Tuesday, July 5, 2011

The Tree in the Forest

I have a philosophical situation for you. 


A large tree falls in a forest, no one is in the forest to hear the tree fall, when the tree hits the ground....Does it make a noise? 


I saw this situation in 2 different ways...


The first way is the logical scientific way...of course it makes a noise. Its what we are trained to think. Something falls....sound is produced. Sound is just the transfer of energy. Sound waves are energy releasing into the environment around you. So scientifically, yes, it would create a noise. Due to the kinetic energy being released from the predicted contact with another object. 


However, in our society. Isn't "noise" just a term for something we can hear and perceive it as a sound? If there was no scientific backup that high frequency sounds that are out of our hearing capacity were indeed real... Would we believe it? 


In today's society, I feel confident saying that "sound" doesn't become a sound until  and only until there is some intermediate observing it. For example, a noise is only a sound until a person hears it. For it to be a sound, it requires that there be a receiver of this said "sound". Until then, it's just a release of energy through compressed sound waves.

3 comments:

  1. While I see where you're coming from, I take it in the more scientific direction in which I think of course it makes a sound, it has to due to the laws of physics and such.

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  2. Nice thought! Still go with the scientific one, tho.

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