February 19, 2008
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A shout about Silence
Silence is a popular entry this week on Socrates_Cafe; here's my shout about it.
Silence can be regarded several ways: Physical lack of any sound; Social refusal to comment; Philosophical rejection of an idea; Intellectual lack of understanding; and so on.
As far as physical silence goes, I am personally unable to experience this - for most of my life I have had Meniere's Disease, a peculiar affliction of the inner ear(s) which results in bouts of extreme dizziness, nausea and constant tinnitus in my case a background clamor which sounds like a tree full of cicadas - all the time. Fortunately the dizzy/nausea problem can be controlled by drugs and isn't constant, but the sound goes on... it's what is supposed to have driven Van Gogh to cut his ear off.
Humans very seldom experience total silence - there is almost no place on earth where this occurs and even in such conditions there is enough internal thumping and gurgling to keep us sane. We seem, as with most animals, to be very much bothered by silence. A sudden silence in the woods will alert every animal, as it predicates some kind of possible danger. A sudden silence in a conversation will make most involved hasten to fill the void. A standard technique used in interrogation is simply to remain silent and allow the student... er, prisoner to fill it.
On the other hand, most humans find periods of relative silence to be soothing, refreshing, and desirable. Most of us find it easier to tune out a distraction if we don't have to hear it - even though we still see it - hence mute buttons on TVs.
How much sound can you endure?
Comments (12)
I've linked you
so in your own opinion- what is the impact of silence? to you does it have a practical value on the whole or is it something thats just a nice aesthetic thing?
How much silence is ideal?
IMHO, the problem for humans is not too much silence, it's too much noise. We don't seem to like complete silence - I suppose that's a built in genetic thing, but our systems seem to be bothered by distracting noise and as some rockers have discovered, we can actually damage our hearing and psyche with loud noise.
Periods of relative quiet (notice I didn't use silence) seem to be essential for good human health. I think the amount is ideosyncratic.
Thank you for your definition of silence. I am still pondering this question and will write an answer later. In negotiation techniques they talk about the pregnant pause...the first to talk is usually the one who will give in. Why do you think most humans find periods of relative silence to be soothing, refreshing, and desirable?
I can endure a lot of silence... I'd just pop myself in front of the computer and start surfing the net
Ah Ha !
Somebody else who keeps their computer's sound off
I like the juxtaposition you used on the question, turning it from a question of silence, to a question of noise. The only time I feel an absolute need to "fill the silence" is when I am trying to sleep. I employ repetitious noise from a sound machine to blur the outside noises as well as ghost noise (I live in a haunted house). I can sometimes endure quite a bit of noise; other times I have no patience for it. But when I say noise, I refer to human created noise. Natural sounds are not burdensome to me. I only find sounds which are unnatural to be bothersome.
I have actually criticized family members in the car who can't seem to be quiet for more than a few minutes. Whatever this human compulsion is to fill the void of sound, I do not share it.
Would you allow that periods of silence may also give our minds and spirits a chance to refresh themselves? Would you also allow that such silence allows us to ponder those aspects of life that we simply ignore in our daily pursuits?
I very much agree with reluctant. I'm not sure periods of relative silence were always necessary for humans but certainly in our modern noisy times a little peace and quiet is highly desirable.
Could humans live sanely in an environment of continuous noise? For how long without a break? How much noise?
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