This is another one of those trick questions, isn't it?
Here is my question. It has been bothering me.
"If a tree falls in the woods, and nothing/ no one is there to hear it, does it still make a sound?"
What do you think? Why?
All explanations, whether scientific, philosophical, or otherwise, are welcomed.
posted by Carmen @ 12:02 AM
4 comments
As Jill, you are confident, respectful, and a little bit bossy! You have an acquired taste for adventure, and love any challenge that you have to face.
4 Comments:
If you are going to do medicine, I am disappointed that you don't already know the answer.
Who says i don't already know the answer? I just want to know what y'all think. Then i'll tell you.
Well, the answer is yes. The falling tree makes a crashing sound, creates a bit of wind as it falls, and may even kill a few insects or small animals as it lands. All regardless of if I am there to see and hear it or not. Because we define sound as vibrations caused my movement and transfered through a medium, often air, but can be anything. Sound is not defined by what a person hears, because there are many sounds we can't hear.
But air is not the best medium, it is far too fluid and does not carry sound very far. How do you know a train is comming before you can hear it in air? Put your ear to the tracks.
Do you want the spiritual answer? There is no solution. Does not compute, error.
The philosophical answer? There are 2 answers, yes, and no. With a infinite number of reasons none of which really mean anything.
how do you know that the tree fell? If nobody is around to "see it fall", then how do they know it fell? Perhaps the tree that once was is no longer, and in its place, a new tree grew out of the ground that only LOOKS like other fallen trees!
I think my favorite rendition of this question is "if a tree falls over in the forest, and nobody's around, and it hits a mime, does anybody care?" (Gary Larson)
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