If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a so!
Question: If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound!?
Answers:
This is a fun one!. Anyone would of course answer "yes" and they'd actually be right--because the phrasing isn't exact!. It should be that no one is around to hear it, and there are no recording devices that would allow people to hear if it made a noise, later!.
In such a case, there would actually be no way to prove that it made a noise!. The philosophical question here is, is there such a thing as utterly objective reality--not only independent of opinion or variations in viewpoint, but independent of anyone's perception at all!?
You could of course drop a tree in 1000 forests and, observing that no matter the varied conditions you use, it still makes a sound (excepting vacuum), you could then conclude that a tree falling in the forest will always make a sound!.
The flaw in that plan (at least from the viewpoint of those who would answer "no" to this riddle) is that no matter which conditions you vary surrounding the experiment--height of the tree, temperature, humidity, surrounding environment--there is one circumstance that is impossible to change!. That is the fact that you are observing it!.
This is a principle unproven but often quoted, and incorrectly described as the Heisenburg Uncertainty Principle: the idea that the mere act of observing something changes that thing!.
Thus, having never tested whether the tree makes a sound with no one there and no listening devices, you can't prove that it does!.
In practice you don't need to, knowledge of sound and physics and so forth is still USEFUL whether parts are objectively true or not!. But it is still an interesting question!.
I actually prefer another question: Let us assume that you could fly a spaceship in any direction forever without running into any "edge" of the universe!. The question is, did the space you are flying through exist before you observed it!? Or did the mere action of looking cause the space to exist!? (One workable definition of space is "the viewpoint of dimension"!.)Www@Enter-QA@Com
In such a case, there would actually be no way to prove that it made a noise!. The philosophical question here is, is there such a thing as utterly objective reality--not only independent of opinion or variations in viewpoint, but independent of anyone's perception at all!?
You could of course drop a tree in 1000 forests and, observing that no matter the varied conditions you use, it still makes a sound (excepting vacuum), you could then conclude that a tree falling in the forest will always make a sound!.
The flaw in that plan (at least from the viewpoint of those who would answer "no" to this riddle) is that no matter which conditions you vary surrounding the experiment--height of the tree, temperature, humidity, surrounding environment--there is one circumstance that is impossible to change!. That is the fact that you are observing it!.
This is a principle unproven but often quoted, and incorrectly described as the Heisenburg Uncertainty Principle: the idea that the mere act of observing something changes that thing!.
Thus, having never tested whether the tree makes a sound with no one there and no listening devices, you can't prove that it does!.
In practice you don't need to, knowledge of sound and physics and so forth is still USEFUL whether parts are objectively true or not!. But it is still an interesting question!.
I actually prefer another question: Let us assume that you could fly a spaceship in any direction forever without running into any "edge" of the universe!. The question is, did the space you are flying through exist before you observed it!? Or did the mere action of looking cause the space to exist!? (One workable definition of space is "the viewpoint of dimension"!.)Www@Enter-QA@Com
Yes, because it still makes sound waves vibrate!. So even though the sound is not picked up by an ear, it will bounce off objects and eventually die out!.Www@Enter-QA@Com
umm obviously because sound is caused by vibrations , so the tree falling will create the vibrations and still make a soundWww@Enter-QA@Com
It obviously does since sounds are just vibrations!. It doesn't matter if there is an ear to hear them or not, it still makes a sound!.Www@Enter-QA@Com
Yep! Still makes a sound whether or not people are around to here itWww@Enter-QA@Com
Sound is sound!.Www@Enter-QA@Com
um i guesss, duh! it falls! its supposed 2 make a thump!Www@Enter-QA@Com
who caresWww@Enter-QA@Com
yea i hate when people ask these dumb questionsWww@Enter-QA@Com
yes because i said soWww@Enter-QA@Com
yeahWww@Enter-QA@Com
yupWww@Enter-QA@Com
duh it doesWww@Enter-QA@Com
I don't know!. No one was around to hear it!.Www@Enter-QA@Com