I have seen several little girls dress up in high heels that are too big for them, put necklaces that are too large over their heads and generally decorate themselves. I don't see little boys do that. Little boys might put on a Superman cape or a Spiderman mask but they would be for becoming superheroes, not for being beautiful. I used to think that the search for beauty in little girls was a branch of the search for power but my wife sounds like she thinks girls and women often want to be beautiful, per se, simply and as such.
Some authors have thought that the desire for power was part of all humans. Not mechanical power but all power: physical, mental, political, power. Norbert Weiner, the founder of subject of cybernetics, very close to the modern subject of artificial intelligence and robot engineering, pointed to the stories in which characters ask a fairy godmother or a magic fish or a genie for three wishes that will be granted. He cautioned that the search for power was dangerous, mostly because of greed or ignorance. Greed can drive the seeker for greater and greater or longer-lasting power. Ignorance is both present when we think we know what we want but fail to understand what we are asking for and also when we aren't good enough thinkers to see some of the consequences of a giving wish being fulfilled.
The children's tale "The Fisherman's Wife" shows a fisherman who nervously kept asking a magic fish for more wishes to be granted, as his wife keeps requesting. He can sense that he and she are treading on dangerous ground but keeps asking for more, to their eventual downfall. The story "The Three Sausages" also shows the limits that would still apply if humans could simply wish for things. The grown-up story, The Monkey's Paw, also cited by Weiner, tells of a knock on the door at the home of an elderly couple. It is a messenger telling them that their son has been killed in a mining accident. They have unwisely borrowed a magic monkey's paw, against the advice of its owner, just the night before. Immediately, the distraught mother seized the charm and wished her son "was with" them. Bang! There on the floor is his mangled, lifeless body. Not what she wanted. She uses the powerful amulet again: "I wish he was alive!" Bang! He is gasping and bleeding in agony on their floor.
I guess if we are going to be in charge, it would be good if we knew what path is best, what specifications we want filled. Even then, we have to stay on top of the situation, what with the passage of time and aging and all.
