Random Poll #28: If a tree falls in a forest and no one's around to hear it, does it make a sound?

[DokiDokiTsuna]

• Yes 'cause physics
• No 'cause sound is a construct based on our perception of the movement of air particles
• I can't even

Show results

[dawgofdawgness]

Come on man I just watched a video on philosophy my brain is not big enough to handle this stuff

[DiegoPalacios]

It emits a sound because it vibrates in the moment of impact.

The world doesn`t revolve around us, so things happen even when we are not there to sense them.

We may have different interpretations of the events we are perceiving, but our interpretations don`t control what is real and what is not.

[DokiDokiTsuna]

I appreciate that viewpoint. But in that case I would ask, can the vibration really be called 'sound'?

It's undeniable that something would happen if the tree fell in the forest. But if no one was around to process that release of energy in the way that the brain does to create the concept of 'sound', then should it really be called that?

My idea is that 'sound' only exists because that is the way we (and some other organisms) perceive that energy. Without ears to hear it, is sound not just one more type of vibrational energy among all the others that exist in the universe?

[DiegoPalacios]

Some people use different definition of sounds.
I am working with this one. (the first one)

While this definition states that the vibrations CAN be heard when they reach a person or animal`s ears it doesnt state that it MUST be heard to count as sound.

If you put a recorder or a camera to record the event, you can pick it up and listen it. It happened, even if no one was there to witness it at the moment, and even if the camera or recorder broke.

Also a deaf person can make a sound, even if that person is unable to hear the sound emmited and there is no one left to hear.

[andrew17]

Listen to Rob Newman destroy the assumptions that lay behind this question here...

Thought Experiments, Rob Newman's Total Eclipse of Descartes, Rob Newman - BBC...

[lunaartemisasama]

Yes. Unless the tree misbehaves and makes too much noise and ends up in trial but there are not witnesses, them the tree is free of charges, yay! But, how did the tree end up in a trial if no one hear it, how can a tree make so much noise, why am I giving human capabilities to a simjple tree?
We all know the truth...

Random pool, random answer XD

[nascentechuva]

All I can think about is Dear Evan Hansen's Waving Through a Window, even though the question precedes it :D.

"When you're falling in a forest and there's nobody around
Do you ever really crash, or even make a sound?"

The answer is yes. Yes, you do.

[qwerty]

"What tree? What sound?"

[lwflouisa]

Isn't that a bit like asking if Charlotte Corday's head made a thunk sound, when it was severed, if you weren't around to here it?

It kind of a silly question, of course a sound was made.

[shazzbaa]

Some people use different definition of sounds.

This is basically the trick to it. You have to define "sound" in order to answer this question.

So if you have two people who seem to disagree,

"Does the tree make a sound?"
"No! [because I define 'sound' as what happens when the ear detects vibrations]"
"Yes! [because I define 'sound' as what happens when vibrations are sent through the air]"

it's not because they disagree on what happens, but because they are defining the words in the question differently. And unless that difference is addressed, it's difficult to resolve the argument because they'll be shouting past each other --
"I think vibrations are travelling through the air!"
"NO, I don't think the vibrations are being detected by anyone!"
"Yes, vibrations are travelling through the air!!"

To me, that's actually the most interesting takeaway of this problem -- it can be applied to like... a lot of actual relevant arguments in real life. Two people who seem to be yelling past each other are, a lot of times, actually disagreeing on how a word or idea is defined, but when it's hidden inside another question like that, it can be easy to miss, and that's when a conversation gets frustrating fast.

[Heliox14]

I hear Dear Evan Hansen.
Does anybody as well?

[Teowi]

Never understood this whole tree thing...is it like sending electrons through diffraction slits with and without an observer?

[indagold]

Reminds me of the whole philosophical debate in the early 20th century that the moon only exists because we see it and Einstein just fuming in frustration