One Hand Clapping
I had the priviledge this morning of paying the rest of my school tuition for the coming Fall Semester. Having missed the payment deadline of the previous Friday, there was a possibility of all my classes being dropped. This, thankfully, did not happen. Continuing with the story though, I called up the Accounts office and got the obligatory automated message. "We're sorry, but all our operators are currently busy. If you know your party's extension, hit 1 now. Or please hold, and we'll get to your call as soon as possible. During this time, you will hear silence."
At first it occurred to me that this was a paradox. Hear silence? Wouldn't that be the same thing as seeing darkness? How can you hear in the absence of sound, or see in the absence of light? Not possible. If there is only darkness, are we not blind? If there is only silence, are we not deaf? But as I pondered the nature of sensation, it dawned on me that our senses are always active if they have not been explicitly disabled. So long as we have ears and they're connected to our brains, we hear. Signals are being sent from one to the other. Silence is distinct from sound, and our brains recognize it, much like when we see a black surface. Black isn't a color; it's the absence of color. So, I concluded that silence deserves a place in the spectrum of sound.
Silence...
"Hi, this is Tom, how can I help you?"
At first it occurred to me that this was a paradox. Hear silence? Wouldn't that be the same thing as seeing darkness? How can you hear in the absence of sound, or see in the absence of light? Not possible. If there is only darkness, are we not blind? If there is only silence, are we not deaf? But as I pondered the nature of sensation, it dawned on me that our senses are always active if they have not been explicitly disabled. So long as we have ears and they're connected to our brains, we hear. Signals are being sent from one to the other. Silence is distinct from sound, and our brains recognize it, much like when we see a black surface. Black isn't a color; it's the absence of color. So, I concluded that silence deserves a place in the spectrum of sound.
Silence...
"Hi, this is Tom, how can I help you?"
