At the heart of much speculative fiction
(and fiction in general) is a question.
What if? On Tuesdays I like to throw one out
there and see what you make of it. Do with it
as you please. If a for-instance is not specified,
feel free to interpret that instance as you
wish. And if you find this becomes
a novel-length answer, I'd appreciate a
thank you in the acknowledgements. 😉
I was scrolling through Twitter the other night when I happened upon this tweet:
This reminds me of something a profoundly deaf friend said to me about the first time he got cochlear implants (as a young adult). Apparently one of the first things he signed after getting them was “Wait!? The sun is silent??”
— Stu K (@portcullisnyett) June 22, 2020
And it got me thinking...
What if the sun did make a sound that we could hear?
(And yes, I know, it does but because of the vacuum of space... [see this article])
I hope it would be a pleasant sound, not like fingernails on a chalkboard.
ReplyDeletebetty
Kind of like a gas burner on stove, but quiet, as when the gas is turned low, so we don't have to worry about it suddenly blowing up.
ReplyDeleteI suppose we'd be used to it if it made that noise all our lives.
DeleteThat's fascinating! I am so glad my senses aren't so impaired. But my husband and I envy a small percentage of women who see a fourth dimension of colors. These tetrachromats have one extra type of cone. Ooh, I wonder how a safely viewed eclipse looks to these folks. As for the sun, I can just hear it chuckling at humans' short and generally brutish existence.
ReplyDeleteA laughing sun... That actually might be a good thing.
DeleteI imagine it would sizzle.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the sound he heard was from his implants. I'd imagine the sun would woosh like the wind as solar flares burst from it.
ReplyDeleteHe didn't hear anything. That's what surprised him.
DeleteLet me answer that with a YouTube clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rvvsw21PgIk
ReplyDeleteYuck! I wouldn't like that...I already have ringing in the ears I don't need a new noise. I do find it neat that your friend thought the sun made noise...It gives insight into the what a deaf person imagines.
ReplyDeleteNot a friend, just a random tweet I found on Twitter.
DeleteIf I took the question literally, I would think "well, sound doesn't travel through a vacuum like space, so we are safe from sun sound." But what if the sun sang like a bird? Wouldn't we want to hear that?
ReplyDeleteYes, we would. (Many people responded to the tweet that the vacuum of space, etc...)
DeleteWhat would the sun be saying, I wonder. "Snap, crackle, pop"?
ReplyDeleteLikely.
DeleteEverything would be louder than what it is now ... And the quietness of the night would have a whole new meaning!
ReplyDeleteIt's like when some people hear that high pitched whiny sound coming from a TV and you can't hear it. Would def make an interesting scifi premise!
ReplyDeleteYes, the pitch would make a difference.
DeleteOkay....trying this yet again. Lost my last reply due to freak'n AT&T issues. Going to try once more...and I hate that cause my reply was good! haha...first, I am totally thankful for my hearing and even though I have so much wrong with me my hearing is the best! So thankful also for sight and being able to speak. Although I am sure there are folks that wished I could not speak at times! haha...As for the sun and sound. Wow, I would just hope that it is not a bubbling cracking fire sound that I see in my mind as it being. If it was, I might wish I could not hear it. Your friend was able to learn the world all over again and experience things unknown to them before....awesome. As for the eye surgery, as you age, EVERYTHING drops south, including the eye lids. Mine are covering the upper part of my pupil and with that the insurance company sees that as a hazzard. Its I like looking out with hoods or roofs over the top of eyes.
ReplyDeleteI hate it when my comment gets eaten. I'd imagine that's what the sun would sound like, but apparently we can find out (in the link I included in the post).
DeleteI feel like if the sun made a noise we could hear, it would sound like a roaring furnace. And we'd probably all be used to it, having heard it all our lives. I'm wondering if the sound would go away after sunset, though? Interesting.
ReplyDeleteKim
That is a good question. Someone who is an expert on acoustics would have to field that one.
DeleteI imagine hearing Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue.
ReplyDelete