Poll: Which of the five senses would you give up?

[omega 616]

One of the biggest factors in your sense of taste is your sense of smell. If you got rid of it completely things would taste different than they do now.

To be more accurate, without a sense of smell you would only taste sweet, sour, salty, bitter and unami (meaty taste). Hence taste is the best to lose, since i would imagine that eating food that "tastes" bland would be better than eating food that tastes only of those 5 tastes. Even if it is just as bad, I am still left with the ability to smell.

You don't watch QI, do you? The tongue isn't divided up into 5 sections, each tasting what you listed. Each taste bud tastes everything, just the nose tastes more of it than the tongue does.

So you were half right.

 

[LaughingAtlas]

My sense of smell isn't gone, but it is kindof broken. I smell things that no one else apparently notices or can't smell what others loudly complain about. I can still taste things, so it's probably not just my imagination.

I don't see taste as all that practical, (apart from detecting certain kinds of poison once you've already put it in your mouth) and smelling things is kind of annoying anyway, but I lack the anatomic expertise to say what's the least useful sense.

 

[spielberg11]

I'd usually say smell, but that's too obvious. Probably hearing. Because even though I will sorely miss my orchestral music, I will never be affected again if someone RickRoll's me, or a PA system is blaring away the latest 50 Cent/Lady Gaga/Justin Bieber BS.

 

[Gypsy Ninja Pirate Zombie King]

if i give up touch does that mean i can't feel pain? if so then touch.

 

[Jedoro]

Yup. Bacon tastes too good to give up.

Until it's mixed with your blood when you bite your tongue :I

Well, I'd rather taste blood and bacon than neither.

 

[Lawnmooer]

Well,I love my sense of touch (I've been numb before, I ended up being unable to walk properly and nearly broke my ankle) so I'd keep that.

Sight is pretty important to me since I see a lot of beautiful things during my day. So I'd keep that.

Hearing takes up the majority of my life (Listening to my friends and music) so that stays.

So it comes down to taste or smell... Without smell I'd also have no (Or at least very limited) taste...

So I'd lose my sense of taste.

 

[Moriarty]

Assuming it involves the loss of all feeling in and on the entire body, I'd give up touch. Why? Because without pain, I'd have very little to even consider being afraid of. Sure, sex would be weird without being able to feel her, but oh well.

There's a medical condition which causes this, you have to take into account other things such as hunger pains, the sphincter in your bladder hurts to tell you to go to the toilet, your body tell how hot or cold you are etc etc it would cause a lot of problems.

Granted in a fight you could go ape shit and not be affected.

To the OP there are a lot more than 5 senses, I think there are 21 of them. Things like sensing were your body parts are when your eyes are closed ... which is the one I would lose 'cos whats the point?

Hunger, bladder status or temperature aren't linked to touch, they are seperate senses.

Also, if you loose the ability to sense where your body parts are, you're going to have problems walking. If you trip, you'll never be able to react correctly how to catch yourself, if you want to grab something you always have to make sure where your hand is before trying to move it. It's just as movement impairing as would be losing your sense of balance.

 

[N1ceDreamz]

Taste, I'm so fussy when it come to eating I'd probably be better off without it.

 

[standokan]

Smell also is a big part of your taste which would mean taking out both, but I still pick smell.

 

[Scarim Coral]

I would take away taste although smell would be gone too but I would take taste away first. Smell is still important to detect the smell of gas and I doubt being a food tester for posion is useful to this day.
Beside it would mean I can put up with people bad food more although I hope this doesn't mean the increase of indigestion problem.

 

[smithy_2045]

Obviously taste.

 

[omega 616]

Assuming it involves the loss of all feeling in and on the entire body, I'd give up touch. Why? Because without pain, I'd have very little to even consider being afraid of. Sure, sex would be weird without being able to feel her, but oh well.

There's a medical condition which causes this, you have to take into account other things such as hunger pains, the sphincter in your bladder hurts to tell you to go to the toilet, your body tell how hot or cold you are etc etc it would cause a lot of problems.

Granted in a fight you could go ape shit and not be affected.

To the OP there are a lot more than 5 senses, I think there are 21 of them. Things like sensing were your body parts are when your eyes are closed ... which is the one I would lose 'cos whats the point?

Hunger, bladder status or temperature aren't linked to touch, they are seperate senses.

Also, if you loose the ability to sense where your body parts are, you're going to have problems walking. If you trip, you'll never be able to react correctly how to catch yourself, if you want to grab something you always have to make sure where your hand is before trying to move it. It's just as movement impairing as would be losing your sense of balance.

[spoiler =I am just going to put this here as the reason I said what I said]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congenital_insensitivity_to_pain_with_anhidrosis[/spoiler]

I can't see it being any different.

 

[gruggins]

how about giving up fear?
that would be awesome am i right?

captcha: ninestan sogo

 

[Vicarious Reality]

My nose is nuked anyway so i can barely smell anything.
One time some year ago i went to the supermarket and it was one of the best days of my life, because somehow my nose started working again.
I stood in the store for hours just smelling things.

 

[Conza]

I chose touch, but yeah, maybe smell would go, depends, sometimes it can be pretty useful (fires, whatever).

 

[Blow_Pop]

Assuming it involves the loss of all feeling in and on the entire body, I'd give up touch. Why? Because without pain, I'd have very little to even consider being afraid of. Sure, sex would be weird without being able to feel her, but oh well.

Just because you can't feel it, it'll still hurt you - I can only imagine that not knowing when you're hurting your body/not knowing when your body have been hurt, would be extremely difficult to live with.

Half the time when my body gets hurt I don't know about it........


OT: A lot of people say smell but I'd rather not lose any of them. If I had to...touch....All it means is I can't feel what I'm touching but I can still technically touch something. Which means I could still game....

 

[Mark Flanagan]

http://www.cracked.com/article_19296_6-lies-about-human-body-you-learned-in-kindergarten.html

Umad?

Lol, I just finished reading that on cracked before coming to The Escapist.

OT: Smell, and to the people that picked Touch: really? Touch?

 

[DonMartin]

I've thought about it a lot, and I have to go with sight.

Touch is too important to me, I'd feel completely isolated and empty without it.

Smell? I love the smell of the sea too much. And pretty much everything else.

I wouldnt give up taste for anything in the world. Food and drink is one of the most enjoyable aspects of my life.

And I couldnt live without hearing. Seriously. I have problems driving sometimes, because I base so much of my awareness of my surroundings on my hearing. Also, I couldnt live without music, and even less without being able to hear a woman's voice. Or any other voice, for that matter.


But come to think of it, I woulndt be able to write anymore.. It's tough. I guess I'll still change my mind. Sometime.

 

[uguito-93]

Most likely taste. Think about it, all the others could prove to be life saving, even smell if there's a gas leak. Plus hey, eating healthy would be a lot easier if a carrot would end up tasting the same as a cheesecake.