If you had to choose one, would you rather be Blind for life or Deaf for life?
Pretty clear choice, IMO. Your brain gets more input from your eyes compared to your other senses.
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Well, this is interesting.
I was actually quoting a "fact" by several of my teachers (i.e. ophthalmologists) during college. They usually quote a figure too, which is typically "80% of the brain's input."
However, you asked for scientific proof, so I set off to find it.
A Google search provided lots and lots of "80%" links, but no hard science. A Google Scholar search also turned up zilch.
So, I hit some books - two physiology and three ophthalmology ones. Also zilch.
Further googling reveals these two guys to be the source of the 80%-ish figure... both in pop-sci books.
So yeah, I got nuthin'.
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That doesn't make any sense.
However, some next possible questions could be:
Would you rather have a humongous, inflated penis that could never be used for sex, or a tiny, microscopic penis?
Would you rather have AIDS, or Cancer?
Would you rather lose an arm, or a leg?
Would you have rather took the red pill, or the blue pill? (i'm not even sure if this last sentence makes any sense, grammatically speaking)
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Those who choose humongous and arm are gonna be sad their whole life
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Blue pill, red pill, that's THE question...
Red pill, get high. Blue pill, get erection...
But then, there's this infamous, cut dialog:
Neo: The Trinity who cracked the IRS d-base?
Trinity: That was a long time ago.
Neo: I just thought you were a guy.
Trinity: That was a long time ago too.
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If I were deaf I couldn't listen to music for the rest of my life, not to mention I couldn't hear things around me and many other stuff. And I'm too lazy to learn sign language and how to read from people's mouth.
If I were blind I couldn't play games or enjoy porn, not to mention there are lot of other things I'd be missing out on.
So if I had to choose I'd pick third option, which is death.
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No you wouldn't lol...
Why the hell would you choose death?
"Death is so final, yet life is full of possibilities."
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No, it's not. I have to listen to people screaming for nothing all day (human nature, I guess?). I wouldn't voluntarily listen to women acting terribly by randomly yelling.
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I'd rather be dead. What's the point of living if you can't listen to music or look at beautiful things. Like cats.
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You can still feel the cuddles and purrs from a kitty if it is close to you and loving on you! You don't need to see that to know that your kitteh thinks you are it's hooman.
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I've been giving this a lot of thought honestly and i really don't know what to choose.
I mean, if i'd go deaf, i could still watch movies, read and play video games, and most importantly, i could actually see stuff, making it easy to walk and stuff...but then again, i believe being deaf somehow also ruins your ability to speak and that's a big downside. It's true, nobody knows you're deaf until they know, but when they know, it just gives you that feel that you're handicapped and i'd say you won't do well in the society.
Being blind however, permanently take s away lots of happiness from you, knowing that you'll never be able to even see a familiar face ever again, and you can't hide it, but i believe that blind people are more socially accepted, considering that they can have a conversation with anybody, not only with the people who know a certain sign language and so on.
Therefore, i have no idea what to choose.
Edit: Oh, and did i mention blind people are cooler? They always wear sunglasses for god's sake.
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But Sterling, you've blown out your eardrums already!
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Now these replies just anger my drunk self....
How can you NOT live without music?
This is just...
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I'd take being able to hear music over being able to play video games... although that's not say I'd pick being blind over being deaf.
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Simple: for some people, music brings joy, soothes the soul, makes shitty days a bit better....
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This. That being said, I'd rather not be blind either. So I'll go for mute. :D
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Yes,being mute wouldn't be as bad as the others :D but that wasn't an option either xD
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If mute was an option, i'd definitely take that. I could deal with not talking. It'd drive me crazy at first. But at some point, sign language and text would be my go to for when I want to talk anyways. So i'll forget about speaking. Plus there's machines that say the stuff you type into them.
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A bit silly of a question. :P
I'd rather be deaf, of course.
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i'd be deaf so i could ignore people ranting and talking to me.
well, i already do that but i would have an excuse.
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If you want, but let your significant other pick up your clothes then. Otherwise, you might come up with weird combinations. ;)
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Deaf, I can still play games ... I'd just have to read all of the subtitles.
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You just asked a bunch of gamers if they would rather be blind (ergo, never play games again) or deaf (play games w/o sound). There seems to be a clear winner in this scenario :P.
