If a tree falls in a deserted forest, does it make a sound?

If a tree falls in a deserted forest, does it make a sound?


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willyfoo

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Came accross this interesting question ..
Without doing any research, answer the poll first..
Then go ahead to do a search if you want to but don't post the answer here first until the poll has concluded...

I will post the correct answers in a few days time...
 

If a tree falls ANYWHERE it will make a sound unless youre there to catch it ;p. Only thing youre not there to hear it. This is a silly question.
 

actually answer is no.. coz this kind of question tricky one.. looks simple but hor actually is not .. if the easy answer is yes.. then the correct answer is no. :)
 

Depends on what kind of tree and how it fell.
crazy.gif
 

Originally posted by kraterz
If a tree falls ANYWHERE it will make a sound unless youre there to catch it ;p. Only thing youre not there to hear it. This is a silly question.

You made a valid point which contributes to the answer, however, it's not a silly question.

“When a tree falls in a deserted forest, does it make a sound?” is one of the world’s most widely-known philosophical conundrums.

A lot of you made very valid and interesting points... the poll will close in 2 days... I'll post the answers then
 

hmm.. interesting. and cheam.
 

I think The Matrix invokes the same kind of thoughts as this...
 

reality is in a way is defined by our collective memory of what happened, if something is not in anyway entered into our collective memory, it as as good as it didn't happened.

to learn more philosophy... watch more japanese cartoons :p

for this, I would recommend Serial Experienment Lain :p
 

When a tree fall, the snapping of the cellulose fibers the makes up the tree will cause vibrations in the air, resulting in sound. As it impacts the ground, sound will be created as well, whether anyone is there or not isn't a parameter, but if the tree falls onto someone, the resultant sound produced may be different. BUt since the forest is deserted (assuming its deserted in terms of Homo sapiens), no one would hear it, nor see it and thus would not be the concern of anyone and thus not be in the memory of anyone, and thus as rl stated, it may as well not have happened. But it may have tramatic effects on other living creatures that experience the falling of the tree. Oh I'm talking crap....
 

Polgara the soceress mentioned this question in David Edding's book ;)
IMHO, it's argued that it's not a sound cos no one is there to hear it. but first, you have to prove that there's no animals around to hear it. second, you have to prove that other living things (like trees, grass, and insects) and even non-living things (like rock, water, mud) has no hearing abilities (or abilities to feel a "sound").
 

Personally, I feel that a sound is still a sound even if no one hears it.... So a few hundreds of years ago, bacteria and viruses are not discovered, so does that means they don't exist? No No...
 

Originally posted by Flare
Personally, I feel that a sound is still a sound even if no one hears it.... So a few hundreds of years ago, bacteria and viruses are not discovered, so does that means they don't exist? No No...

sound is merely pressure waves in the air.....because humans can hear sounds, that's why we identify this kind of wave as sound. So, if there are no humans, or no living organisms (if the definition of "deserted" works this way), there will not be sounds...but just pressure waves.
 

Originally posted by willyfoo
Very interesting answers... here's the shortest answer I've found.

Physicist: YES
Biologist: NO
Philosopher: What do you mean by sound?

Think about it first, then go to http://www.astro.queensu.ca/~irwin/phy107/lecture1/tree.html for a furthur explaination.

As a biologist, I disagree. Science is science. Facts are facts. Sound is the vibration of air molecules in the air. With respect to hearing, sound is just a stimulus that is detected by our auditory receptors, i.e. ears. The absence of the receptors does not justify the absence of the stimulus.
 

Originally posted by Tweek


sound is merely pressure waves in the air.....because humans can hear sounds, that's why we identify this kind of wave as sound. So, if there are no humans, or no living organisms (if the definition of "deserted" works this way), there will not be sounds...but just pressure waves.

I agree with this totally. Thats why my answer is NO.
 

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