Rank your senses

[Doctor Q]

The five classic senses are sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. Most of us have all five, although there are some forum members who don't.

Suppose you had to lose one of these senses because of an accident or medical condition, because a crazy billionaire offered you all his money to make that sacrifice, or because an evil wizard cast a spell on you. Which sense would be most important to keep? Which would you sacrifice first?

Rank the five senses from #1 (most important) to #5 (least important).

Mine: 1=sight, 2=touch, 3=hearing, 4=taste, 5=smell.

[Blue Velvet]

1 = hearing, 2 = sight, 3 = touch, 4 = taste, 5 = smell

I love music and conversation too much to give it up. Although really, you can't taste much without a sense of smell.

[119576]

1 = sight, 2 = hearing, 3 = touch, 4 = taste, 5 = smell

[Much Ado]

Balance? (etc. etc.) There are so many 'senses'.

I'd put pain at the bottom of my list (interestingly, there are some people born without pain, who can still touch and feel. But that's another story...)

[atari1356]

hearing
taste
sight
touch
smell


Although... isn't your sense of smelling tied directly to taste? So if you couldn't smell things, then your ability to taste things wouldn't work as well?

EDIT: to answer my own question:

Have you ever wondered why food loses its flavor when you have a cold? It's not your taste buds' fault. Blame your stuffed-up nose. Seventy to seventy-five percent of what we perceive as taste actually comes from our sense of smell. Taste buds allow us to perceive only bitter, salty, sweet, and sour flavors. It's the odor molecules from food that give us most of our taste sensation.

(taken from http://www.reachoutmichigan.org/funexperiments/agesubject/lessons/newton/tstesmll.html )

[calculus]

1 hearing
2 sight
3 touch
4 taste
5 smell

Can't do without music or nice things to look at ...

[PlaceofDis]

1=sight
2=hearing
3=touch
4=taste
5=smell

[Doctor Q]

Sight and hearing are very important senses, so we'd be inclined to keep them. But there's a tradeoff: society, government, schools, and people in general make many accommodations for the blind and deaf, because they understand those conditions. People without a sense of touch would be pretty much on their own to cope.

[arkitect]

Difficult. :D

Since I earn my living by creating and seeing it'll have to be:
1. Sight
2. Touch
3. Hearing
4. Any of the rest

But… if I didn't have to earn my bread:
1. Hearing — can't imagine my world without music.
2. Sight
3. Touch
4. etcetera

Hopefully this will just remain hypothetical. :o

[Lau]

Great idea for a thread.

1. Sight
2. Touch
3. Hearing
4. Smell
5. Taste

Feels weird putting taste last, as I do enjoy a pie and the taste thereof, but people I've known without a sense of smell could only really tell salt and sweet, and so if you could smell you could probably get more pleasure from food, drink, and randomly licking things. ;)

[Doctor Q]

Depending on what's in the back of the fridge, there are times I'd be glad not to have had a sense of smell. :eek:

There are certain foods for which smelling is the best part, even better than tasting. For me, Cinnabons (http://www.cinnabon.com/home.html) and coffee fall into that category.

[Blue Velvet]

There are certain foods for which smelling is the best part...


Coffee, certainly. Barbecues for me, too. Interesting herbal teas also always seem to smell far nicer than they taste as well. I'm not sure why that is...

[Iscariot]

There are actually believed to be 9 human senses.

Of the "classic" five:


Touch
Vision
Smell
Hearing
Taste


People underestimate how important touch and smell are, IMO.

[119576]

There are certain foods for which smelling is the best part, even better than tasting. For me, Cinnabons (http://www.cinnabon.com/home.html) and coffee fall into that category.

Toast. I cannot emphasise enough how much I love the smell of toast.

[SilentPanda]

1 - touch
2 - sight
3 - hearing
4 - smell
5 - taste

I use touch a lot. I rarely turn my lights on at home and feel my way around a lot. To not be able to feel a hug would be miserable. Sight would be a very close 2nd because it is nice to see what you're touching just in case. While I love my music, touch might compensate for some of it due to being able to feel vibrations. Smell is somewhat important but not as much. Taste... well if you ever saw how I eat my food you'd realize taste probably doesn't come into the picture. :)

[jessica.]

Hearing - Music is way too important to me and I'm a screamer ;) hah hah I kid...sorta.
Touch - I'm not going to dirty this thread up any more than I think necessary.
Sight - Because what good would my fancy display be if I couldn't see it?
Taste - I love tacos. Case closed.
Smell - If I cannot smell it'd be a good thing really because I'd save a ton of cash by not buying perfume.

[119576]

Hearing - Music is way too important to me and I'm a screamer ;) hah hah I kid...sorta.


Audio clips or it didn't happen.

[gauchogolfer]

I'll go with Helen Keller, who said that if she had to give up only sight or hearing, she would give up sight, because being blind takes away the world around you, being deaf takes away people.

