Speaker Geeks! discussion

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I agree. You just beat me to the answer. :)

I suppose you're right, but personally, I assume that "no one" includes no animals (that's just me though). I think that if there was no one there to hear it, how did we know it fell in the first place? Did it really fall? This is me taking a philosophical point of view on it.

'No one' means no living thing. Sound is essentially pressure waves in air. Those would be present whether a hearing ear was around to interpret the pressure wave or not. So sound would exist without an ear to hear it.

:D

This question just makes me laugh every time.

If someone dies but no one is around to see them die, are they really dead?

If someone calls you and you're not at home, did they really call you?

Shall I go on?

Yes it would make some kind of sound. Since sound is separate thing, it is pressure waves in the air, you dont need some1 to hear it.

Sound is not a hallucination of the mind, hence, there will still be sound evn if no-one was there to hear it.

Kaylee wrote: "Looking into this question, it appear to me that the philosopher who is behind this was asking the question:

"Can we assume the unobserved world functions the same as the observed world?"

To w..."

You could leave a tape recorder somewhere. No one would hear the sound, but the recorder would.


Sasha Herondale wrote: "Yes it would make some kind of sound. Since sound is separate thing, it is pressure waves in the air, you dont need some1 to hear it.

Sound is not a hallucination of the mind, hence, there will st..."

A Will Herondale fan, I see.

Lo♪ wrote: "Kaylee wrote: "Looking into this question, it appear to me that the philosopher who is behind this was asking the question:

"Can we assume the unobserved world functions the same as the observed ..."

((AAARRRGHHHHH!!!!!!! *girly squeel* OMG YES!!!
He's so hawt :O :D and incredibly sarcastic/FUNNY... Personally i like Will over JAce :) )))

@Lo
Yes, but in putting a tape recorder there, you are perceiving what is happening, making it therefore, exist.

Scientifically, when the tree fell to the ground sound waves came across the forest. So the sound was still there, even if there was no one to hear it.

It will make a sound you could put a device to record it and then hear it. It will make a sound. It may not be heard but it will still happen.

So, things that aren't perceived don't exist?

@Lo
Not in your reality, no.

Of course it makes a sound!

i think this question was more of a phylosophical one, rather than a question that is asking about the emmission of sound waves produced by oscillation of particles in a medium....

SOOOO what i mean is, the question is asking that, if an event occurs, without any evidence of it, did it really happen??? IF it did, how would you identify that it has occured???

EXAMPLE: If a person is murdered, but there is absolutely NO evidence of the murder, and noone notices a missing person or finds a dead body... then did it really occusr? Like, how does one prove the occruance of something that has no proof. It is natural for us to question the existence or occurance of something unless there is enough evidence... Isnt that what all the religious debates (such as "Does God(s) exist?) are all about? Since there may not be anough evidence, some people may not believe in such things...

Yep it does whether you hear it or not; it's not that philosophical as they try to make it lol

H99 wrote: "Sasha Ivashkov-Herondale-Jackson (aka Clarisse) wrote: "i think this question was more of a phylosophical one, rather than a question that is asking about the emmission of sound waves produced by o..."

ok... but i wrote that there was NO evidence at all.. and evidence includes witnesses...

Its like religious stories... the people who may have lived thru them would obviously know its true, but people nowadays who may question the chances of such an occurance... so yeh...

The question is not as literall as it sounds...

And yes the person who commited the murder knows, but that is the ONLY person who knows... there is no police record or anything... so if it doesnt go down, in a couple of years (maybe after the murderer dies) it is like the murder never happened... since nobody knows...

think about it.. really.

ok. i cud be talking about a random homeless person that noone notices... i mean those couple of people will know, but after they die, and the information is not passed on, then it will be as if it had never happened... try to understand, like its just an example. use another one. dont try to find loopholes, and when i say 'no evidence' i mean no evidence.

like i keep saying. its just a random example... the murder or details of it are not the point. you are not seeing it. I just used that as an example to explian the philosophy behind this question... the question is not literally asking if sound waves have been produced. (well not produced, but kinetic energy from the movement of the tree has been converted into sound energy etc.)

The oxford English dictionary gives "Good" around 26 definitions.

That's not really relevant. But sound I think it is sound waves and they are always there.

You have all missed the point. It's not a literal question.

Sorry, I didnt explanation that properly. There is a subtlety to this question that is missed. To explain, define sound:

a: particular auditory impression : tone b : the sensation perceived by the sense of hearing c : mechanical radiant energy that is transmitted by longitudinal pressure waves in a material medium (as air) and is the objective cause of hearing

The sound in question is not the noise the falling of the tree would male. It is the noise being perceived by the sense of hearing, sound.

So if a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound (defined as the receiving of nouse).

The answer is no, no one is there to hear the noise therefore it doesn't make a sound.

Rephrase the question as "if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around does it make a sight."

If there's no one to see it, no. If there's no one to hear it, no. Yes it creates nouse, but there is no act of hearing so it does not make a sound.

Trick question. :)

@Leona: Thanks for explaining! This seems like a popular question.

I say yes it's like saying if you yell and nobody's around to hear it do you actually make sound there's alwase sound

H99 wrote: "Jason wrote: "Of course it makes a sound!"

Ah, but the question is, even if it makes a sound, does the sound matter if no one ever hears it?"

It depends on what you mean by 'matter'...

If we use Lenna's definition c then it can be argued that it is most likely to make a sound. Because (1) whenever we see a tree falls in the past we always hear some sound due to the fall, and (2) we can deduce the existance of such a sound from the laws of physics which seem to conform with our past experiences reasonably well.

maybe because if we don't hear it we cant exactly prove it made a sound.

Can we prove that the sun will rise tomorrow morning?