CMV: The ability to speak with animals would be a useless superpower.

Posted by u/ThisIsMyGameAccount on r/changemyview

Original post via Teddit

A friend and I were having the debate of animal talking vs fluent in every language. He was team animal talking, I’m team fluency.

Here’s my argument. First, Being fluent opens a lot of possibilities for personal gain. Second, talking to animals would be a novelty that makes you a circus act. Third, we can already communicate with animals through body language and vocalization, and animals would not be very interesting. What does a dog have to say? Most importantly, You have to assume that gaining the power to speak to animals makes all animals fluent in your language. Otherwise you’ll just be speaking with simple creatures. It’s be like having a convo with a toddler.

Response by u/no_fluffies_please

If we’re comparing the ability to speak with animals with the ability to speak any language, it might be a matter of personal preference. Let’s compare the pro’s and cons for 3 different lifestyles:

Alice: Alice is someone who would primarily use their power for personal gain, and she has no qualms making it her primary form of income.

Bob: Bob is a laid back man who has his life otherwise figured out and would mostly use his power to enrich his life.

Carol: Carol is a secret government agent straight out of fiction. She uses her abilities primarily for her unique role and to catch adversaries off guard.

This took way longer than I expected. I’m also writing this with the assumption that Alice, Bob, and Carol are Americans, I imagine there would be different benefits for this from other countries. TL;DR, speaking with animals is a truly unique ability that opens many doors. Speaking any language is somewhat niche and marginally/situationally better than normal translators or technology.