Okay, I think I came up with an answer to 'If a tree falls in a forest and no-one is around, does it make a sound?' years ago. I just wanted to know if anyone else has an answer to this 'mystery'?

Then we can move on to one hand clapping and where the other socks go.

Do not disturb: already disturbed.

So what's your answer? Please enlighten us.

"Set a new course. There's coffee in that nebula." -- Capt. Janeway, Star Trek: Voyager

I just wanted to see if anyone else had an answer first.

Do not disturb: already disturbed.

You know those things called "sound waves"? They are there whether or not any ear perceives them. They can be picked up on science gadget thingies. So it makes a sound. There is no requirement that it be heard.

I know of course that if a man says something and there's no woman around to hear him he may be presumed wrong, but... there you have my opinion.

The sound of one hand clapping is a very faint swoosh as it moves through the air. Of course it's not actually clapping if it doesn't impact, so that question is much more zen-like.

Next answer?

The tree is there and the ground it lands on, impact is made and so is sound. There are likely birds in the sky and worms in the ground who will hear the noise too. A sound isn't a sound just because a human is around to hear it

I always thought it was a stupid question lol

Yes that's very much what I thought, but more like it depends on your definition of sound. If your definition of sound is the waves produced by the tree falling, then yes it does make a sound. If your definition is the picking up of these waves by an ear, then no it doesn't make a sound. But then I guess back when the question was posed they didn't know about sound waves.
And while I was going to say I think the one hand clapping question is inherently flawed in that clapping requires two hands, clap definition |Dictionary.com gives one meaning of 'clap' as 'to strike (someone) amicably with a light, open-handed slap, as in greeting, encouragement, or the like: He clapped his friend on the back.' So, I guess that's another mystery solved. I'm a genius .
Semantics cannot explain where socks go between wearing them, washing them and the washing line, though.

Edit: And Azh, I always took it to mean NO-ONE, meaning not a living thing. Otherwise I would have thought it was a stupid question too.

Do not disturb: already disturbed.

Give yourself a gold star!

I firmly believe they're sacrified to the washing machine gods!

See, I always looked at it this way - if they meant everything they'd have said NO THING, not NO ONE

I'm not so sure about that. Sound waves constitute potential sound; but the existence of the sound itself isn't perfected until the sound waves interact with a mechanism (such as an ear) that is capable of turning sound waves into what we perceive as a noise.


And if a woman is around ... ?


I agree with that completely.


Ah, grasshopper.

"Set a new course. There's coffee in that nebula." -- Capt. Janeway, Star Trek: Voyager

You could actually take it a step further as it's known that some animals hear frequencies human ears can't - a dog whistle, for example. We can't hear it, but we know a sound is made all the same, it's just on a frequency our ears are not capable of hearing. Then there are the frequencies bats hear on - they use sound to determine where objects are so they don't crash into them - again, on a level we don't hear. Using the original question as a basis, would that mean since we can't hear these sounds that they are not actually sounds I think a person would have to have a serious ego (as in - I am the only species on the planet who can dictate what can and can't be heard) to say so

A tree just fell in the Amazon, but I'm here. It was silent.

Also, if I can't see you, you can't see me. And where do you go when you are playing peek-a-boo?

But to quote myself, I took it to mean not a living thing was around. And I just looked it up: The origin of the question was drafted Charles Riborg Mann , but the current phrasing appears to have originated in the twentieth century. A 1910 physics book asks: "When a tree falls in a lonely forest, and no animal is near by to hear it, does it make a sound? Why?". Egocentricism and no-one/nothing aside, I think we have come to the agreement that it does make a sound. I also thought it was a much older question than that, too.

Do not disturb: already disturbed.