Lol. I know we each have our own reasons for picking whatever we picked- I don't have anything against what you chose. But I just wanted to bring up what you said about touch- even if you can't feel it, "the next time someone shoots you," wouldn't you be pretty much dead anyways?! Even if it was only a minor wound- if you really bled that much... you think you'd notice if blood was leaking all over your clothes and the road. Or at least someone else would... and if there wasn't anyone around, I doubt you would last long even if you could feel it. Bah. I think it'd only be a mercy not to be able to feel a wound like that. Not to mention some people get traumatized and numb in the face of such situations, anyways.

I chose "Taste."

To me, all the senses are important to some extent, and compliment the other senses in their own way. But I figured I would choose to lose the sense that is least helpful to me in the event of an emergency.

Sight - To lose the ability to see new things and travel freely without someone holding my hand is not very appealing to me. Without sight, whenever you need to travel to a new place you have yet to memorize, you have to bring someone with you. Also the thought of living in a world of black when emergency's strike would be a nightmare.

Hearing - In the event my home caught on fire, I think it would be best if I could hear my fire alarm go off. Or at least the carbon dioxide alarm go off since I heat my home with a stove.

Touch - I was going to pick this one, but I figured walking around with a bullet in me for 82 hours unknowingly and then dying wouldn't be so bad, but at the same time, I would like that NOT to happen. So I figured I would like to keep this sense. Also without touch, I wouldn't be able to play in other peoples hair like I usually do. (As a side note, touch I think would be helpful when you are walking in the dark and can't see anything. I could at least try to feel my way around.)

Smell - I'd like to be able to smell something near me is burning or unclean, so I decided to keep this sense.

Taste - That would just leave taste. Although I would miss the taste of my favorite foods, this sense, although important, is the least important to me in case of an emergency. Also in most cases where people put poison in your food, most the time you can't even taste the poison. So they still end up dying. In the end, I would have to just be careful what I choose to eat and drink.




I'm not sure I understand your taste comment. Whether I had none or all of my senses, I would still eat and drink since I would die otherwise, so if anything your not really losing anything if you have no taste since you still have to eat and drink. Unlike if you lose your "Hearing", you HAVE to give up music. Without taste you DON'T or more like you CAN'T give up anything because you have to eat and drink. But then I think what your getting at is that if you have to eat and drink, you may as well be able to taste it? But then again, I'm not really sure what you were getting at with that comment. Sorry for not understanding.

But aside from the taste comment, I get where your coming from about "Hearing" and "Touch", but I'm not so sure that is a reason to list sight as the second to last least important. Don't get me wrong, to each his own opinion, I'm not trying to pick at you. I was just wondering if you realized that prejudice is not only based on Color or Size, but it can also be done by ones hearing another persons accent or music. And that "Sight" can be used like "Hearing", "Touch" and "Smell" to understand one another. Seeing another persons expressions or reactions to certain things is priceless.

"Sight", like "Hearing" and "Touch" can allow you to feel other peoples opinions and thoughts, as well as help you to appreciate another persons culture and beauty. You cannot taste, feel, or hear a persons hard work or efforts unless it is music or food. But what if it is dance, landscaping, or art. How can you appreciate the things that require you to look at them, when you can't see. A child's drawing, or a woman's dress. In some cultures, the women wear beautiful outfits and art designs on their body while dancing and singing for some events. How can someone who can't see fully appreciate all their hard work if they can't see any of it? You can't fly to Egypt and only feel the the ancient artifacts they have and then tell people how beautiful they are. Or share the beauty of the cherry blooms falling in Japan. Sure you can hear, feel and smell some of these things, but you can't fully appreciate all of it since you can't really see the beauty of it all.

So in the end, if a person wants to fully enjoy, respect, and appreciate the people around them, they would need all of their senses really. But since we have to give up 1 based on your wanting to appreciate others opinions and the things around you, would you not at the very least need "Touch", "Hearing", and "Sight" since humans use art, sound, and touch to express themselves. Not many people say: "And this is how I feel today" and spay an Oder into the air or hand you a meal that upon your eating it you can taste their emotions. And even in the case of food, presentation (which requires we see it) is often key before eating the meal in some cultures.

