Q&A

Q: If you’re alone in a forest vocalising your thoughts to whomever may be listening, is there anyone there to see you talking to yourself?

A: No.

Conclusion: Talk as if someone’s there to listen. All witnesses will be in your favour.

 

 

 

Disclaimers:

1. Yes, I acknowledge the flaws in the argument. I accept that ‘someone can hear me’ is not identical to ‘someone wants to hear me’, nor identical to ‘the person hearing me considers herself to be my “audience”’. Equally, yes, someone hearing me in the present would indeed be capable of inferring that in past/future moments I would still have been / still be talking in the same manner without an audience.
2. A rambling but harmless innocent is better than deforestation.
3. Yes, I did pay attention in logic classes. No, I do not think that perfectly logical thoughts are the only ones that should be articulated.