Poll: The birth of your child! With an extra set of arms...

[GothmogII]

Whew...first time I've ever fallen victim to that! Anyway: As the conundrum goes, say your child was born with a fully functional set of extra limbs. Let's say in this instance an extra set of arms under their normal arms. The doctor has informed you that they are of no physical harm to your child, and that if you wish, they can be safely removed.

So, what would you do? Do you remove them to save your child from and abnormal life, or, leave them, and just accept your child for what it is knowing the possible hardships it may endure.

The reason I chose the arms for an example, is that, they could be considered a positive trait, even desirable, at least, in comparison with say a vestigial tail which has little or no use.

 

[goatzilla8463]

Leave it.

Then, your child could become part of the X-men or something.

 

[Pacman_69_42]

get them to learn the guitar extra arms would probably make them epic or the drums or sumthin like that

edit:also machoke could be a decent name XD yay for pokemans ..... dont hate me just coz ur not cool enough to play pokemon

 

[SharPhoe]

Jokingly, I would change the child's name to Goro.

Seriously, I would let the child grow to the age where they could make the decision him/herself. If they say they can handle it, then no problem. If anyone wants to mess with my child about it, I will defend them to the death.

EDIT: Figures my joke would get ninja'd while I'm typing it up. Oh, well.

 

[ThrobbingEgo]

So long as it didn't have any negative physical effects, I don't think I'd remove it.

Besides, the kid could pull a Zaphod Beeblebrox and conceal them under a coat while they're not being used for ski boxing.

 

[A random person]

Why would I remove the extra arms? They could come in very handy someday.

 

[Curtmiester]

Wait are you telling me my kid could be making me two sandwich at the same time? WHY WOULD I MESS THAT UP!?!?!?!?!?

 

[Guitar Gamer]

"yeah he can punch you four times in a second, he can also drum faster than neal peart and john bonham combined, and play about as fast as the seven guitarists used for freebird, but...................................................I don't wanna pay extra for t-shirts"

 

[Haydyn]

I live in a very open minded side of the state. If anyone made fun of my kid, they'ed be kicked out of the school district. I'd keep them on for sure. Imagine what could be done with four arms. Granted clothing could be an issue. O well. Let the next step for survival of the fittest begin. I just wait to wait for natural selection to come back and kill off all the 2-armed people, but I'd already be too old to care.

And yes, the first thing that came to my mind would be naming him Goro. Poor Kintaro, always left out.

 

[Cxizent]

I live in a very open minded side of the state. If anyone made fun of my kid, they'ed be kicked out of the school district. /quote]

Very open minded. But if anyone mentions anything bad about my kid, then fuck open-mindedness, they're a goner.

 

[deletemeplease107]

I would wait til the child groews up.

If i had an extra set of something, i wouldnt have it removed.

Extra arms = better at multitasking
Extra legs = faster
Extra eye = better vision
Extra dick = wooohooooo

 

[Klagermeister]

Have them removed. They could be a parasitic twin that would feed off said child's vitals.
Eventually, the child would die due to lack of blood flow and oxygen to the organs if not removed as soon as possible.

 

[Lonko]

Have them removed. They could be a parasitic twin that would feed off said child's vitals.
Eventually, the child would die due to lack of blood flow and oxygen to the organs if not removed as soon as possible.

Would that not be something that the doctors would detect? As stated in the OP, this hypothetical extra set of arms is completely harmless, which precludes the possibility of a parasitic twin.

Anyway, I would keep them and let the child choose when they're old enough to understand what amputation would mean.

 

[hypothetical fact]

Extra anything is alright, except an extra mouth to feed.

 

[fletch_talon]

get them to learn the guitar extra arms would probably make them epic or the drums or sumthin like that

edit:also machoke could be a decent name XD yay for pokemans ..... dont hate me just coz ur not cool enough to play pokemon

Machamp foo'

I have revealed too much.
On topic, I would probably leave them, four armed humans could be the next step in evolution for us, and whilst he'd pass on the trait regardless if you take his extra arms away then that mentality of it being a negative trait will also pass on and result in future generations getting them removed.

 

[NimbleJack3]

So long as it didn't have any negative physical effects, I don't think I'd remove it.

Besides, the kid could pull a Zaphod Beeblebrox and conceal them under a coat while they're not being used for ski boxing.

Yes! And then graft an extra head on! That way your child can grow up to be an intergalactic president and playboy.

OT: I would maybe wait a few years and see what the child thinks.

 

[Ashbax]

I would probably have them removed. Seriously. Becuase my fiancé is pregnant, and I worry about these kind of things.

If I was joking, however, id make some crack about goro.

 

[PurpleRain]

I don't understand why people say it will be better at multitasking? I don't think the brain would have super-speedy reflexes to be able to seperate the two sets of arms from working independantly.

As for removing them once he's at an age to decide would be cruel. Firstly, if he says yes happily and they cut them off, the brain is going to have such a hard time dealing with the loss of the limbs. The brain maps the body so if the arms were fully mapped, it will take a long time for them to deal with it.