So, my order:
1. Hearing
2. Sight
3. Smell
4. Touch
5. Taste

[vanmacguy]

Hearing - Music is way too important to me and I'm a screamer ;) hah hah I kid...sorta.
Touch - I'm not going to dirty this thread up any more than I think necessary.
Sight - Because what good would my fancy display be if I couldn't see it?
Taste - I love tacos. Case closed.
Smell - If I cannot smell it'd be a good thing really because I'd save a ton of cash by not buying perfume.


1 - Hearing - So I can hear the screamer
2 - Touch - see 1
3 - Taste - see 1
4 - Sight, damn, see 1
5 - Smell - for the perfume

Cheers.

[Much Ado]

Coffee, certainly. Barbecues for me, too. Interesting herbal teas also always seem to smell far nicer than they taste as well. I'm not sure why that is...

Fresh bread?

[Stampyhead]

Seeing as your sense of taste is directly linked to your sense of smell, it makes little sense to list taste before smell. Lose your sense of smell and you won't really be able to taste anything anymore either. Your tastebuds only handle the basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, etc. Anything more advanced than that happens through your nose.

EDIT: Oops, atari1356 already said that. Guess I should have read a bit more closely!

[Leareth]

1)Hearing
2) Sight
3)Smell
4) Touch
5) Taste

I cannot imagine not hearing loved ones and music.
then without sight how could i play video games...
smell is a big one - I love scents.

[Scarlet Fever]

hearing
touch
vision
smell
taste


Hearing and touch are on the same level, and vision is very close to them. I would very seriously consider suicide if I lost my hearing completely. If I lost my vision and my hearing, I would want to be euthanised.

[Jaffa Cake]

For me, it would have to be...


Sight – as a designer my career kind of depends on being able to see stuff.
Hearing – No music or conversation or stuff? That wouldn't do.
Taste – Tasting nice things is ace, so I would like to keep this one really.
Touch – Not really one that you think of losing, but not being able to feel stuff? That cant be good, surely.
Smell – I have a very, very poor sense of smell as it is (I can only pick up strong pongs, subtle scents are lost on me, so if I were to lose one of the five classic senses it might as well be the one I don't have much of anyway.


If it's all the same though, I'd really prefer not to go losing any at all. Ta muchly.

[Doctor Q]

If I lost my vision and my sight, I would want to be euthanised.Did you mean to say vision and hearing? Since we'll be killing you by request, it's important that we follow your instructions correctly.

[xUKHCx]

1 = hearing
2 = sight
3 = touch
4 = taste
5 = smell

you could take both smell and taste away if you are willing to pay double or at a push 1.5x

[jessica.]

Audio clips or it didn't happen.
LOL ummm
1 - Hearing - So I can hear the screamer
2 - Touch - see 1
3 - Taste - see 1
4 - Sight, damn, see 1
5 - Smell - for the perfume

Cheers.

I simply don't know how to respond to that one!

[yellow]

1) Sight
2) Sight
3) Sight
4) Hearing
5) Sight

[mpw]

1=Touch/Sight
3=Hearing
4=Smell
5=Taste

[ezekielrage_99]

Toast. I cannot emphasise enough how much I love the smell of toast.

I cleaned out the office fridge the other day, all I can say is that was a smell I could do without....


For the first time in my life I wish I couldn't smell :cool:

[119576]

I cleaned out the office fridge the other day, all I can say is that was a smell I could do without....


For the first time in my life I wish I couldn't smell :cool:

There was toast in your fridge? :confused: haha.

[saxman]

1. Hearing - I'm a musician, although possible to do without hearing, it makes it much, much more difficult. My performance career would likely be over, along with my teaching job.
2. Sight - I like seeing and am a visual learner. Difficult but not impossible though. I could still do my job and perform, but it would be a challenge.
3. Touch - I like touching, but again, I could still do what I love most without it.
4. Smell - Smell is good, but see no. 3.
5. Taste - not that I dislike food, but I think I could live well taking a little pill with all my nutrients and be fine.

[rdowns]

1. Common
2. Sight
3. Touch
4. Hearing
5. Taste

[psychofreak]

Sight - Life would be so difficult without it
Hearing - I could get by, but lose a lot of fun
Touch
Taste
Smell

Toughie, but I think that list is right for me...

[119576]

1. Common

There's always one, isn't there! :rolleyes:

[Doctor Q]

We use all of our senses when we eat. As we know, smell is part of taste. The look of a scrumptious meal can be enough to make you smile. Part of the eating sensation is touch: feeling the steam coming out of your soup, the harder skin and softer insides of an apple (the fruit kind, not the computer kind!), the coolness of an iced drink, the magic disappearing act of cotton candy. Hearing isn't quite as important, perhaps, but the crunch of that apple is part of the experience, and I'd hate to miss that slurping sound when you get to the bottom of the milkshake.

