With thanks and apologies to Eliezer Yudkowsky.

We've all heard this argument before. The argument is a mistake. Even cognitive scientists sometimes make this mistake, and they should know better.

If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound?

Armando: Of course it does! I've heard trees fall before, there was quite a lot of sound. It's not like the world behaves differently when people aren't around to observe it.

Dippet:

...