Zen - Falling Trees
Created | Updated Mar 28, 2002
If a tree falls in a forest and there is no-one there, does it make a sound. The answer of course is yes. This fact was proved several years ago when a group of friends from College went into a forest where there was a tree in imminent danger of falling down. We located ourselves at varying distances from the tree ranging from immediately next to it right up to about half a mile away. The tree was then given a little "gentle" encouragement and promptly fell over. The person nearest the tree reported that it did indeed make a sound, whereas the person furthest away reported that he heard nothing. Whilst this proves that if there is no-one around to hear the tree fall, no sound will be recorded, it also proves that the tree DOES MAKE A SOUND. A more interesting question would be "If Milli Vanilli falls in the forest and there is no-one to hear, does SOMEONE ELSE make a sound? I would like to research this matter, but unfortunately, my current funding situation will not allow me to travel to America to conduct this vital research!
