I remember this question from elementary school. But only just now, in the shower, did I finally come to my own terms with this seemingly paradoxical question.

It’s pretty simple. The way I see it, it all depends on how you define sound. Do you define it as the simple molecular vibrations that happen at certain amplitudes and frequencies? Or do you define it as the electrical stimuli that occur in our nervous systems when our eardrums pick up such vibrations?

If you define it as the former, then by the laws of physics, sound always occurs when a tree falls. If you define it as the latter, then no, there isn’t any sound, because no eardrums or nervous systems are around to detect the vibrations!

I guess epiphanies aren’t always what people make them out to be. The best part is, I’m sure someone else has already come up with this interpretation already.

Discuss this in the community forums.