Potential Senses

We have all learned (I hope) that we have five senses: seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, and smelling. We all understand the world around us through these senses. It's easy to think nothing of them, but I think they're the most fascinating part of life.

Our senses interpret things that exist. Sight senses light. Hearing senses vibrations in the air. Feeling, tasting, and smelling interpret physical objects in different ways. Seeing is so thoroughly integral to us that we can't imagine not being able to see. When we think of the blind, we like to think that their sense of feeling and hearing work together to create a 3D map equal to sight; that's how we treat Daredevil. But that simply isn't the case.

What got me interested in senses is the pit viper. Pit vipers have an organ that can sense heat. This was a fact I heard a number of times and simply accepted it as a random fact. But then I thought about it. They have a sense that doesn't exist in humans. They have a sense that we cannot experience. They can get information on a subject which we cannot.

This leads me to wonder, what else is possible? Our senses tell us about things that exist around us. What things are around us that we don't sense? What is possible? What about a sense of barometric pressure? It seems laughable, but is it any more laughable than sensing heat? It would be a very useful sense to know when a storm was brewing instead of us needing to observe and create almanacs and barometers. Sharks can sense electromagnetic radiation emitted from other creatures. It would be great to have that sense to avoid being snuck up on. On the subject of radiation, imagine having a built-in Geiger counter so that we would avoid radioactive locations.

This is something that probably only has use to science fiction. It would be cool to have aliens, either humanoid or not, that had different senses and understood the world in different ways. Similarly, cybernetic implants can add senses to the human body, assuming the brain could handle it. You could literally have that Geiger counter built in.

If you wanted to deconstruct fantasy and explain the magical world, this could be an interesting example of how certain beings know things that we cannot.

I will admit that it is very difficult to try to imagine new senses. The five senses are so core to our very being that thinking outside of them is a difficult task. I think a good start would be looking at our technology. Anything that exists that measures could be turned into a sense.

This leads to some very different and intriguing creatures. Think about all the potential senses out there. You may find something worth writing about.