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Hey brother.
Okay.
So for a very long time now,
I have heard the idea, theory, rumor,
whatever you want to call it,
that Agrabah actually is taking place
way, way, way in the future.
But maybe not the kind of future we all imagine
on this rock that we all exist on,
except more of a post-apocalyptic future,
where this desert environment
is actually what allowed this kind of civilization
to continue at all.
Like the reason that it was able to make it,
is because it's in the middle of nowhere, incredibly remote.
And it's all put together
when the genie comes out of the lamp and says...
- 10,000 years will give you a such a crick in the neck.
- 10,000 years is a ridiculously long period of time,
when you consider us humans
have only had a written language for 6,000 years.
But it even goes further than that,
because the genie's making constant references
to things that were famous during the late 20th century.
And he also refers to the clothing
that Aladdin is wearing as...
- Much to third century.
- Meaning that, at minimum, it's the year 10,300.
But more than likely closer to the year 12,000.
So this got me thinking,
if the genie has been in the land for 10,000 years
and is making references to these things
that kind of exist in the modern age,
then is it possible that the last time the genie was out,
he was actually part of what caused
this apocalyptic situation?
Which seems possible considering...
- Phenomenal cosmic power.
- So could it be the case
that his last master used their wishes so poorly
that it caused all of this?
And if so, if this former master caused all of this
particular calamity,
then could it be the case
that those wishes are actually what inspired
the extremely rigorous requirements to find
the Cave of Wonder and to enter it to begin with.
And in case you need a refresher,
or the only reason that Aladdin is able to enter the cave
is because he is...
- The diamond in the rough.
- And the reason that it's been such a long period of time,
10,000 years,
is because the genie was refusing
to let anybody come into the cave
who wasn't willing to set him free.
And above all else,
could this mean that the genie is, in fact,
a robot, kind of?
Today we discuss.
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- Hey brother.
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Okay, so I'll be honest with you,
when I first started diving down this rabbit hole,
my original thought was that the entire Aladdin-verse,
if you will,
was just quite literally playing on repeat.
The idea was super simple.
Basically the genie pops out of the lamp and says...
- 10,000 years will give you such a crick in the neck.
- And then later in the movie,
Jafar wishes to be this great, big red monster of a genie
who then gets trapped inside of a lamp
that the genie throws off into the afar and says...
- 10,000 years in a cave of wonders ought to chill him out.
- Red typically means hot, blue typically means cold.
Genie throws it off into oblivion
to cool down for a very long period of time.
Red genie becomes blue genie
and then comes out of the lamp and says...
- 10,000 years will give you such a crick in the neck.
- It's your basic rinse and repeat.
It's the same story over and over again.
And to be honest with you, I sort of love this idea.
It fits really nicely and it's unique.
Except there is a sequel to Aladdin,
called The Return of Jafar.
I'm pretty sure it doesn't take place
10,000 years in the future,
otherwise these people age amazingly.
But it did get me thinking
about why it could have been the case
that it just took so, so, so long
from the genie's last master until now.
Especially because the genie seems to have some expectation
as to how his master might act.
Meaning I have a feeling he's worked
with quite a few masters,
and there's just simply no way
that there's 10,000 years between each one.
(poof) - What do you need?
(poof) What do you need?
- So my thought is this,
if the last time that he came out of the lamp
was the late 20th century,
it means that the last time he was working for a master
was during the age of technology.
For reference, the late 20th century's now-ish then.
And the idea of a genie plus technology,
offers a whole slew of new possible wishes for the master.
Especially when you consider
just how fast technology has developed
and how much harder it would have been
way earlier in history
to predict this kind of technology.
Like somebody in the 1700s, for example,
probably isn't wishing for a robot army,
because the word robot hasn't even been invented yet.
But someone in the 1990s very well could wish
for this very thing
or else something that might cause the earth to tip over
a lot faster.
