If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
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If a man speaks in the forest, and there is no woman there to hear him, is he still wrong?
As for sound:
First, Webster:
Quote:
1 a: 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
This has a strong bias towards defining sound as our **perception** of pressure waves in air. Consider this: Before there were any life forms that could sense "sound", there were still pressure waves. "Sound" is the name given by humans to a subset of pressure waves which they are able to sense. Dogs can sense pressure waves that we cannot. Since we can't hear them, we don't call them "sound"---unless we are projecting ourselves into the mind of the dog---ie imagining what they are "hearing".
Therefore, the answer to the original question is "no".
If a man speaks in the forest, and there is no woman there to hear him, is he still wrong?
As for sound:
First, Webster:
This has a strong bias towards defining sound as our **perception** of pressure waves in air. Consider this: Before there were any life forms that could sense "sound", there were still pressure waves. "Sound" is the name given by humans to a subset of pressure waves which they are able to sense. Dogs can sense pressure waves that we cannot. Since we can't hear them, we don't call them "sound"---unless we are projecting ourselves into the mind of the dog---ie imagining what they are "hearing".
Therefore, the answer to the original question is "no".
Hogwash. So if we were there, it would make a sound and it would make the same sound if we weren't there. The real answer is, yes it makes a sound that is unheard.
Hogwash. So if we were there, it would make a sound and it would make the same sound if we weren't there. The real answer is, yes it makes a sound that is unheard.
It all depends on the definition of "sound".....I take it to be the human **perception** of pressure waves. No human---no perception.
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