parables
- Thread starter atomka
- Start date
Thank you, Chagur! 
Atomka- try this one on for size:
If you point a video camera at a mirror and turn it on, it forms an image of itself within itself. Does this make it self-aware?
As for the sound of one hand clapping, snap your fingers. Your one hand has just clapped against itself.
Atomka- try this one on for size:
If you point a video camera at a mirror and turn it on, it forms an image of itself within itself. Does this make it self-aware?
As for the sound of one hand clapping, snap your fingers. Your one hand has just clapped against itself.
How are we putting you down? It certainly isn't our intention. I thought you wanted to discuss what I like to call "brain-twisters". I love the things, myself. Sometimes I run into one that gives me a brain-cramp. They tend to keep me up at night. Those are the best ones.
The "one hand clapping" thing is just something I came up with while stuck in traffic. It is, technically, a clap of part of the hand against itself. Just a little creative thinking, is all.
The "one hand clapping" thing is just something I came up with while stuck in traffic. It is, technically, a clap of part of the hand against itself. Just a little creative thinking, is all.
Riomacleod
Registered Senior Member
The Question:
If a tree falls in the forest, and no one can experience it, does it make a sound?
My most thoroughly reasonsed answer
I'm of two minds what this question is really asking.
My first answer is no, it does not make a sound. Sound is an experience. *However* it does produce compression waves in the air. My mind on this question is that it shows that there is a difference between the experience and the cause of the experience. It's a common mistake that many people make, and we have to rememeber that experiencial properties (color, odor, taste, sound) are all secondary qualities, which ride backseat to the primary properties (Mass, volume, charge, etc). This question is also asked in "What color is an orange in the dark".
On the other hand, the question could be asking the importance of an observer to an activity. Of course, then we can say-those of us who hold an Ultimate Observer-that there is always an observer, so yes the tree falls and it does make a sound. Without an ultimate observer, the answer would be yes or no, depending on your philosophy.
If a tree falls in the forest, and no one can experience it, does it make a sound?
My most thoroughly reasonsed answer
I'm of two minds what this question is really asking.
My first answer is no, it does not make a sound. Sound is an experience. *However* it does produce compression waves in the air. My mind on this question is that it shows that there is a difference between the experience and the cause of the experience. It's a common mistake that many people make, and we have to rememeber that experiencial properties (color, odor, taste, sound) are all secondary qualities, which ride backseat to the primary properties (Mass, volume, charge, etc). This question is also asked in "What color is an orange in the dark".
On the other hand, the question could be asking the importance of an observer to an activity. Of course, then we can say-those of us who hold an Ultimate Observer-that there is always an observer, so yes the tree falls and it does make a sound. Without an ultimate observer, the answer would be yes or no, depending on your philosophy.
Reign_of_Error
Registered Senior Member
If a tree falls in the forrest and kills a mime and there is no-one there to observe it, is it still funny??
I read that in another forum somewhere, I thought it was pretty funny
I read that in another forum somewhere, I thought it was pretty funny
Riomacleod
Registered Senior Member
Oxygen
I agree with you, I was simply trying to tackle it for all philosophy sets. I figured that the one-lineness of the answer gave away what my own beliefs are.
I agree with you, I was simply trying to tackle it for all philosophy sets. I figured that the one-lineness of the answer gave away what my own beliefs are.