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The noise we make is hurting animals. Can we learn to shut up?

technologyreview.com

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Re: The noise we make is hurting animals. Can we learn to shut up?

#41

Post by oblio »

Tade0 wrote: post #38
oblio wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nice philosophising, but it's vehicles. Primarily cars, but not only. By far the most common and the loudest source of noise, especially in cities, are vehicles, again, primarily cars. During the pandemic it became painfully obvious how loud cars are. Every time a city closes down streets, the same thing can be noticed. It can be shocking to some, but even the most crowded places on the planet are quite silent when v…

> By far the most common and the loudest source of noise, especially in cities, are vehicles, again, primarily cars. Hugely depends on the city. Where I live it's the cargo trains and airliners. Congestion is too severe for anyone to make significant noise, unless they have modified/dysfunctional exhausts or particularly large engines.

True, but the radius affected by airliners is generally much smaller. Once they're higher than a few thousand meters, you can't really hear them any more.

Cargo trains, I imagine it's similar.

> Congestion is too severe for anyone to make significant noise, unless they have modified/dysfunctional exhausts or particularly large engines.

Large numbers of cars idling make enough noise to basically rival human conversations at regular speech levels. Anything above that (usually anything higher than 30kmph) makes it even worse. I'm not sure it's exponential, but I think it increases supra-linearly afterwards.

Re: The noise we make is hurting animals. Can we learn to shut up?

#42

Post by john_strinlai »

luckys wrote: post #13
Pay08 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that book actually based in science?

It's a book that challenges some established views. If that makes it anti-science... It's up to a person whether they judge a book based only on a superficial understanding of it and without having read it. I recommend it. I can't promise you will like it or find it interesting or agree with any of it. I find it important enough to recommend to people when this type of subject comes up.

>It's a book that challenges some established views.

this doesnt answer the question because you can challenge established views scientifically (i.e., using data and evidence and testing, etc.) or unscientifically by screaming vaccines cause autism or whatever nonsense directly in the face of (and contrary to) data, evidence, and testing.

Re: The noise we make is hurting animals. Can we learn to shut up?

#44

Post by scq »

Pay08 wrote: post #14
luckys wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a book that challenges some established views. If that makes it anti-science... It's up to a person whether they judge a book based only on a superficial understanding of it and without having read it. I recommend it. I can't promise you will like it or find it interesting or agree with any of it. I find it important enough to recommend to people when this type of subject comes up.

A lot, I'd hazard the vast majority, of these things are pseudoscience at best (remember "microwaves will give you cancer"?). Does "challenging established views" means presenting hypotheses with empirical evidence or claiming that EMF is from Hell?

No, the author is a crank named Arthur Firstenberg, one of the original "microwaves will give you cancer" people.

Re: The noise we make is hurting animals. Can we learn to shut up?

#46

Post by dec0dedab0de »

I noticed this directly a few weeks ago. I was camping with a friend pretty deep in the woods, but at a campground. About a half a mile away there was an RV running a generator, which was annoying as hell, but not the end of the world. Then in the middle of the night, while we were stargazing the generator turned off, and we could noticeably hear the wildlife adapt to the change. Some got quieter, but mostly it was wildlife returning to the area. As if the sound from the generator was a forcefield keeping everything away, or at least hidden.

That last part is what really opened my eyes about the noise polution from datacenters

Re: The noise we make is hurting animals. Can we learn to shut up?

#47

Post by duskdozer »

oblio wrote: post #35
everdrive wrote: post #4

Per Blaise Pascal, no they cannot: “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” We need to keep growing, building, making, taking. Some people seem to really love the bustle and creative destruction. I'm in my 40s, and I've always hated it. When I was a child, I wondered if when I grew up, I would fit naturally into the world the way that so many others seemed to. The answer…

Nice philosophising, but it's vehicles. Primarily cars, but not only. By far the most common and the loudest source of noise, especially in cities, are vehicles, again, primarily cars. During the pandemic it became painfully obvious how loud cars are. Every time a city closes down streets, the same thing can be noticed. It can be shocking to some, but even the most crowded places on the planet are quite silent when v…

Even quite a distance away I hear constant noise from a highway. It's a bit surprising too just how loud and for how long you can hear the cars and motorcycles they mod to be even louder, even through walls and windows.

Re: The noise we make is hurting animals. Can we learn to shut up?

#48

Post by duskdozer »

fnord77 wrote: post #37

Hurting us, too. i have to wear noise cancelling headphones all day to filter out noises from outside my apartment

It's horrible. Often feels like the lawn guys plan things out so that as soon as one finishes, the next starts up, to make sure there's no time to be free

Re: The noise we make is hurting animals. Can we learn to shut up?

#49

Post by ddmf »

I'm autistic and have misophonia and hyperacusis, not to mention auditory processing issues which mean I'm more likely to lock on to a noise rather than what I actually would like to listen to.

There's so much noise around - it really does tie in to the "social model of disability" in that a lot of my issues would disappear if environments weren't so hostile - that includes noise, smells, and lights.

Re: The noise we make is hurting animals. Can we learn to shut up?

#50

Post by sentrysapper »

Tade0 wrote: post #36
everdrive wrote: post #4

Per Blaise Pascal, no they cannot: “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” We need to keep growing, building, making, taking. Some people seem to really love the bustle and creative destruction. I'm in my 40s, and I've always hated it. When I was a child, I wondered if when I grew up, I would fit naturally into the world the way that so many others seemed to. The answer…

You would absolutely love Switzerland. Many things surprised me there, but it's the relative quiteness that did it the most. Trains arriving like massive ghosts, cars obeying the speed limit and not a single soul gunning it from the intersection. Meanwhile back home every night I can hear all kinds of "motoring enthusiasts" abusing their machines so that they won't hear their intrusive thoughts or something. It feels…

I experienced this in Japan and Korea as well. There are of course, neighborhoods where noise is tolerated but while I was there I noticed most commuters whisper conversations on their phone. The thought of blasting a call or music on speakerphone is unconscionable.
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