No Pain No Gain

[Infected Mushroom]

Please consider this very simple hypothetical:

You have a one time offer to gain a super power with no strings attached. The power is this: You will no longer feel any amount of physical pain and physical discomfort ever again. From this moment on, your body will only experience pleasurable or neutral sensations.

The advantage of this is that if you ever find yourself in a violent accident and/or become targeted by violence you won't feel a thing. Also, should you get really ill (ranging from simple stomach aches to life-crippling illnesses), you won't suffer.

You are not invulnerable, your vulnerability is still the same. It's just that your pain receptors will be "turned off."

The downside is that pain is "your friend" trying to tell you that your body is in trouble. So THEORETICALLY you could accidentally get burned and not realise it as it gets worse. Or... you may also not become aware that your health is in trouble without check ups.

Do you accept The Gift? Or do you reject it?

Why?

I would reject the gift because I think physical pain and suffering in moderate amounts, has its value. It's a way for the body to warn you that something is wrong. Also, if you remove pain, then you'd be denying yourself the entire extent of the human experience.

[Umbratellus]

I mean, it’s not a “superpower” it’s a real neurological condition people can be afflicted with and they generally end up doing things like chewing their own tongue off by accident as a result. Hard pass from me.

[Washington Resistance Army]

There's exactly zero upside to taking the offer so no.

[A m e n r i a]

The "power" itself is stupid. It should come with super durability or it's a hard pass.

[Azania-]

The guys offering you this power are literally just going to give you a real-life neurological disorder. No thanks.

[Page]

No, as others have pointed out, that is a real disease called CIPA and it sucks. Among more serious problems, I would end up accidentally ripping out all my piercings, and I really like my piercings.

A more awesome version of this power would be the ability to snooze pain that you have already acknowledged for intervals you can choose.

[The Holy Therns]

Oh, I saw this on House, it sucks.

[The New California Republic]

People are actually in danger from having CIP, as they are unaware of when they have got their hand on a hot surface for example and serious damage often occurs before they notice, as usually it's only when they can smell their skin burning that they realise something is wrong, and by that stage deep tissue damage has resulted. Perhaps far more seriously, pain is a way for the body to tell a person that there might be something wrong internally, for example if there is a broken bone, or more seriously: many types of cancer.

People who cannot feel pain have markedly reduced lifespans as a result, with many of them actually dying in childhood due to serious medical conditions going unnoticed.

[Keira]

Oh, I've seen this House MD episode!

Although my actions beg to differ, what with the daily use of Codeine and all, I'd choose to keep my pain receptotentacles. I mean, I haven't had my appendix removed yet. What if it gets clogged up and I don't do anything about it because I can't feel it? That can kill. And there are many other examples.

[Page]

Oh, I saw this on House, it sucks.

CIPA teen girl: I have a scar on my butt from when I sat on the stove as a kid, wanna see?

House: Yeah

Now that I think about it, House got creepy with teenagers a lot, like hermaphrodite model girl and the clinic patient who crushed on him.

[Ethel mermania]

No thank you, as others have said, it's a curse.

[Infected Mushroom]

I understand what you’re saying but I wouldn’t say there are zero upsides…

For example, if you were forced into the military in a future war and let’s say you ended up shot, this ability would allow you to trudge on (though you might still die, at least you’re still up). Alternate universe you would be bawling and incapacitated by sheer agony and it could be hours…

Another example is when you experience those absolutely awful stomach pains. Like the ones where it feels like you can’t get out of bed at all. Well… no more of those.

Would you have to be more careful? Possibly.

[FNU]

Possibly? It's an absolute. Everything in life from sleeping to even trimming your nails would be a hassle because you'd have to make sure you haven't accidently injured yourself. Immunity from pain is the worst thing to wish for, because it's pain that keeps us in the know about the status of our bodies, not feeling pain is a dangerous thing.

