily married, so I’d never use JMTs to get sex, for example. I wouldn’t use it to cheat anyone or for my own selfish purposes (unless it was to avoid imminent harm from a criminal, for instance). I would always try to use it for the good of my country and, more broadly, humanity.
I think I would probably move a lot between Washington and New York City (UN Headquarters, natch) to use my Jedi powers on policymakers and diplomats, trying to make the world safer, less militarized, more democratic, prosperous and unified. If there was some foreign leader who was being a real jerk (I’m lookin’ at you, Kim Jong Il), I’d JMT his diplomats to ask him to come to NYC right away for urgent consultations (assuming these powers work only at close range, as they do in the movies). Or I’d JMT them into taking me safely to him, with the thought that “Our Glorious Leader really has to meet Elendil’s Heir for the good of the regime.”
I’d only tell my wife. She should know why I’m gone so much.
For a good fictional (although not Jedi-related) take on mind control and world peace, check out Joe Haldeman’s wonderful Cold War espionage thriller, Tool of the Trade.
Of course you could actually use it for good too, one thing that immediately comes to mind is hostage negotiating or talking down potential suicides - “Why don’t you let them go?”, “Why don’t you come down from the ledge so we can talk about this?”.
