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Silly Sausage

Saw QI the other day, the 'Does a falling tree in a deserted forest make a sound' question came up, which led on to when a beam of light passes in front of you, you can't see it. It's only when it hits your retina that one 'sees'.
So chatting down the pub about this (yes, not a single female in sight), we came up with the idea that everything one is not looking at, is in darkness? Which leads onto the question, if there are no observers does anything actually exist if there are no observees? :)
 
I guess it depends on what you included as allowable "observers" in the question (as phrased it sounds like you were just considering people), if you're just saying observing humans/livestock etc, then no. In the physics domain an observer would be anything capable of "interacting" with a photon. The energy from the photon being released when it "collides" with the matter it eventually illuminates (and could be recorded by a camera for example, no need for anyone to be present). It is believed that this "collision" is what changes the behaviour of the "light wave" to a particle (and releases it's energy).

As for the existance bit that's a much harder one to answer (10 dimensions, plus it's believed a multiverse). So exists where? It will definitely exist somewhere (but not necessarily in our bit of the multiverse).

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I think my response would be "fancy another beer?"
Or let's go somewhere with some women!
 
Cheers TQ, I never believe Wikipedia, I'll read your previous post in a bit, too wound up at the moment, waited 3 days for a box to be collected...fuming!
 
No such thing as quantum physics. We are all just stars in someone’s weird dream. Days are just minutes, minutes are just seconds, seconds are just blinks of the eye. Any minute now he or she will wake up, think “why couldn’t Archy find a pub with some women and what the hell was all that about. No wonder I’m knackered, in my dream I have been at work all night”.
And on a personal note to the individual having the dream; “Stop thinking about the rain. And the next time you get me drunk at least try and remember where I parked the car". :innocent:
 
No such thing as quantum physics. We are all just stars in someone’s weird dream. Days are just minutes, minutes are just seconds, seconds are just blinks of the eye. Any minute now he or she will wake up, think “why couldn’t Archy find a pub with some women and what the hell was all that about. No wonder I’m knackered, in my dream I have been at work all night”.
And on a personal note to the individual having the dream; “Stop thinking about the rain. And the next time you get me drunk at least try and remember where I parked the car". :innocent:
and where have you been hiding?
 
It’s all work and no play at the moment. Which makes Kamikaze a very dull boy. :sad_smile:
 
Talent does what it can, genius what it must. I only ever do what I get paid to do. :biggrin:
 
Archy ive got shelfs of books on said subjects and the more you read them the more confusing they get, in reply to your query its just a matter of observation and event, if you are there when event happens and the radiation reflected at you is visible light then your brain will record the event, but its also a perception thing - different species have different light receptors and may not see the same thing as yourself but may see a differing event, either/or the event still happens but the knowledge it ever did is down to it been visible light and you receiving it. Basic example is the colour blind test if one of your colour receiving cones is faulty or missing you dont see the green no' in the blue pattern(example colours) but it is still there to those with full colour vision hence the green light still hits the retina the event happens (photon reflect to eye) but without the correct cone to register it you may be blind to it.
 
Saw QI the other day, the 'Does a falling tree in a deserted forest make a sound' question came up, which led on to when a beam of light passes in front of you, you can't see it. It's only when it hits your retina that one 'sees'.
So chatting down the pub about this (yes, not a single female in sight), we came up with the idea that everything one is not looking at, is in darkness? Which leads onto the question, if there are no observers does anything actually exist if there are no observees? :)

Sounds like you where all talking like women as the the beer had got to you all with asking questions like that
 
The 'does it still make a sound' is a lot more complex to answer because sound does not exist as such it just air pressure waves, it is not a sound until it hits an eardrum and is thus change from pressure waves into what our minds perceive as sound... the reason as well you may question why i haven't applied the same reasoning and explanation that i did to light in previous post is that light is a energy form in itself so the event happens whether your there to see it or not, where as sounds is a kind of kinectic energy and not an energy form in itself; it requires to hit an eardrum to be classed as sound if it dosn't then it is not sound and just a pressure wave.
 
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Archy ive got shelfs of books on said subjects and the more you read them the more confusing they get, in reply to your query its just a matter of observation and event, if you are there when event happens and the radiation reflected at you is visible light then your brain will record the event, but its also a perception thing - different species have different light receptors and may not see the same thing as yourself but may see a differing event, either/or the event still happens but the knowledge it ever did is down to it been visible light and you receiving it. Basic example is the colour blind test if one of your colour receiving cones is faulty or missing you dont see the green no' in the blue pattern(example colours) but it is still there to those with full colour vision hence the green light still hits the retina the event happens (photon reflect to eye) but without the correct cone to register it you may be blind to it.
That's a great example DW.
 
Me likes this thread :biggrin:, and just to add to darkwoods excellent posts. Sound waves rely on another medium like air or water to move from one place to another. For example through steel it is 15 times faster than through the air.
As to Archys falling tree in the deserted forest conundrum. I think that even if one can’t hear the sound the vibration of the sound wave from an observers point of view would indicate that a sound wave had been present.

 
Be careful Kam... regarding the tree falling to the ground in a forest, the forest floor would act like an accoustic damper as it will have a low density ratio unlike say steel and any vibrations would disipate faster than the pressure waves in the air so in this case its unlikely you would be made aware of the event through the ground but many factors do have a play in what will happen (temp, density, wind, obstacles, ground water content etc etc).
 

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