http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/fish-3
Alt text
This is more easily executable with a three-wish genie, but it's good to be prepared for all circumstances.
Bonus panel
i'm happy for my neighbour, thanks for the wishes.
this post was submitted on 09 Nov 2025
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Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
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I wish to be happy. My neighbor is now twice as happy. And I'm twice as happy too, as I'm also happy for him.
Game over.
This doesn’t work. A second after he receives money, his neighbour receives all of his money, then the neighbour’s second box also triggers and again gives the neighbour all of his money, which is now 0. The amount of money in the system cannot exceed what was in it to start with - logician my arse.
Doesn't that depend on how the box works? From the wording it is possible that all three boxes transfer all the neighbors money to the fisher as soon as the fisher receives money. You assume that the neighbour's boxes transfer money to the neighbor from the fisher, but why would they? If they are identical to the fisher's box, they will also transfer money from the neighbor to the fisher. And since there are three they will keep triggering each other.
Yes, the boxes trigger each other over and over, but it doesn’t create any new money because the wording is “gives me all my neighbour’s money”.
Give me one thousand dollars
There's this implication that you don't want your neighbours to have nice things, and I straight up don't get it
Shut up Jones
So greedy for monies ...
Just wish for buttstuff.
Just wish for half an angry polar bear
The genie version I've heard is "I wish for you to beat me half to death."
And that kids, are how black holes are formed
"I wish for a billion dollars in gold."
"You receive the gold all at once, crushing you."
Magic wishes are always a dangerous thing to play with.
Figured someone would get the reference. If I had a wish, I'd wish their skits would go on for 30 mins or more. I'm sure that would backfire too.
Favorite part is the "I'm going to do you a solid. You do not want that." That was rather scary.
Wouldn't all his neighbors receive two of that box though?
Yeah but he doesn’t care because it’s still infinite money no matter what, though the order of it is higher for his neighbors, being aleph 1 I think. Been a long time since I took that part of math though.
Yes. What's the problem with that?
Well, then the moment either you or one of you neighbor gets as much of a penny you are now stuck in a loop of exponential money duplication that will rapidly result in a planet-destroying black hole
That's what "infinite money glitch" means.
So you understand the last panel, then.
I dont think so. Why would it duplicate money? You and your neighbor have $1. You both recieve $1, for a total of four dollars. Say you recieved yours last. Your money gets given to your neighbor, your neighbor has four dollars. One second after you got your dollar, you now have your neighbors money: $4. But they recieved money, so they get your money: $4. But you recieved money, so you get their money: $4.
Yeah, they have two boxes. The box gives you your neighbors money. But once a box activates the other party doesnt have money, so the second box doesnt really do anything.
Surely im misunderstanding?
I wish for a magic device that can do anything I want but is only visible by the person making this wish and only usable by those who can see it
Why, uh, why do you need to stop your neighbor from having something nice too?
Have you met my neighbor?
I've met all neighbors. I am the God of neighbors. Yours is actual above the standard level of neighborliness, but not greater than a standard deviation.
I would not trust either neighbor with this power
Because he is my neighbour, Nursultan Tuliagby. He is pain in my assholes. I get a window from a glass, he must get a window from a glass. I get a step, he must get a step. I get a clock radio, he cannot afford..
Your wish is granted and it appears in a searing flash of light that leaves you permanently blinded.
And then the economy crashed due to the rapid increase in the local currency
Rest easy knowing that the poor economy won't have a chance to react to the catastrophe unfolding on the physical layer.
I've heard different versions of this joke.
The slightly dirty version is that the man asks for a perfect wife; rich, beautiful, smart, and all the other traits he'd like. Only she has to be insanely jealous.
The really bad version I leave to your childish and perverted imaginations.
There's the "beat me half to death" version
"I wish for a blowjob so good that it halfway kills me."
What? How does it become infinite? At T-0, both neighbours receive the magic boxes.
Until the fisherman or the neighbour get any money, nothing happens.
Once the fisherman receive money, one second later, all the neighbours's money is sent to the magic box of the fisherman. That's all.
Once the neighbour gain any money, the two magic boxes, one second later all the fisherman's money is sent to the neighbours 's two boxes (shared between the two, as it can't duplicate the money)
I really don't get this one
Edit: I forgot the fact that the magic boxes will perform the action only two times two times every time it triggers. First because the person got money, the second because they gain the money of the neighbour. No third time can occurs as the neighbour will have no money left, and thus the second action cannot make the person gain extra money. This doesn't change the conclusion, but worth noting
The bonus panel mentions infinite gold created from nothing, so I think duplication is allowed. Each time the neighbor gets all of the fisherman's money, the total amount of gold is magically doubled.
It does duplicate the money across the neighbor's 2 boxes, hence infinite money.
Call me a genie, but that's not what "giving" means. You just transfer funds, which means you don't magically copy it also.
I do get it now, but that could be worded better for less monkey paws
Actually the neighbor should have two boxes. They'll be dead by avalanche of money very quickly.
Did I not say "the neighbor's 2 boxes"?
Did you misread my comment?
An example of what I meant was: original wisher (OW) gets a quarter. 1 second later, the neighbor (N) gets 2 quarters, 1 in each box. 1 second after that, OW gets 2 quarters in their one box, then one second after that, N gets 2 quarters in each of their 2 boxes (4 total), and so on.
And yeah, both of them would be crushed. Infinite anything is a planet and eventually universe-destroying prospect.
Why would N's boxes trigger?
Why would they give N money? Because OW got money. Why would OW get money? Because N got money from the boxes.
The point I am making is the wish panel says "my box gives me my neighbors money 1 second after I get money".
The neighbors boxes never activate unless the neighbor gets money first.
In short, I believe the comic author outsmarted themselves here.
No no. The move from N > OW triggers when OW get money. Not N.
There's no infinite loop here
How did I misread that? Sorry about that.
All good lol
Thank you for saving me the works to type it out!