Poll: Can someone tell me how this is unanswerable??

[Video Gone]

How can sound exist if no one knows it exists?

OT: Whats the sound of one hand clapping?

My brother can clap one hand.
I can clap one hand.
My girlfriend can clap one hand.
I know the freakin' sound of one hand clapping.

EDIT: This as in clapping the hand off itself.

 

[Zac_Dai]

You most notably didn't prove that the Earth is round. You're just providing evidence towards your case. You're also relying very heavily on the scientific theories on the behavior of light 'n such. I mean, you could as easily try and prove that there are no borealis by pointing at the night sky in Mexico, but be wrong.

On the basis that my sensory organs are functioning properly, I can conclude that the Earth is round. If I lay 1 kilometer of metal on the ground, and turn it on it's side without distorting it, I'd find it curved, as I would anywhere else on the planet.

I understand that this problem is only theoretical, but the problem is that anyone can do some basic measurements, prove the theories correct, and then extrapolate to form the more advanced one. There's 5 billion people in the world, and not a single one can disprove these theories.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_a_tree_falls_in_a_forest

"If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" is a philosophical riddle that raises questions regarding observation and knowledge of reality.

His philosophical musings had nothing to do with sound at all, neither its physical nature nor its metaphysical possibilities.

A truly unobserved event is one which realizes no effect (imparts no information) on any other (where 'other' might be e.g., human, sound-recorder or rock), it therefore can have no legacy in the present (or ongoing) wider physical universe. It may then be recognized that the unobserved event was absolutely identical to an event which did not occur at all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_proof
Sorry, but you still can't prove the Earth is round by that logic.

And I guess I just interpreted the question differently than the guy who wrote it. I mean, if you make anything and put it out there, everyone's gonna come up with their own idea about it. My point (and interpretation) isn't invalidated by his intent.

But I don't much anything else from this conversation could be very constructive, so I'm gonna leave it at this.

You do realise that its actually you using that logical fallacy right?

 

[jamesworkshop]

though the question is meant to be a purely philosophical one, I will interpret the direct meaning and answer thus.

No, as the "sound waves" people seem to love to call them are more specifically particular vibrations. Without a being translating those vibrations using corresponding vibrations in the inner ear, as sound it isn't sound, it's impact and motion causing molecules to bump into each other.

The question as a philosophical one, has a meaning along the lines of.

How do we even know we exist? (using the tree falling as our existence continuing. and the sound being definitive proof of it being real, or some such)

(the answer is no we cannot prove we exist using any form of logic, for all we know life is an illusion and we'll live it no matter the real reality outside our knowledge... so why bother asking)

Easy if we didn't exist we couldn't doubt our own existance and thus we must logicaly accept that we do
it isn't technically proof but by just using logic we do exist

 

[Yegargeburble]

OT: Whats the sound of one hand clapping?

A whooshing noise?

 

[jamesworkshop]

as for the earth being round right we have
photos from space
trigonometry
the earth always casts a round shadow on the moon from every angle(only a Sphere can do that)


All sailors and especially fighting ships knew of the phenomenon of ships being "hull up" and "hull down." As ships move away from you the bow goes down and out of sight before the stern does. WHen they come toward you from over the horizon you can see the bow as "up" first, with the rest of the ship out of sight, below the horizon. This is visible with to people with normal sight and easily seen to people using binoculars or telescopes. Large aircraft carriers show this extremely well because of the large flat launch surface.) This proves that this spot of the sea at least has a spherical surface. Since it happens at all spots at sea it shows the whole world is round.

 

[RabidusUnus]

This is a lie. (I love paradoxes)

If he's lying by saying it's a lie, then it's the truth, but in context that makes it a lie, which makes it the truth.

 

[Unknower]

It's a philosophical question. I've interpreted it to mean that the trees are phallic symbols. And that the tree falling down is a metaphor for... okay, I'll stop now.

 

[Inverse Skies]

Of course it does... that seems like common sense to me personally. Oh well, I guess some people enjoy thinking outside of the box.

 

[Kaymish]

i think its one of those Schrödinger's gun /cat / box arguments from before the age of reason and is not a question at all but a thought experiment

 

[iJosh]

I agree.

It makes a sound, just no one was around in that time frame to hear it.

Just as I farted but you aren't here to smell it, does not not not mean I didn't not not fart now does it
?

 

[Erana]

You most notably didn't prove that the Earth is round. You're just providing evidence towards your case. You're also relying very heavily on the scientific theories on the behavior of light 'n such. I mean, you could as easily try and prove that there are no borealis by pointing at the night sky in Mexico, but be wrong.

On the basis that my sensory organs are functioning properly, I can conclude that the Earth is round. If I lay 1 kilometer of metal on the ground, and turn it on it's side without distorting it, I'd find it curved, as I would anywhere else on the planet.

I understand that this problem is only theoretical, but the problem is that anyone can do some basic measurements, prove the theories correct, and then extrapolate to form the more advanced one. There's 5 billion people in the world, and not a single one can disprove these theories.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_a_tree_falls_in_a_forest

"If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" is a philosophical riddle that raises questions regarding observation and knowledge of reality.

His philosophical musings had nothing to do with sound at all, neither its physical nature nor its metaphysical possibilities.

A truly unobserved event is one which realizes no effect (imparts no information) on any other (where 'other' might be e.g., human, sound-recorder or rock), it therefore can have no legacy in the present (or ongoing) wider physical universe. It may then be recognized that the unobserved event was absolutely identical to an event which did not occur at all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_proof
Sorry, but you still can't prove the Earth is round by that logic.

And I guess I just interpreted the question differently than the guy who wrote it. I mean, if you make anything and put it out there, everyone's gonna come up with their own idea about it. My point (and interpretation) isn't invalidated by his intent.

But I don't much anything else from this conversation could be very constructive, so I'm gonna leave it at this.

You do realise that its actually you using that logical fallacy right?

You should pay more attention before reprimanding another. I never claimed the Earth was flat. My argument, rather, was that his reasons for believing in the Earth being round is founded in evidence and faith, rather than first-hand experience.
He presented his reasons, and I responded with some variation on the aforementioned notion.

 

[Azraellod]

No. It doesn't.

It may create shock waves in the air, but unless someone hears it, it isn't converted by the ears and brain into sound. Thus, it doesn't make any sound.

It just makes the air and ground vibrate.

 

[Cheesus333]

How can sound exist if no one knows it exists?

OT: Whats the sound of one hand clapping?

A slap in the face?

 

[Jinx_Dragon]

This has always been such an egotistical question. Sure there is the question of observing something, quantum makes it a key question to ask. Yet this 'tree falling' bullshit is just human self-centered nature shining as bright as a beacon. It is asking if a human isn't present does any event really happen?!

For, simply, which forest is void of life that there is nothing there to hear it?

What about the tree itself, I am quite sure as it falls in the forest it will observe such a passing?
What of the other trees in this forest, seeing a forest isn't a lone tree now is it?
Will it's fellow trees hear it falling, on some level that doesn't involve ears.

This is very likely, as all experimentation involving sound waves and trees seem to show that plant life respond to sound. Even myth-busters experimented with this, and seems plants love death metal the most.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

If you want to take it literaly if a tree falls in a forest it may not make a sound it is highly improbable but not impossible.

 

[Yeager942]

We discussed this question in Psychology class. B/c sound is simply interpreted by the brains of living things, no. If there is nothing around to hear the tree fall, it does not make a sound.