response 15 of 62:

Jan 18 19:42 UTC 2006

re resp:14: You could live without your tongue.  Maybe you couldn't 
live as well.  You'd lose most of your sense of taste/smell, and it 
would be difficult to chew your food.  You couldn't talk as well.  You 
would have to adapt a great deal to the loss.  But you could live that 
way.

Your appendix has less obvious functionality.  A lot of people live 
without them, and no one knows if there is any way in which their lives 
are impeded.

By contrast, your heart has more obvious functionality.  There are no 
known cases of anyone surviving for any period of time at all without 
one.

So, one might say that one doesn't need the appendix, has use for the 
tongue, and absolutely needs the heart.  There are varying degrees of 
need.