Yes, eating just won't be the same with fewer senses.

[Scarlet Fever]

Did you mean to say vision and hearing? Since we'll be killing you by request, it's important that we follow your instructions correctly.

is alertness a sense? I'd love to have a bit more of it :rolleyes:

[Leareth]

1. Common
2. Sight
3. Touch
4. Hearing
5. Taste

Ouch
took me a while to get it... :o:)

[Highcroft]

1. Sight
2. Hearing
3. Touch
4. Smell
5. Taste

[iRachel]

Good thread, Dr. Q!

1) hearing
2) sight
3) touch
4) smell
5) taste

[David G.]

1. Sight
2. Hearing
3. Touch
4. Taste
5. Smell

[EricNau]

1. Sight
2. Hearing
3. Touch
4. Taste
5. Smell

[Fearless Leader]

1. Hearing (took a test at school and I was ranked at top 1% of people my age at frequency range)
2. touch
3. smell
4. taste
5. sight

first 4 great, last one sucks.
left eye 20/100 (i think, it was getting better but now its much worse), 20/30 in right. On top of all that I'm colorblind. Which I've read gives me an advantage at night/low light over non-color blind people.

edit: that above is what are best to worse.

what order of least wanting to loose them.

1. Hearing
2. sight
3. touch
4. smell
5. taste

(cause if you loose smell you loose most of taste)

[noaccess]

1. sight
2. hearing
3. touch
4. smell
5. taste

[scotthayes]

1. sight
2. hearing
3. touch
4. taste
5. smell

I've have a friend who lost his sense of smell through a brain injury after getting beaten up. he can still tell the difference between bitter, sour and sweet but not taste. So if you lose you sense of smell you also lose taste, bit of a sod really.

[rdowns]

Ouch
took me a while to get it... :o:)

There's a reason I ranked it #1. ;)

[scotthayes]

There's a reason I ranked it #1. ;)

OK, me stupid today. Don't get it. :confused:

[iBlue]

^ the irony!
1. Common
2. Sight
3. Touch
4. Hearing
5. Taste
:D




Mine would be:

1. Sight
2. Touch
3. Hearing
4. Taste
5. Smell

I am a total child in that the dark scares me, I think I would be terrified of being blind. Sense of touch is very important to me too because, well, DUH!

I don't want to lose any of them though. kthxai!

[scotthayes]

^ the irony!

:D



OK, that loud clanging sound was the penny dropping. Wow I feel stupid. How the hell did I not see that??? Must be having a blonde day to day :D

[Doctor Q]

As any scientist can tell you, women have extra senses like telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition. Men counter that with their innate ability to sense the correct direction without ever having to stop the car to ask for help. ;)

[OwlsAndApples]

1. Sight (sooo very very important to me)
2. Touch
3. Hearing (on the one hand i'm learning bsl, on the other ... no more music :eek:)
4. Taste
5. Smell

[Slip]

OK, me stupid today. Don't get it. :confused:

Don't worry, took me long enough :)
(Hint: try inserting sense after the common ;))
Mine would be:
1) Sight - life would be too bland to endure if I didn't have that
2) Hearing - I couldn't bare to loose music and conversation
3) Touch - whats life without feeling (did that sound poetic :cool:)
4) Smell - more important than taste I think, and can take you back to a memory with I love
5) Taste - I can live without it tbh

[ezekielrage_99]

There was toast in your fridge? :confused: haha.

Nope no toast....

We had the following outstanding out of date items in the office fridge:
- Coffee that had a used by date of 2001
- Fruit and veg with it's own ecosystem
- Cheese.... or it could have been mushrooms the jury is still out on that one
- And the most foul smelling jar of olives from 1998, seriously you could have bottled this stuff and sold it as Biological Warfare for Iran.

[119576]

Nope no toast....

We had the following outstanding out of date items in the office fridge:
- Coffee that had a used by date of 2001
- Fruit and veg with it's own ecosystem
- Cheese.... or it could have been mushrooms the jury is still out on that one
- And the most foul smelling jar of olives from 1998, seriously you could have bottled this stuff and sold it as Biological Warfare for Iran.

Grim. How could it have gotten so bad? I have a slight case of OCD where my fridge is concerned.

[Cassie]

1. Hearing
2. Sight
3. Touch
4. Smell
5. Taste

I love my music way too much to give it up. And I'd rather lose my sense of taste then smell, because then I could eat foods that were good for me without tasting them. :)

[ezekielrage_99]

Grim. How could it have gotten so bad? I have a slight case of OCD where my fridge is concerned.

I have aspergers so that's why I cleaned out the fridge the week I started in this job.

[Schtumple]

1: Sight
2: Taste
3: Smell
4: Hearing
5: Touch

[raggedjimmi]

I really can't say.

My job involves both music and graphic design.

I'd put smell at 5. Everything before it I just don't know.