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I'd say deaf, there's an outside chance I could get an cochlear implant after all depending on how I went deaf. Darn those bad guys!
Plus after years of standing too close (read, perfect distance from) huge stacks of amps I'm partially deaf anyway. I would miss music and enjoying sound with my visual stimuli,but I'd live.
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I'd be deaf.
But perhaps we can be blind but learn echolocation? :p
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Both,that way i do not have to hear all the bullshit or see Gabens ugly ass anymore.
Though i think most people would choose deaf as you can still due a lot being deaf including some gaming
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I would rather be blind.
Sight allows us to interact with STUFF and THINGS. Many of these things can be learnt to be interacted with even while blind.
While hearing allows us to interact with PEOPLE. If you cannot hear people - then you are virtually a prisoner in your own body and cannot interact with people easily.
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you know there's face emotions, lip reading or hand gestures (including a lot of languages on this last one) and writing, right?
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Yes there is. But you know how well people are at reading body language like that? Not so good. If there is plenty of misunderstandings as it is with all of our senses; then how many more misunderstandings would there be if we were reliant on body language? Besides, people are selfish and lazy - very few people you know would be willing to put their time and effort into learning sign language just to deal with you.
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That is true, but being blind will make you dependent on other people, even on strangers. It will take years for you to become somewhat independent and that is if you work hard for it and have luck/talent. I've a blind friend, I know some blind people, they can't move on their own, it's not safe, either because they become an easy target for theft or something worse, or they get lost. The stories of people using echolocation and such things are about people that have practiced and practiced it for years and even being able to use echolocation won't get you very far, it's not the same as having your eyesight. Also, did you know that people forget what colors are? how they look? my friend forgot what color is the sky after being blind for like 2 years "my friends tell me the sky is blue, but I don't even remember what blue looks like anymore"; you should'd seen the faces of the other people that were there (also blind). And I could go on, but KeeperOfMonsters gave very good examples.
Now, I also know and have treated with deaf people, I even learnt the sign language; you know why deaf people tend to get more lonely than the blind? because they don't need anyone to keep living their normal lives, they don't need to have someone behind them guiding them, telling them there's a step there to watch out for. Also, did you know the deaf have their own culture? it's more of a born-deaf thing, 'tho. And "how well people are at reading body language like that?", well, the deaf one is who is gonna read body language, and just as the blind heightens their hearing, the deaf heightens what they can see, details and such that we eye-sighted people take for granted or that our brain sends it to the background info that we don't pay much attention to. If a deaf wants to communicate with lazy people or strangers that don't know the sign language, then there's writing, they could take a small notebook to everywhere they go or use their tablet/smartphone with an app that reads out loud text, and they'll learn to type really fast in no time as they will be doing that very often and it was an ability they probably already had.
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You can still speak even if deaf, tho, and you can learn to read lips allowing you to guess responses. Being blind instantly takes away all face and body cues, making all speech you can still listen to equivalent of electric machine generated "voice"...
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If we loose our sight it is not that significant of a loss. Chances are we have seen or experienced most of the things visually we could by the time we reach young adulthood. But being without the ability to talk with other people would leave you in a very lonely situation.
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Sorry, but you obviously don't know what you are talking about....
I wear glasses - and I can't do sh*t without them. And even though I can orient myself in familiar places - I can't cook, or read or write (braille is an option, but it's pretty much an equivalent of learning new language, even living aside limited options of use of this), or even just go anywhere without that aid. But to be completely blind and can't even distinguish between light or dark...
My aunt have this genetic problem where her eyesight deteriorated with age to the point that she is legally blind (without a possibility of ever fixing it with anything) - and she used to be a teacher, teaching language to little pricks in school. And she loved to knit and was really darn good at that, and liked a little gardening... And now she can't do anything she used to, not any one of her favorite things. And she can't go out in the city without some assistance (how would you distinguish a bus rout without asking other people?), and she can't go shopping along (ever tried picking up anything in the store with your eyes closed all the way?), she can't live along (not that she have to, but anyway) - she needs assistance. Yes, there are possibilities of modifying your house for blind people - but it's not easy and it cost a lot of money. And speaking of money - government disability paycheck is not enough to have a decent living with that, and been blind your possibilities of earning income are next to naught.
