Would you rather be illiterate or have no legs?

thatsTheCatch , 11 months ago

Depends what country I’m in.

A developing country with poor education and lots of agricultural/manual labour jobs? Illiterate.

A developed nation with good education and knowledge work jobs that can be done even without legs? No legs.

A developed nation is also likely to be more wheelchair accessible, which is how I’m assuming I would get around.

PlexSheep , 11 months ago

A developed nation with good education would make it pretty easy to learn how to read.

neamhsplach OP , 11 months ago

For the purposes of the argument, you are you. You are in your current situation. You wake up tomorrow morning with either a lack of legs or a lack of reading ability. Which is preferable?

ryan , 11 months ago

I cannot discuss on the basis that I gave up my literacy for legs. 🦵 🦵

Seriously though... I think I would rather be illiterate. I could learn how to read, and in the meantime there are assistive screen reader apps and apps that let you scan something to read it aloud.

While there are bionic legs and I would love the chance to have tall robot legs 🦿🦿, I haven't done enough research on the long term effects of walking around with two fully bionic legs, or how much leftover leg is required to attach a bionic leg, etc.

ryan , 11 months ago

Self-reply because it occurred to me... if I had to be illiterate and could never learn to read or write again, I'm absolutely choosing the no legs option. My above answer is entirely predicated on the fact that I'm very good at picking up other languages and other alphabet systems, and therefore could re-learn fairly quickly... but if that's not an option then I'm going legless and saving money on dress pants. Shorts for life 🩳