But then all of this is just my opinion so it is not really valid for anything. lol

Last edited by lambchopsil at 6:23 pm, May 14 2010

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You are now gazing at my signature. It's okay. There is no reason to feel ashamed for being amazed by it.

I chose touch, but having read a couple of the comments I'd probably change it to taste.

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The Bird of Hermes is my name, eating my wings to make me tame.

Without sense of touch you wouldn't feel your feet hitting the ground when you are walking, you wouldn't feel the cold of winter wind or the warmth of the sun, you wouldn't feel your hand burning on the stove or broken glass on the bottom of your feet, you wouldn't feel the warmth of another person's touch.

It would be hard to know if you had hurt yourself or were sick. And you wouldn't know if a bird had pooped on top of your head.

I don't know if those who have lost the sense of touch have proprioception ("the sense of the relative position of neighbouring parts of the body"). I'm not sure if you aren't even able to walk without it, or if you're just not able to walk without relying in your sight (losing balance when you shut your eyes).

I've been "blind" for some time and it's not that bad, unless you are living somewhere where living means fighting for your life. Also, sound and feeling help you sense your environment surprisingly well: in dark it's easy to hit your foot or head somewhere, but ever walked straight against a wall in dark? Sight is also distracting. Without sight you "see" things you normally don't. Without sight it's also possible to defend yourself, if you still have your sense of touch and you keep contact to the person who attacks you (or who you attack against).

Without sense of smell you can taste, but the taste is pretty objective. You can tell what's spicy and what's sweet, but it doesn't make any difference. 90% of what you perceive as taste is actually smell; why do you think food that's gone cold usually doesn't taste as good as when it was still warm?

Sure, smell isn't as important for humans as it is to animals (many animals can't survive without it), but it's also important to recognize familiar things. It's not as conscious as sight, but it's more reliable. Sight is influenced very much by your unconscious, which makes it unreliable.

"I took three steps into this room and knew that we had been discovered. Striding toward us was a tall, high-shouldered young man—who halted, with a startled look, just when I did. He was my own reflection in a gilt-framed pier glass, and I felt the momentary dislocation that comes when a stranger, an unrecognized shape, turns or moves his head and is some familiar friend glimpsed, perhaps for the first time, from outside. The sharp-chinned, grim-looking boy I had seen when I did not know him to be myself had been myself as Phaedria and David, Mr. Million and my aunt, saw me."

Last edited by 狂気 at 1:36 am, May 15 2010

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Far-off places with sweet sounding names.

Touch - like many people have pointed out, if you lose your sense of touch - you don't know when you get injured and you forget to be careful of the injuries you DO know about. That is what makes Leprosy so bad. Lose touch and cumulative injuries will rob you of your limbs and eyes first - then your life.

Taste - hunger is linked to taste. This is truly the reason why old people die. When they lose their sense of taste, they stop wanting to eat. Plus, one of the symptoms of malnourishment is lack of appetite. This sets up a feedback loop that kills you. Well....... your weakened immune system usually gives out first.

This leaves the senses that won't actually kill you to lose.

Sight - lose this and you can't drive or ride a bike, can't even go anywhere new without a guide! You can't read warning signs, labels or even your own money. You can't read ANTHING unless its been translated into Braille or someone reads it aloud. Loss of sight won't kill you - but it is very limiting and disabling

Hearing - lose this and you can't hear any alarms or voices. You can still read, learn sign language and/or learn how to read lips. Driving is possible. So are many jobs. This is limiting, but not quite as bad as sight.

So I think the best one to lose would be Smell.

Smell - this is linked to emotions and memory recall. It also is responsible for the subtle flavors in food. Lose this and even the best food would taste the same as cheap frozen dinners..... but you could still taste them. The added boost to memory and emotion would be hard to notice being gone and few warnings smell gives you (smoke, propane) are much less likely to kill you then loss of the other senses.

Done~

As always, thread is not locked, so you can still post here if you wish~

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A just ruler amongst tyrants