If I were to be blind - I would rather be born with that and learn to deal with it from the beginning. In modern society we depends on the eyesight too much to lose it. Deaf would be hard, no kidding - but much easier to deal with and less detrimental to your independence. And about talking... Well, smartphones, tablets, and even an old pen and paper can help you with that! Talking to strangers is overrated, and with your close ones you can still rely on body language etc. Not as easy or fast as just plain talking - but easier than you would think.
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I have a masters degree in psychology as well as counseling certification. I minored in sensation and perception and it's psychology. I work with people who have disabilities. Those who's disabilities came from from natural live events, military veterans and others. From my own observations, people who are blind have a major initial shock - but those people are better able to adjust AND have healthy growing relationships. Those who are deaf tend to be ok at first but eventually most of them live very solitary lives because they are not able to connect with people as easily as they could before. I think I am well qualified to comment on this topic.
If Helen Keller could learn to cook and other blind people can have relatively normal lives - I believe that is enough proof in of itself that being without sight is not as difficult as you make it out to be. I think if anything, it is a matter of attitude whether or not you think it would be possible to live life without vision.
Even family members would loose patience while trying to deal with a deaf person and the requirement to learn sign language. Your friends probably would not have the balls to do it - be honest, people are selfish and lazy.
To prevent this discussion from degrading any further, go and do the research yourself. Ask people who have lost their sight after they had it and what it takes to survive and how they feel.
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Well, good for you (really truly), I can only respect people who have brains to get all this crazy stuff - and on professional level no less.
I'm not questioning your qualifications, and I have no degree in psychology or related fields, but I'm speaking from my personal (and my family) experience, so I KNOW what it takes and how that feels, at least from one side of the table. And I know what it takes from family members of blind person to deal with that too. Btw - at one point breaking my glasses left me as close to be blind as possible without actually losing it completely, for about a week. Not the best of memories I'll tell you. And it was when I was wearing only -5,5. Now it's -7 both eyes... About been deaf - yes, I never had that experience (and hope will never have), but having to move to another country at 29 and not able to communicate with other people (outside my family) for quite a while because of language barrier comes close enough - and without a "benefit" of people been more willing to help disabled person than some foreigner who can't understand them or talk to them. And (later) I worked in customer service and had an opportunity to deal with both blind and deaf people, and saw firsthand how regular people in everyday environment respond to both of those disabilities in others - and how those disabled react to some of that.
Helen Keller is an outstanding example - but people like that are rare (btw, didn't know she cooked). And I don't mean her disability - but her ability to overcome it. But I'm talking about your average Joe, regular person who doesn't have balls of titanium and will of steel. And btw - relatively normal would be an operational term in both disabilities in question. At least from my POV. But again - I have nothing but a personal experience to talk about, so I'm somewhat biased here.
And as for friends... Real friends will stick with you, and those who fell off - were they really friends or just acquaintances? And yes, people are selfish and lazy - how many would deal with needing to accommodate a blind person? No more invitations to movie nights or ball games, shopping sprees (for ladies) etc... Works on both conditions in question.
But again - I talk from personal experience, personal POV, and certainly biased. After all - to each his/her own.
So best regards to you - on both personal and professional level! Peace!
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As the maxim goes: "90% of life is your attitude and 10% of it is what happens to us".
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I'd rather be blind. Then i couldn't see people and that would calm my social anxiety.
Maybe i could learn Echolocation and see in a different way/
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I'd choose to be blind in one eye and deaf in one ear.
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I do like your sense of humor and lateral thinking!
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I was going to say the same thing. On the one hand, you lose sound localization and depth perception. But on the other hand you get to wear a cool eye patch and pretend to be Van Gogh so it all evens out.
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Well you're asking a bunch of people that love games... games that need eyesight (yes, there are games for the blind, but not the same thing!), the answer will obviously be deafness over blindness for most of the people here xD
Now, if you asked deafness over a hand, voice, legs or most of your fingers... that would be interesting.
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If you were held at gunpoint and given the choice of either being blinded for the rest of your life, or deaf for the rest of your life, which would you choose. And there would be NO chance of miracle surgery later in life because the bad guys would make sure you stayed that way.
Personally I would choose deafness over blindness because I could still play games if I couldn't hear but I wouldn't be able to if I couldnt' see.
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