Mr Spinkles
Mr
In another thread, the existence of God was being discussed, and someone came up with the analogy that a faithless man denying the ability of others to perceive/detect God is as pathetic as a tasteless man denying the existence of taste. Taste can never be proven to the tasteless man, and because he never experiences it himself he flat out denies it is real, or so the analogy goes.
However, if this tasteless man happened to appreciate science, we could indeed make the existence of taste clear to him. Here's how:
The tasteless man knows of but four senses: touch, sight, sound, and smell. If we design an experiment in which it is impossible to tell the difference between different drinks using these four senses, and yet everyone but the tasteless man can tell the difference between the drinks with high degrees of accuracy anyway, we will have proven that a fifth sense--this supposed "taste" sense--exists which the tasteless man does not possess.
The above paragraph should be sufficient, but I'll outline a detailed way of actually performing this experiment anyway.
1) Acquire some apple juice and some orange juice (no pulp). Add water and chemically alter the juices so that their textures are not perceivably different, and make sure they have the same temperature. By doing this, no one, including the tasteless man, will be able to distinguish between the apple juice or the orange juice by their sense of touch.
2) Use food coloring to make the two liquids appear the exact same color, or simply blindfold the subjects in the experiment. Make sure the cups of juice are labeled Apple or Orange juice on folded slips of paper that are not in plain view. By doing this, no one, including the T.M. (tasteless man) will be able to tell apart the apple juice and the orange juice by sight.
3) Our sense of hearing is not a factor, as orange and apple juice sound the same.
4) Make sure all the subjects have clothespins pinching their noses shut. Also, when they taste the liquids, each subject is to hold his breath, stick out his tongue, and dip it into the juice, thereby preventing any possibility of smelling the juice via the mouth (apple and orange juice don't have a very powerful aroma anyway).
5) To perform the experiment, simply have a bunch of people (including the T.M.), under the contraints outlined above, dip their tongues in apple or orange juice at random. Ask them whether they think the liquid was apple or orange juice, and record their answers over as many trials as you wish.
Predictions:
1) If the T.M. is correct and there is no such thing as a fifth sense called 'taste' that relies on sensory organs in the tongue, everyone should identify the liquid as apple/orange juice correctly about 50% of the time (the same % probability of getting it right by random guessing).
2) If the T.M. is wrong, and taste does exist, the T.M. should get it right about 50% of the time (as in #1). However, everyone else should correctly identify the liquids at a rate consistently higher than 50%.
Results: In this experiment, the T.M. would probably guess correctly about 50% of the time, and everyone else would easily be able to correctly identify apple or orange juice 100% of the time (or very close to that) simply by tasting it.
Conclusion: The T.M. can now clearly see that everyone else has a special sense besides sight, hearing, smell, and touch, that allow them to consistently distinguish between apple and orange juice. The sensory organs responsible for this fifth sense must reside in the tongue.
The above it just one of MANY ways we could prove the existence of taste, even to someone who doesn't have taste, using science. A further conclusion can be drawn: if supernatural senses existed, like the ability to sense spirits or other supernatural entities, it should be possible to prove this using science (even to people who do not have these senses).
However, if this tasteless man happened to appreciate science, we could indeed make the existence of taste clear to him. Here's how:
The tasteless man knows of but four senses: touch, sight, sound, and smell. If we design an experiment in which it is impossible to tell the difference between different drinks using these four senses, and yet everyone but the tasteless man can tell the difference between the drinks with high degrees of accuracy anyway, we will have proven that a fifth sense--this supposed "taste" sense--exists which the tasteless man does not possess.
The above paragraph should be sufficient, but I'll outline a detailed way of actually performing this experiment anyway.
1) Acquire some apple juice and some orange juice (no pulp). Add water and chemically alter the juices so that their textures are not perceivably different, and make sure they have the same temperature. By doing this, no one, including the tasteless man, will be able to distinguish between the apple juice or the orange juice by their sense of touch.
2) Use food coloring to make the two liquids appear the exact same color, or simply blindfold the subjects in the experiment. Make sure the cups of juice are labeled Apple or Orange juice on folded slips of paper that are not in plain view. By doing this, no one, including the T.M. (tasteless man) will be able to tell apart the apple juice and the orange juice by sight.
3) Our sense of hearing is not a factor, as orange and apple juice sound the same.
4) Make sure all the subjects have clothespins pinching their noses shut. Also, when they taste the liquids, each subject is to hold his breath, stick out his tongue, and dip it into the juice, thereby preventing any possibility of smelling the juice via the mouth (apple and orange juice don't have a very powerful aroma anyway).
5) To perform the experiment, simply have a bunch of people (including the T.M.), under the contraints outlined above, dip their tongues in apple or orange juice at random. Ask them whether they think the liquid was apple or orange juice, and record their answers over as many trials as you wish.
Predictions:
1) If the T.M. is correct and there is no such thing as a fifth sense called 'taste' that relies on sensory organs in the tongue, everyone should identify the liquid as apple/orange juice correctly about 50% of the time (the same % probability of getting it right by random guessing).
2) If the T.M. is wrong, and taste does exist, the T.M. should get it right about 50% of the time (as in #1). However, everyone else should correctly identify the liquids at a rate consistently higher than 50%.
Results: In this experiment, the T.M. would probably guess correctly about 50% of the time, and everyone else would easily be able to correctly identify apple or orange juice 100% of the time (or very close to that) simply by tasting it.
Conclusion: The T.M. can now clearly see that everyone else has a special sense besides sight, hearing, smell, and touch, that allow them to consistently distinguish between apple and orange juice. The sensory organs responsible for this fifth sense must reside in the tongue.
The above it just one of MANY ways we could prove the existence of taste, even to someone who doesn't have taste, using science. A further conclusion can be drawn: if supernatural senses existed, like the ability to sense spirits or other supernatural entities, it should be possible to prove this using science (even to people who do not have these senses).