On earth there is no 2D or 3D sound, there is only sound waves, their movement is not controlled by 2D or even 3D logic, considering time is probably the most important factor. We can't say a real life sound has an actual position, or volume, or direction - a real sound could break any of the standard rules that should govern it. 3D sound, tying a sound wave into a position and orientation is so far off the mark that it should be forgotten. Really, we'd be better off calculating sound based on direction, location and volume. For instance, take a deep hole in the ground with a metronome at end, really the sound should 'emit' from the end of the hole, because the only way it could be heard is by traveling towards the listener - in a videogame, the metronome might only be heard near the position of the actual sound. All the tech is there to improve matters no end, yet nobody bothers.
It's like asking how many shades of green there actually are, the bottom line is that it depends on your point of view. It changes, but really humans can't tell the difference beyond the current measuring techniques, even the long established true colour format is beyond what we can actually distinguish. But the real answer is that there are infinite shades of green, just like there are infinite types and volumes and positions of most things.
Personally, I've learned to never use real life as a measurement, because a measurement has to stay a standard, and real life has no standards to abide by. How often have we seen true to life colour, realism so good you could believe you were actually there. CD's are supposed to be so good quality that it's like having the band in the same room, 16 million colours is apparantly the same as having the actual objects in front of you. It's all marketing hogwash set to please people who want the future right now. We should stop quantifying and start making stuff cool.
Scientists eventually worked out how a Bee can fly...
Turns out that it's a special little flick of the wings which makes then more effective when flapping out, so there is lift no matter which direction the wings are flapping. Now that's us missing a trick, something in the Bee's technique that was missed and only discovered after slow motion photography could show it. My point is that for years they said that a Bee's flight is IMPOSSIBLE. There's a long way from impossible to 'a flick of their wings'. Quantifying has made the human race look stupid, compared to insects, enough of a reason not to think like that for most people
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And? So?
This affects programmers more than most people, if we want to program something, a simulation say of a Bee's flight - we can't start with it being impossible, we have to fill the gaps in knowledge with guesswork and luck. With prior knowledge I might have the bee object gain height with each flap of wings, so it would bob in mid air and look like a flying insect. Wouldn't move like a bee though. A bee moves smoothly and erratic at the same time, to mimic that I would probably smooth out the speed changes, so no sharp bobbing, a gentle bob instead, smoother changes of direction, and it would look more like a bee's flight. The only way to do that is to disregard what people have decided as the truth, and worry about your own ways of replicating and mimicking. Why are game physics so important, why does that bulding need to come apart when I fire a rocket at it - meanwhile firing a rocket has no actual effect on my character, no kick back, no sign the the rocket launcher even weighs anything, or might affect the way you move.
I think I rambled enough, hopefully 1 person knows what I'm mangling on about. Basically, there's a lot worse you can do than guessing, you could be assuming that your guesses are the truth. So I would definitely say that programming can change your mind, it makes you a more self-relient thinker, you have to be, what your doing might not have been done before. But I'd also say that some brains have their own way of working things out, and programming is a good vehicle for that, so people who think outside the box often do it through computers, it's the most direct way to show your ideas.
