The Galactic Question Center

Memories. A week of talking to rats is worth nothing. It is better to pick the longer lasting option.
 

I think being able to chat with another species would be an eye opening experience. We view our world through the eyes of what being human is.
To see the world through the eyes of a rat, would probably open new avenues into so many areas.
 

I'd give anything to have vivid memories of my childhood, so I vote for better memory!

A week with rodents just isn't long enough to convince me to choose otherwise.
 

Make it talking hamsters and I'm in. Rats are just kind of gross.
 

without the memories there would be no way of proving that rats ever talked...but the slow decline of the event into myth and fable would be nice. melancholy, perhaps. wait, aren't there any myths with talking mice? how do we know it hasn't happened already?

talking capybaras with eternal memory would be cool...
 

I'd rather have the opportunity to speak to a different species because we don't know that rats can't communicate with other animals of a different species. Perhaps humans are the only species that cannot communicate universally.

Aside from that, rodents are very intelligent creatures and I think they could teach us a lot about animal societies and the thought process of other species who don't have the convenience of opposable thumbs when it comes to physical problem solving.

And I'd have to disagree that a week isn't enough time or that without memory we wouldn't have recollection of the event. With a group of scientists, we could learn a great deal in a week, perhaps even a system to continue to speak with the rats after the week is over (similar to the way we have learned to communicate with great apes). And we take detailed notes recorded on paper and with audio/visual equipment.
 

Absurd. Trade my mental clarity and memories to talk with a beaver. Hmmm. I'm in.