Debate Night: If a Tree Falls in the Forest, Does it Make a Sound?

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First published: Sunday October 15th, 2023
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Before We Begin

Welcome back! The newest Debate Night blog is about a classic philosophical question.

Premise

This philosophical question is very famous. People disagree on whether a sound is defined as a scientific sound wave traveling through the atmosphere, or whether it is something that humans hear and observe.

Does it make a sound?

Or does it not?

Instructions

Debate about whether or not a tree falling in the forest makes a sound.

Rules

Please be kind and open-minded.

The Last Word

Again, I apologize for the last blog in this series. It has been removed, and it was not appropriate for a JetPunk blog. In the future, I will avoid such topics as that and stick to less controversial subjects, such as this. If you have any suggestions for future debate blogs, please let me know. See you next time.

Level 50

Oct 19, 2023

If anybody has any ideas for the next Debate Night blog, I would love to hear them!

Level 61

Oct 15, 2023

Yes

Level 50

Oct 15, 2023

If a Canadian falls in the forest, and no one's around, does he still apologize?

Level 78

Oct 16, 2023

Of course, nothing will change the Canadian politeness, and rightly so!

Level 48

Oct 17, 2023

Agreed

Level 60

Oct 15, 2023

Of course it makes a sound…

Level 60

Oct 15, 2023

If a bear growls, startling a rabbit, and yet no human is around, that doesn’t mean the rabbit just ran away from nothing…

Level 67

Oct 15, 2023

The premise is if nothing's around to hear it, not just humans.

Level 60

Oct 15, 2023

Well, I don’t have a great understanding on this topic, and that’s just how the creator of this blogged phrased it. However, my argument still stands.

Level 67

Oct 15, 2023

I'd say yes, as the event will still cause the noise.

Level 65

Oct 16, 2023

If someone dies, but no one is with him, is he dead?

Level 71

Oct 17, 2023

Thats completely unrelated to what the question is asking.

Level 43

Oct 23, 2023

That's actually a pretty good point.

Level 59

Oct 17, 2023

Falling is action and action is sound. Sound occurs even if nothing sees it

Level 63

Oct 19, 2023

Yes. Sound is the vibration of air molecules, at its most basic form, so even if a human ear is not around to detect it, sound waves will still be produced and eventually dissipate.

Also I have to to say nice work on the graphic design aspect of these! I always like that;

Level 43

Oct 23, 2023

At what point would we consider it a sound then? Say a tree falls in France, and someone's ear 3 miles away picks up a "thud." The person didn't even register that they heard the noise. Even though the sound got to his ear. Is it still technically considered sound if he didn't notice it? It's still sound just so quiet that he didn't even notice it. The same thing happens in the scenario.

(I'm reading this and I realize that it is really bad logic and kind of doesn't make sense.)