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Forums - General - What sense do value the most and what one would you give up?

 

What sense would you give up?

Sight 6 11.32%
 
Hearing 3 5.66%
 
Taste 8 15.09%
 
Smell 34 64.15%
 
Touch 2 3.77%
 
Total:53

I actually said I could lose touch. I think it would be an interesting way to perceive things... especially if you have to adjust with the other senses. Would be less literal existance, because I think we perceive comfort and close-ness the most through touch. Would definitely force you to take a more active stance too, especially in perceiving physical threats. Except not being able to perceive pain would be a problem... I've never heard of anyone totally losing the sense of touch though. (Edit: Wouldn't it also mean you lose a lot of mobility if not all as well? i.e. paralyzed)

I value sight the most, but that's because I'm a painter...

Actually, losing any of those would be difficult. Many people take for granted smell, but I think it would suck not being able to smell the specific weather/environment around you when you are visiting places.

Edit: As I think about it, I have chronic nerve pain, so for me losing a sense of touch would probably be more of a blessing...



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miz1q2w3e said:
Sight is the most valuable to me, and smell is my least valuable. On a related note, when I'm trying to sleep and it's noisy, I often think "would it be so bad if I happened to losing my hearing?" I wake up very easily to any noise and it's a really big problem for me.

Sight >> hearing > touch > taste > smell.

Yea, I am a very picky sleeper myself.  I usually use a floor fan to produce ambient noise that allows me to go to sleep.  It was pretty windy a few nights ago and it took the power out two times at my place.  I just couldn't go back to sleep without my fan on.  I like a low hum but any other sound makes me stay awake. 



Marucha said:

I actually said I could lose touch. I think it would be an interesting way to perceive things... especially if you have to adjust with the other senses. Would be less literal existance, because I think we perceive comfort and close-ness the most through touch. Would definitely force you to take a more active stance too, especially in perceiving physical threats. Except not being able to perceive pain would be a problem... I've never heard of anyone totally losing the sense of touch though. (Edit: Wouldn't it also mean you lose a lot of mobility if not all as well? i.e. paralyzed)

I value sight the most, but that's because I'm a painter...

Actually, losing any of those would be difficult. Many people take for granted smell, but I think it would suck not being able to smell the specific weather/environment around you when you are visiting places.

Edit: As I think about it, I have chronic nerve pain, so for me losing a sense of touch would probably be more of a blessing...

Yea, the smell of outdoors (forest, etc) is pretty nice.  Smell is a double edge sword just like touch.  I probably take smell for granted but what brought it to my attention the most was when I quit cigs (off and on a few times).  Your smell gets so messed up from cigs.  When you quit it is like a whole new world opens up.  For one you can smell some one smoking a block away.  When you smoke you don't think it stinks that much but when you don't smoke it smells like shit.



Order of importance:

1. Sight - I would literally kill myself if I went blind...I feel it would kill my quality of life so much that I wouldn't want to live. If I had been born blind I'd probably feel differently...but after 21 years of visual stimulation I wouldn't want to give it up. I'd feel my way to my Remington 870...feel my way to my 12 gauge shells...and put one through my noggin...Kurt Cobain style
2. Sound - Wouldn't kill myself, but would massively piss me off to go deaf...would hate to never hear music again, no be able to talk normally to people, etc.
3. Taste - Miss out on my favourite foods, but at least now I'd be quite happy eating healthier...would be no temptation for junk food...and also I could just drink cheap ass alcohol for getting drunk

4. Touch - Would have its pros and cons, no pain...but also no good feelings
5. Smell - I would actually just give it up voluntarily...more bad smells than good ones really. I'd never have to suffer through someone's sick fart



Miguel_Zorro said:
Marucha said:

I actually said I could lose touch. I think it would be an interesting way to perceive things... especially if you have to adjust with the other senses. Would be less literal existance, because I think we perceive comfort and close-ness the most through touch. Would definitely force you to take a more active stance too, especially in perceiving physical threats. Except not being able to perceive pain would be a problem... I've never heard of anyone totally losing the sense of touch though. (Edit: Wouldn't it also mean you lose a lot of mobility if not all as well? i.e. paralyzed)

I value sight the most, but that's because I'm a painter...

Actually, losing any of those would be difficult. Many people take for granted smell, but I think it would suck not being able to smell the specific weather/environment around you when you are visiting places.

Edit: As I think about it, I have chronic nerve pain, so for me losing a sense of touch would probably be more of a blessing...

Could you paint without a sense of touch?

Most people seem to rank their sense of sight the as the most useful, but if you couldn't feel anything, life would be very difficult.

Smell is a tricky one, since Smell and Taste are connected.  Smell an onion while eating an apple.

I would imagine so since a lot of it is trained muscle movement/memory (mobility) and keen observation (sight related). As long as you can tell which way your arm is moving and by how much, which... I can't imagine you can move your arm without some sense of nerve sensation there, so that's why I was wondering if you could even lose all touch/pressure sensation completely and still have full mobility.

You wouldn't need complete mobility in your hands to paint, but if you're doing something like design work where the lines need to be really straight and you're doing geometry shaped things, then that does need a pretty steady controlled hand... even with some nerve damage and loss of mobility though, a lot of that movement can be retrained and compensated for with time I would think.



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I value sight the most and smell the least.



sethnintendo said:

Yea, the smell of outdoors (forest, etc) is pretty nice.  Smell is a double edge sword just like touch.  I probably take smell for granted but what brought it to my attention the most was when I quit cigs (off and on a few times).  Your smell gets so messed up from cigs.  When you quit it is like a whole new world opens up.  For one you can smell some one smoking a block away.  When you smoke you don't think it stinks that much but when you don't smoke it smells like shit.


Yeah, mine was messed up for a while too because I was a second hand smoker (my mother smoked a pack a day when I was young). I couldn't smell gas when the burner was 'on' on the stove and my husband freaked about it when he came home and turned it off. I tell him not to trust my sense of smell at all but I think it's gotten a little better since then... my old friend growing up used to say not very nice things about our house, that it smelled like "old bookstore", but years later I realized my friend also had his own smells, like old laundry, and his car and house always wreaked like something... I guess maybe his sense of smell was out of whack too.

The last house I rented used to be lived in by an old lady and that still probably has the same smell. But you get used to it and can't smell it anymore after a while. I left the house for a week, came back and could smell it again though.



I'd keep sight (touch a close second) and give up smell. I'm pretty sure my sense of smell is awful anyways.



I think touch is the most important. Not being able to hug my children or kiss my wife anymore would be more devastating then losing sight in the long run. Plus touch can help you see, sight can't help you feel.
Touch > sight > hearing > taste > smell

Read this and decide if you can cope better without sight or touch
http://www.ydr.com/living/ci_15326760
Losing both would make it impossible to function.



I asked myself which I would give up: Sight, touch, or hearing. Taste and smell don't affect us as much, so I figured I wouldn't include those, to make the decision harder.
I picked hearing. It would be a nice challenge.



 Been away for a bit, but sneaking back in.

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