I don't think you'll like the reason why. It was Bishop Berkeley[1], who gave his name to Berkeley CA, that originally posited and answered this question, and his answer was that God is always around and, thus, among other things, hears everything, so the falling tree makes a sound.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Berkeley#Contributions_...
The first person to ask a question doesn't have a monopoly on the answer.
For this particular instance, since the event is about 26,000 light years away, we could as easily say that it happened in 50,000 B.C., since that was the time on Earth when our light traveled to meet it.
All but a 3D place so we could avoid time dilation and experience other planets in real-time.
The whole philosophical debate is the most idiotic thing I have ever heard. Of course things happen even if a human doesn’t observe it. Then they have to make up something about a magical religious figure hearing the tree. All I can think of is the Monty Python skit “..pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space, 'cause there's bugger all down here on Earth”
Short of a lazier universe than we're willing to accept, it almost certainly did cause an effect, including harmonic vibrations, ones that are replicated around like echos, etc. It's just unclear if it's sound if there's nobody there to interpret it.
Not saying I buy it one way or the other, just that it's the reason I never thought it was as stupid as you do.
Extending this take back to thread root and then the objection, I always understood "speed of sound" to be more or less "speed of causalty filtered through a substrate", i.e. if you bump into this side, how long does it take that side to be affected by it? "Sound" is just one potential type of bump to be traveling, if we subjectively interpret the vibrations that eventually make it through to the other side that way.
It is probably wrong to assume that God interfaces with the physical universe in the same way as us (and other living beings who perceive sound).
They (God) may perceive vibrations of air particles in a way that we wouldn’t call “sound”.
In fact, I’m pretty sure they have to otherwise they would be overwhelmed by all the noise they hear from everywhere all the time.
[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sound
[2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound
[3] https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/sound (note that "can be heard" != "is heard")
But I agree with that those debates are quite uninteresting, so let's not do that.
A 'fact' that is relative to the frame of reference of the observer.
When you say "there’s nothing less interesting and more irritating than", are you speaking universally, or of your own personal experience?
> Nobody cares about some blowhard’s attempt to generate pointless “debate” over hypotheticals and semantics.
How do you people have knowledge of each others thoughts? Serious question.
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/a7n8GdKiAZRX86T5A/making-bel...
The speed of causality varies depending on the speed of the causal particles and waves which propagate from an event. I was just reading an article on surviving nuclear detonations, and from those you have a few causal events propagating at different rates: the radiation, the shockwaves, the fallout.
And if a tree falls in a forest with no one around, it does still make a sound.