If a tree falls down in the forest and no-one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? (experience, verse)

[gnomon]

edit: Deleted my previous reply.

If we differentiate between sound and a sound wave then I would agree with Fluffy. However, I think this could be a semantical difference. There is the hypersonic effect being studied in which sounds humans cannot can produce a physiological reaction.

There is also infrasound. While these inaudible sounds which can produce a physiological reaction may still be classed as an observation made by the human verifying its existence it does show that sounds existence is not dependent upon the sense of hearing.

By the scientific definition, if a tree falls in the wood and no one is around to hear it a sound is still produced. Of course, as Fluffy has already shown (darn you!) that such reasoning is inductive and therefore I can only truly state that if a tree falls ... I believe it makes a sound.

[Reverend Rick]

So if a bear craps in the woods and no one smells it, the bears crap does not stink?

If you step in bear crap, does your nose or your feet cause the Bear's crap to stink instantly?

[K.Venugopal]

If a tree falls down in the forest and no-one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

When a tree falls down, a man and a dog may hear it differently. Even if the man did not hear it, the dog may have. So the question is, how did it actually sound when the tree fell? The deaf man would see the tree fall without a sound. So what is the truth? Maybe the answer is, there is no truth except as individuals perceive it. Many individuals perceiving a truth similarly would make it possible for the individuals to communicate and function as a community. What we have to discover is under what circumstances would everything in the universe react similarly and under what circumstances would every unit of organism react differently.

A more disturbing question, though, would be - If a tree falls down in the forest and no-one is around to know about it, does it fall at all?

[davidishere]

Sound is just electirical impulses traversing the surface of our brain. So, if a conscious being is not present to interpret the sound, then it would technically not exist.

[cardero]

Originally Posted by Fluffy

On what basis do you assert that seeing it as green is the "right" state?

I think that this would depend on which state Mestimia has the van registered in.

[Willamena]

Originally Posted by Reverend Rick

So if a bear craps in the woods and no one smells it, the bears crap does not stink?

If you step in bear crap, does your nose or your feet cause the Bear's crap to stink instantly?

If you "step in bear crap," then someone is around to smell it.

[Panda]

If a tree falls in the woods with no one around to hear it, it will produce waves of frequency that we recognize as a sound wave however sound only exists in our head so it doesn't make a noise but it does create a wave.

[gnomon]

Sound acts on more than those organs which transmit auditory signals to the brain.

[Shadow Wolf]

The sound waves would still exist, but without anything to interpret the waves as sound, then the sound never existed.