If you lost one of your senses...

[Momiji]

Smell is pretty much worthless for the most part. BYE BYE!

I would beg to differ. Smell is important in taste, and also in making sure food is safe to eat. It also is an alert system to tell you if something is burning, or if there is a gas leak or something-- and that's just to name a few things!

I'd give up taste. Let's face it, if food was tasteless and unsatisfying, I wouldn't be tempted to eat more than I should, just enough that I'm full-- not to mention it would make eating foods that taste bad much more desirable. So it would be much better from a health standpoint, because you can avoid the foods that aren't nutritious but taste great, and eat all of the most bland, healthy food possible.

Not only that, but you can keep all of your other senses. If you lose smell, your ability to taste is strongly impacted in a negative way.

[blackmage_nuke]

I wouldnt mind losing my 5 cents

I think losing that thermomajig sense wouldnt be too bad. It wouldnt be too hard to build some type of body temperature device which beaps loudly or something when its dangerously cold or hot and in cases where you have your hand on a hot stove or something like that your pain sense will probably kick in.

[silverbow]

Taste. I'd just have to be careful to look at what I ate beforehand- and I could have a healthy diet without getting bored x)

Actually I think you could eat anything and be bored out of your skull not the other way around. I have lost my sense of taste for about a week before and it's a lot worse then you probably think it is. Everything tastes like you are eating tasteless slop. It really sucks to no end. I couldn't stand that all the food I loved now tasted like nothing.

Can't I just keep my senses and lose my ability to talk or something? I don't want to lose any of my senses. I can't see myself without any of them.

[erikramza]

Smell is pretty much worthless for the most part. BYE BYE!

I would beg to differ. Smell is important in taste, and also in making sure food is safe to eat. It also is an alert system to tell you if something is burning, or if there is a gas leak or something-- and that's just to name a few things!

Human smell is actually terrible compared to EVERY OTHER MAMMAL ON THE PLANET.
Nothing that owning a dog, and having common sense can't fix.

[Momiji]

Smell is pretty much worthless for the most part. BYE BYE!

I would beg to differ. Smell is important in taste, and also in making sure food is safe to eat. It also is an alert system to tell you if something is burning, or if there is a gas leak or something-- and that's just to name a few things!

Human smell is actually terrible compared to EVERY OTHER MAMMAL ON THE PLANET.
Nothing that owning a dog, and having common sense can't fix.

Who cares if it's worse than other mammals? It's still our most primal/instinctive sense, and it's also the only sense that does not pass through the thalamus in the brain, so it's the first sense to stimulate the brain. All other sensations pass through the thalamus, the brain's 'relay center', and sent as impulses to their proper locations in the cerebral cortex.


Not only that, but without the olfactory sense, your vomeronasal organ would also not work. That is the primary organ responsible for detecting pheromones that regulate behaviors like mating, territoriality, and aggressiveness. Now, while it is true that this is not as important to us as it is to other mammals, it still plays a role in human sexuality. Also, as I said before, without smell, your sense of taste wouldn't be very good either. Why give up two senses when you can lose one that can be beneficial to you in the long run? Also, smells also stimulate the memory more than other senses.

[rubah]

we can "see" back in time with smells. Even if you didn't see someone making popcorn five minutes ago, you still know they popped it because you can smell it. I've always thought that was kinda cool.

[erikramza]

Smell is pretty much worthless for the most part. BYE BYE!

I would beg to differ. Smell is important in taste, and also in making sure food is safe to eat. It also is an alert system to tell you if something is burning, or if there is a gas leak or something-- and that's just to name a few things!

Human smell is actually terrible compared to EVERY OTHER MAMMAL ON THE PLANET.
Nothing that owning a dog, and having common sense can't fix.

Who cares if it's worse than other mammals? It's still our most primal/instinctive sense, and it's also the only sense that does not pass through the thalamus in the brain, so it's the first sense to stimulate the brain. All other sensations pass through the thalamus, the brain's 'relay center', and sent as impulses to their proper locations in the cerebral cortex.


Not only that, but without the olfactory sense, your vomeronasal organ would also not work. That is the primary organ responsible for detecting pheromones that regulate behaviors like mating, territoriality, and aggressiveness. Now, while it is true that this is not as important to us as it is to other mammals, it still plays a role in human sexuality. Also, as I said before, without smell, your sense of taste wouldn't be very good either. Why give up two senses when you can lose one that can be beneficial to you in the long run? Also, smells also stimulate the memory more than other senses.

That's... great and all. But it doesn't make what I said untrue.
Are you sure pheromones work the same as smells? My smell is jacked up, and everything tastes bland to me; but sometimes, with certain females they just smell like they want to be smurfed. I rate foods based on how easy they are to take in (which is why I like Top Ramen so much).

[Hambone]

Probably smell. Sight, hearing, etc. are too good to lose.

[Caraliz]

my smell is jacked up, and everything tastes bland to me. I rate foods based on how easy they are to take in (which is why I like Top Ramen so much).

that is actually quite interesting. that's probably the case with everyone who eats ridiculous amounts of top ramen

also this puts your pizza thread to shame. how can you eat pizza without tasting it?

editga: also i'd probably totally lose smell or taste

[erikramza]

ah pizza. bread, crust, meat, and cheese. It's heaven in my mouth.

[Caraliz]

you put bread on your pizza?

[erikramza]

crust, my friend! the crust!

[Momiji]

That's... great and all. But it doesn't make what I said untrue.
Are you sure pheromones work the same as smells? My smell is jacked up, and everything tastes bland to me; but sometimes, with certain females they just smell like they want to be smurfed. I rate foods based on how easy they are to take in (which is why I like Top Ramen so much).

The vomeronasal organ is just as much a part of your olfactory sense as the rest of it, the part that takes in noticeable scents.

And while what I said doesn't make what you said untrue, what you said doesn't make me wrong either. The fact that you'd be losing an important method of recalling memories as well does not help. And this situation is talking about full-on anosmia, not just a jacked-up sense of smell.

I really don't understand why anyone would give up smell in favor of taste, since losing the sense of smell, as you just confirmed, makes everything taste bland. Why would you be in favor of anosmia, which would basically cause ageusia (or at least dysgeusia) as well, when you can give up your gustatory sense, which I personally see as the most disposable one?

[Meow]

I'd give up my sense of sobriety

[erikramza]

I'd give up my sense of sobriety

I second. And shall achieve in.... an hour or so, for a prolonged period.