Question

Human beings do not have the most sensitive or acute sensory systems in the animal world. Some bats can hear frequencies that exceed 100,000 Hertz, dolphins receive auditory messages from great distances, and cats can probably localize sounds better than we do because they can rotate their ears. Rats see better at night than we can, eagles have more acute distance vision, and horses have a wider visual field. Rabbits have more taste buds than we do, and many animals have a keener sense of smell.



This exercise asks you to consider how you would perceive the world if your senses were more acute or sensitive than they actually are. Respond in 1 or 2 sentences per question.





1. List a few things you would see, that you cannot see now, if your sense of vision were “better.”













2. List a few things you would hear, that you cannot hear now, if you could hear “better.”













3. If your chemical senses--taste and smell--were more sensitive, how might you be affected?













4. Why are our senses no more and no less acute or sensitive than they are?













5. If human beings continue to be urban creatures for the next few million years, in what ways might our sensory systems evolve or change?

Answer 1

Answer:

1. I would see x-rays, ultraviolet rays, and radio waves if my vision were “better.”
2. I would hear a woman crying a mile away, I would hear sonar waves and dog whistles if I could hear “better.”
3. I might be able to “taste” the candle fragrances when I walk into a Yankee Candle store, I wouldn’t need seasonings or extra salt on my food, and I could smell one drop of perfume in a ten story building
4. The world around us is made of energy and for humans to be aware of the world around us we need a way for that energy to get into the brain.  Sensation is the process by which special receptors in our sense organs are activated, which allows energy from outside to become neural signals in our brain.
5. I think that if we continue to connect via text and internet, and have fewer direct human connections, our sense of touch and ability to receive sensations which allow us to perceive human pheromones and visual cues may dissipate. We would become less sensitive to picking up on the non-verbal visual, touch, scent-related cues in our relationships with other humans.  That, I think, would be the saddest change.

Explanation: