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the old tree in the forest question........?
looking for yes/ no answer with explanations how you know the answer is yes or no......
please say how you know it makes noise or doesn't. . not just that it does or doesn't make a noise....
good try mike m....define sound as vibrations and then saying yes a tree makes vibrations.......how do you know it does if no one or no recording device is there to experience those vibrations.............
does anyone actually have an answer
I will not argue any answers......I am looking to hear both parts......does it make a sound and how do you know it does.......
every single person I have ever heard anser this always says yes immediately....but no one ever has an immediate anser for how do you know it does....any how do you know....I am jsut loking for creative reasons.......
for example....I do not believe that the world functions solely for my or anyone elses benifit......therefore a tree would make a sound no matter what.....
that is my personel how do I know....
6 Answers
- namelessLv 78 years agoFavorite Answer
If a tree falls in the forest, and there are none to hear (goes the old Zen koan), does it make a sound?
~~~ sound
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sound
1. the sensation produced by stimulation of the organs of hearing by vibrations transmitted through the air or other medium.
2. mechanical vibrations transmitted through an elastic medium, traveling in air at a speed of approximately 1087 ft. (331 m) per second at sea level.
^^^^^^^^^^^
According to the first definition, no.
There would be no "organs of hearing" (assuming that there are no other "organs of hearing" around; squirrels, warthogs, bluebirds of happiness, faeries, whatever...) present.
And no, according to the second definition;
If there is no one perceiving those 'vibrations', they cannot/do not exist.
Only that which is perceived, exists!
That which is perceived exists!
That which exists is perceived!
Not a thing exists that is not perceived!
Not a thing is perceived that does not exist!
(There is no, nor can there be, any evidence to the contrary!)
All inclusive!!!
^^^^^^^^^^^
Actually, to 'know' that there is a forest and a tree, they must be perceived!
"Knowledge is perception!"
It is not possible that there can be Perspectives perceiving the existence of the tree, and that it falls, without being there to perceive accompanying sounds, if any.
A tree cannot fall in the forest unless the forest and the tree and the falling are all perceived (even by a rock!)!
The very question is, from that Perspective, in error.
- Michael MLv 68 years ago
Yes. Sound is defined as vibrations through the air or other medium. When the tree falls, it causes vibrations through the air.
- 8 years ago
- It's simply an incomplete question. You intentionally fail to define parameters that have multiple meanings, then you argue any alternate parameter. It actually reflects more about the asker than the question or answer. Someone who asks that question is only soliciting confrontation (or relief from boredom), not knowledge or enlightenment. Sad.
Your later comments confirm this.
- BillyLv 48 years ago
If a tree falls down in the forest and no one is there to hear it, it still makes a sound regardless of who's there to witness it.
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- 8 years ago
I once saw a tree fall in the forest and nobody was around and it made a noise.
