Boards
So
Further to the massive debate that happened ages ago on some confrontational thread about something or other...
If the tree doesn't make a noise when it falls and nobody is around to hear, this suggests that the only reality that matters (or exists) is the one created by the human consciousness.
But while it's very true that human perception gives shape to what we see - seeing the tree as being tree-shaped, being made of wood, being something we can burn, starting at the ground, etc - there attributes that belong to the object that transcend this perception. The intrinsic nature of the object, it's physicality and form and content prior to that which human perception projects onto it.
This has been argued as an object's 'essence'. I don't know if I agree with the term exactly, but there's something in the idea. Just because our perception shapes how we see an object, does not mean the object is defined entirely by this perception and has no innate characteristics of it's own.
So yes. The tree makes a sound.
Another example might be - if a star goes supernova in deep space, but no human presence is there to witness it, does the star still go into supernova?
The answer to which is clearly yes.