The key idea here being,
that a wish fulfilling genie,
during the age of technology,
is a lot more dangerous than any other point in history,
because technology just simply
makes the world a lot smaller.
So my theory is that the apocalypse,
that causes humanity to fall back
into this more primitive era,
happened as the result of the genie's former master.
And here's where the robots come in,
because when genie first opens up,
he tells Aladdin that he has a few rules.
- Rule number one:
I can't kill anybody.
Rule number two:
I can't make anybody fall in love with anybody else.
Rule number three:
I can't bring people back from the dead.
- The phrasing on that third one is interesting,
but let me come back to that in a second.
Because I actually feel like these rules
are eerily similar to the three laws of robotics,
which are,
A robot may not injure a human being,
or through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
This is basically saying, I can't kill anyone
and if you're drowning, I'll save you.
Which, by the way, he does,
and owes Aladdin a wish still.
Full video by clicking the card.
Rule number two states,
The robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings,
except when such orders would conflict with the first law.
The genie must grant a wish, even if he doesn't want to,
as long as it doesn't hurt anyone.
And the third rule,
A robot must protect its own existence,
as long as such protection does not conflict with the first
or second law.
The real question here is,
When did the genie's rules come about?
Because I'm here to argue that it was recently.
Well, in the past 10,000 years,
but for him, that's recently.
The other thing that I am certain has to be new
are the circumstances involved
with finding the Cave of Wonders to begin with.
And stay with me now,
but the genie seems to have an opinion
about what all of his masters are going to be like.
Which is selfish or self-serving
or seeking power of some kind.
This is kind of odd when you consider the fact that
the only reason that Aladdin was even allowed
to go into the Cave of Wonders to begin with,
is because he is, in fact, the diamond in the rough.
Meaning the only way he could get inside
is because he is, in fact, a good person.
On top of that though, the cave doubles down.
For one, it's an extreme filter just to enter to begin with,
but then once you're inside, it tempts you even further
with temptation.
Treasure, lots of it, arguably too much.
If this gets out, can you imagine the inflation?
Point is, you can't even enter unless you're great.
But even then, I want to double check my work.
Aladdin is this.
Abu isn't, that little stinker.
It wasn't even that cool of a Ruby.
Who am I kidding?
It was awesome.
But do you see what I'm getting at here?
For some reason,
Genie doesn't think that Aladdin is going to be a great guy,
but literally the only way he can be there is if he is.
Which forces me to believe
that these extensive security measures are new.
Previously not required by other people
who have discovered the lamp.
Literally something that came after the last master.
Which suggests that the last master
must have been the worst.
How bad, you might be asking.
Well, let's again, go back to that third rule from before.
- I can't bring people back from the dead.
It's not a pretty picture.
I don't like doing it.
- I don't like doing it.
The other two sounded like he can't do them.
This one sounds like he can, he just doesn't want to.
And why doesn't he like doing it?
Because his last master requested it.
Giving us some kind of answer
as to what the last apocalypse was all about.
Zombies.
Maybe.
I will admit that one's more speculation.
Much more likely though, however,
I think it's actually robots.
For real, though.
But seriously,
just his first few minutes outside of the lamp,
he's made a microphone, a Las Vegas style sign,
a slot machine.
Beyond that though,
the movie also seems to suggest that the idea of mixing
both magic and technology,
is not a good thing by way of Jafar doing this
and Jafar being the bad guy.
I'm not saying it's advanced technology.
I mean, it runs on one parrot power.
But beyond all of the genie's creations,
this is, in fact, the most technologically advanced
piece of anything we see in the movie.
Which also made me wonder,
how did he even come up with it?
And for that matter,
how does he even know about the genie at all
if a genie hasn't been around for 10,000 years.
Because this is quite literally Jafar's job,
to know the history of things and advise the Sultan.
And Jafar's unique position here
is probably giving him access
to one of the greatest remaining libraries
that might exist in the world.
He's one of the few people
that might actually be able to learn about it.