[The New California Republic]

I understand what you’re saying but I wouldn’t say there are zero upsides…

For example, if you were forced into the military in a future war and let’s say you ended up shot, this ability would allow you to trudge on (though you might still die, at least you’re still up). Alternate universe you would be bawling and incapacitated by sheer agony and it could be hours…

Another example is when you experience those absolutely awful stomach pains. Like the ones where it feels like you can’t get out of bed at all. Well… no more of those.

Would you have to be more careful? Possibly.

Outside of some extremely narrow circumstances, the consequences of feeling no pain are overwhelmingly negative. And if anything a soldier feeling pain due to injuries in war is actually a net positive thing, as it allows medics to instantly get a quick grasp on how serious a conscious soldier's injuries are, which may not be readily apparent from an external exam.

[Resilient Acceleration]

The only way I'll accept this is if we have developed a pain management information system likely involving a brain-computer interface or something more advaned, along the lines of Ray Kurzweil's predictions, that outperforms humans' pain system.

[The Holy Therns]

I understand what you’re saying but I wouldn’t say there are zero upsides…

For example, if you were forced into the military in a future war and let’s say you ended up shot, this ability would allow you to trudge on (though you might still die, at least you’re still up). Alternate universe you would be bawling and incapacitated by sheer agony and it could be hours…

Another example is when you experience those absolutely awful stomach pains. Like the ones where it feels like you can’t get out of bed at all. Well… no more of those.

Would you have to be more careful? Possibly.

These are not upsides.

[Nono germani]

if im getting assasinated im gonna be having a jolly good time.

[Heloin]

Another example is when you experience those absolutely awful stomach pains. Like the ones where it feels like you can’t get out of bed at all. Well… no more of those.

Yeah i want to not know there’s something wrong in my guts until i just drop dead one day.

[Dakini]

People who can't feel pain exist and they usually die from something fucking stupid because their body doesn't tell them that something hurts and it all goes horribly wrong. They spend their lives dislocating their hips in their sleep and burning their mouths when they eat because their body doesn't tell them to either roll over when they're laying uncomfortably or that food is too hot to eat.

[Nono germani]

nothing ventured nothing gained- ah hell gordon

[Esternial]

I'm guessing you've seen Escape Room 2.

[Kerwa]

Another example is when you experience those absolutely awful stomach pains. Like the ones where it feels like you can’t get out of bed at all. Well… no more of those.

Yeah, I’ve never had stomach pains so bad I couldn’t get out of bed, but if I did I would call a Dr. Because that sounds dangerous.

[Vikanias]

Reject. Although it’d be nice to feel no pain it has its health consequences. For an example I could have cancer and not feel a thing. And if I didn’t get checked up I’d die.

[Ifreann]

This isn't a superpower, it's neurological damage.

Oh hey, look, everyone else has already pointed this out. Good work, gang.

---

I understand what you’re saying but I wouldn’t say there are zero upsides…

For example, if you were forced into the military in a future war and let’s say you ended up shot, this ability would allow you to trudge on (though you might still die, at least you’re still up). Alternate universe you would be bawling and incapacitated by sheer agony and it could be hours…

So for this "power" to be beneficial, I would have to be drafted into the military in a country that doesn't have the draft, sent to fight in a war for a country that has a policy of neutrality, get shot in such a specific way that I would be physically able to get up and walk off to get help but only if I could overcome the terrible pain of this injury, and also not have any medics nearby who could shoot me up with painkillers or just stretcher me off the front lines.

And for this highly specific and limited benefit, I get the downside of routinely injuring myself accidentally because I can never tell if something I'm doing is harming me unless I can see the damage.

Another example is when you experience those absolutely awful stomach pains. Like the ones where it feels like you can’t get out of bed at all. Well… no more of those.

That's not a normal thing that happens to people. See a doctor.

[San Lumen]

There is nothing to gain from taking the offer so the answer is no. If it came with super strength or invulnerability I’d say yes.