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Hmm.. this seems to be one of those questions, that only gets more complex the more you think about it. In the sense that if you do not think about the question, or are somewhat close minded, you would just answer yes. But looking deeper into the meaning of the question can make you begin to question your own existence.

What most people fail to do, is really think when trying to answer this question, and to continue asking why or how. If you think that the answer is simply, "Yes it does" then ask yourself how you know that. Most people would say because that science explains that it would in fact make a sound. But realistically, this only furthers the question. Why exactly is what were told what reality is, and why do we know what exactly our existence is? To try and put this in a bit simpler of terms, how do we know whats real?

As infants we do not know what existence is, when someone is out of the room, it meant that they were just inexistent until they were back. As we grow older we begin to understand that there is more then just what we see an hear, but why exactly do we know this, other then the fact that we were told by other human beings. Realistically, nobody can be completely sure of the existence of anything, as anything we see,hear, or even know, is just signals we send to our brains, showing images and creating sounds that only we can see or hear.

What if all we see is wrong? What if this is not in fact reality, but just what our minds have created. Everything and anything that exists, is just what we perceive it to be. if we think that a tree falling in the woods makes a sound, then it does, to us. but if not, then it does not. And we can not really be sure about anything, knowing that we can not be sure in the existence of anything.

People that have yet to ask why about certain questions, would blindly think that all we hear and seemingly know about does in fact exist. These people usually live by the motto "seeing is believing", but what is sight rather then signals we send to out brain. But for some reason, even people with the "seeing is believing" motto, would believe that the unseen does exist, such as the sound the tree makes when it hits the ground when nobody is around. Which I personally think contradicts this motto completely, but is not seen as something that would.

So although i think this question is not as much a direct question, as it is more a gateway to more questions leading you to much more complex theories, it still brings up a very valid point. and that is that not enough people ask "why" when they are told something, and that this can be a generally popular cause for close-mindedness, and that no theory should rightfully be rejected.

So when a tree falls in the woods, does it make a sound?
Well personally, I don't know.

Learn more about this author, Stan Harris.
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