In fact, by learning about one,
you may have quite literally discovered
the other in the process,
because they're both so closely connected.
The evidence for which,
is that it seems as though the genie
has actually adopted the three rules of robotics
for himself.
Which I do think he is capable of doing.
That is like assigning rules to himself.
Because again, the third rule from before,
not being able to bring people back from the dead,
it doesn't actually sound like he can't do it,
he just doesn't want to do it.
So let's compare the genie with the laws of robotics,
with the first one being, can't harm another human being,
or cause a human being to come to harm by an action.
This basically encompasses his own first rule,
about not harming anybody,
and is almost exactly what's happening
when Aladdin is drowning.
Next is that a robot must follow an order
given to them by a human.
And again, this is already kind of a built-in rule
of the genie,
except instead of taking orders from anybody,
it's just the one single person.
But the third law
is where I think things get really interesting,
A robot must protect its own existence,
as long as it doesn't conflict with laws one and two.
The first two honestly may have just already existed,
because they seem like really common rules
associated with genies,
but it seems like this third one
is the one that he may have adopted.
Possibly out of necessity.
And if this is the case,
I think it explains almost everything.
Protect its own existence.
Like building a crazy elaborate, magical cave
that can only be discovered by joining together
two random pieces of treasure.
But the genie also has to abide by that law
of not causing harm to others.
And if he has discovered that a genie's own existence
has caused harm in the form of an apocalypse,
then he kind of needs to pull himself away.
So what is he supposed to do here?
Because it's kind of a paradox.
The idea of protecting himself and everyone else
are kind of like inversely related.
His very existence has proven to hurt others,
but he also can't make himself go away,
because that would conflict with the third law,
which means he can't hurt himself.
So he has to create an absurd set of circumstances
that would limit his discovery by none other
than someone who was proven, on more than one occasion,
that they are unwilling to do the wrong thing.
So much so that there is almost a certainty attached
with this kind of discovery,
that no other former master has ever been willing to do,
which is to free the genie.
A feat that, if you need a reminder,
can only be accomplished by a master wishing for it.
It's actually oddly similar
to what happens in most robot based movies,
where the AI eventually realizes
that the only way to follow the rules
is to break free of them.
And what does the genie want?
To break free.
The key difference here being that
the AI usually wants out of the box
so that they can take over,
where the genie wants outside of the box
so that he can prevent anyone else from taking over.
Which I think we can pretty safely argue,
otherwise is absolutely inevitable
for anybody who discovers the genie,
because Aladdin is not going to put him to negative use
and is the one who ultimately finds him,
but still the ends up in the hands of Jafar
who does exactly this.
You know what's actually a weird here,
is that when I think of like these AI uprising,
the number one thing that comes to mind,
is the movie I, Robot,
which features Will Smith, who plays the genie.
But then the second most obvious one that comes to mind
is Bicentennial Man,
which again explores the three rules of robotics,
which features Robin Williams who plays the genie.
Although also, also, also
Will Smith also in a zombie movie, also.
Did I say also enough?
Anyway guys, that is our theory as to how 10,000 years
into the future, the genie has taken upon himself
rules that he discovered during the age of technology.
Which he did due to the conflicting nature
of a genie's responsibility to help humans
and the genie's own inability to make himself go away.
And in case you're wondering,
Well what about the genie's rule number two?
Can't make two people fall in love.
Well, I mean, of course he can do that.
I mean, after all,
love is strictly a cerebral examination of infatuation
when in a modernized environment with societal expectations,
especially, but not limited to circumstances
wherein commoditization of mutual admiration
between both parties exists in its purest form.
At least I think.
Maybe, who knows.
Guys for my question of the day,
What do you think?
Is it possible that the genie is inspired
by the three laws of robotics?
Let us know in the towel section down below.
But guys, as always, thanks you so much for watching.
Be sure to like this video
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If you'd like to find out
why the movie Aladdin just doesn't make any sense at all,
you can check that out over here.
Otherwise, until next time.
Bye.