Re: Limitations of Inform and TADS?


Sat, 11 Nov 1995 11:03:49 GMT

In article: <66.3242.1727@tabb.com> joe.mason@tabb.com (Joe Mason) writes:
>
> Well, both literally and figuratively, a tree falling in the forest does
> *not* make a sound if noones there to here it. (Oh, god, no! Not this
> old debate! Isn't it solved YET?)
>
> You see, "sound" is the way the brain interprets moving air impacting
> the eardrum. If a tree falls in the forest, it displaces some air, but
> if the air doesn't hit anybody's eardrum and be interpreted by the
> brain, *there is no sound*.

Sorry to quibble, but this seemed wrong to me so I dug out my dictionary
to check. According to Collins, there are 18(!) definitions of sound
(excluding meanings such as "that's sound reasoning" or "sound out the
depths in The Sound").

What do you know? There's your definition, in there at number 3.
Definition number 1 begins:
"a periodic disturbance in the pressure or density of a fluid or
in the elastic strain of a solid..."

So I'm afraid the debate's not over yet...

-- 
John