suede

To take an afternoon ride through the local township on horseback,stoping in front of the local pub for a tankard of the local squeeze,fill up on fowl and fornication, and pass out in the street.....Yep,those were the good old daze b.s.

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End World Hunger

FootlongFatty

beyond this point (.) is all my opinion and is welcome to corrections.

wouldn't it's not making noise actually alter its total energy. a standing tree has potential energy , when it falls this energy is released by means of sound, heat, movement, so that when it lies on the ground there is a lot less potential energy(if any). Wouldn't 'not making a sound' cause _more_ energy to be released in other ways in order to keep the same potential energy (after its fallen) as a tree falling _with_ sound?

For example: say a tree has 500 potential energy while standing (random number). Normally when it falls; 300 energy is used up by the tree physically going from standing position to lying down on the ground; 50 energy is used up from the heat it makes when it hits the ground (friction); 100 is used from the sound it makes as it crashes down, and 50 more energy is some other stuff i dont know about but im sure must exist.

now say you take out the sound, then you have 100 energy that still has to be used up, so naturally it would disperse itself equally among the other energy releasing mechanisms, changing the 300 'movement' to 333, 50 'heat' to 83 and 50 'other' to 83.

What this all means is, the tree is going to hit harder, hotter and "whatever else" to a higher degree. So if a tree doesn't make sound when nobody is around, my guess is that you could make an enclosed environment, hit a button from 1 mile away to make the tree fall, and measure these things (heat, falling impact, etc) Afterwards, and discover that their values are raised compared to a normal falling tree (with everyone watchin). you could even just place a microphone there and record it.

my point is that i doubt there would be a difference (the unwatched tree had made a sound all along).

your next argument might be; maybe trees truly don't make sounds if nothing is around to hear it, because maybe the universe benifits by not making noise (etc.) where it is not percieved by something, so it "saves" this data incase some being later on comes along and sees the effects of a fallen tree, and if that is the case, the universe then instantly implements this data into its reality. The explaination of the sound recording would be this: the tape remains completely blank until a being plays it (or even looks that something else has been recorded on it ), and as soon as that happens, the alternate reality where the tree makes a noise is brought into existance. its sort of like a buffer on a computer.

maybe ive been watching too much matrix. if "too much matrix" actually even exists.

ps. an afterthought: are there re-actions to a falling tree that we cannot percieve or measure? in other words, In a world where nobody can percieve sound in any form, does the tree make a sound anyway (even if people are around it)?

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"In the future, scientists will prove we never even existed" -Sage.

EeJay

I believe every action of an object has a cause and effect whether a consciousness is there to interpret it or not.

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Experience is an honest teacher.

zoltron

That question has always been easy to answer, if you ask me...so I'm not making a noise until someone's there.

TheCleric

Well since im actually the Lorax i can say that yes, even if no one is around to hear the tree fall i hear it. Im the Lorax, i speak for the trees

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Cassius

What if a tree falls in a vacuum?

suede

Once a thought has become manifest,and materialized,it is subject to the order of laws that govern the physical universe.These laws exist even if we cease to........That's what I think b.s.

ThaiGuy

If a water pipe bursts in my home, and nobody is around, does it still get flooded and ruin everything?

Humans are so arrogant, if they aren't around, I guess the earth wouldn't exist?

Quantum theory is interesting, but a load of garbage imo.

The tree falls in the woods w/no humans. Big deal. Many things are affected. The animals living in the tree. The ground will become more fertilized from the tree's decomposition. New animals will appear to make use of the decomposing bark and cavities that they will use for new homes. These new animals bring in new predators.

There are a lot of deaf people to. If a tree fell in the woods and the only person around was deaf...

Ok, let's try this, the tree falls in the woods and nothing else is around. Ok, if nothing else was around then there wouldn't be woods. It's just the tree. Nothing matters except to the tree. The tree is affected still. It would be a pretty weird world if nothing but a tree existed and it decided to fall before it reproduced. All things have an instinct to survive.

So yes, it would make a noise, to the tree. It would be a noise to the tree because tree would realize it just committed suicide. Still, new sprouts would emerge from the break, just like the trees I cut down to clear my woods. If I don't use stump killer, then a new tree will grow.

Quantum theory, I want some of the stuff the guy was smoking when he came up w/it.

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How 'bout a little Thai Scarecrow?" teased the wicked witch...

Cassius

So trees have instincts now?

And what does any of this have to do with quantum theory? You lost me bro. Quantum theory deals with subatomic particles, not trees and sound waves...

ThaiGuy

It would do you well to brush up on quantum theory and mechanics before taking such a narrow approach on the subject.

I would offer you links but since you stated an incomplete fact, I assume your studies are incomplete. Keep reading. And good for you.

Yes, trees have instincts, cut the bark and watch the sap heal. This can be regarded as an involuntary reflex or phenomenon. However, the instinct to survive is there, whether we care to understand or not.

Instincts, another world of thought in itself.