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RE: If a tree falls in a forest and nothing is around to hear it, does it make any noise?

in #crowdini7 years ago

Honestly? The real answer to this is dependent upon how you define the term "noise."

According to Wikipedia: "noise is unwanted sound judged to be unpleasant, loud or disruptive to hearing." Here -- this definition of noise makes it subjective in that only a person can determine what is noise or not.

From that same article: "From a physics standpoint, noise is indistinguishable from sound, as both are vibrations through a medium, such as air or water." Here -- physics says that noise and sound are the same thing so subjectivity doesn't play a part in whether you call it "noise" or "sound."

I have a degree in physics and am extremely tempted by both definitions, because if you look at the statement. "If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, does it make a noise?" It appears much, much more a subjective question because it talks about whether a person is there or not. For me, this requires using the subjective definition above. So, no, it doesn't.

But, of course it makes a sound, and by the physics definition, sound = noise, so, yes, it does.

Don't you love playing around with the definitions of words? :)