Schrödinger's Cache

[+Too Tall John]

Ok, so in this thread, cache_test_dummies responded to the question of "Should I move someone else's cache that is about to be bulldozed, or leave it alone?" by saying:

Leave the cache alone and it will be destroyed.

 

Move the cache, and it is no longer at the posted coordinates.

 

The cache is both alive and dead at the same time. It is Schrödinger's cache.

It made me think "That's a great name for a cache!" Great, now what will such a cache look like?

 

For those unfamiliar with Schrödinger's Cat, according to Wikipedia:

Schrödinger describes how one could, in principle, transpose the superposition of an atom to large-scale systems. He proposed a scenario with a cat in a sealed box, wherein the cat's life or death depended on the state of a subatomic particle. According to Schrödinger, the Copenhagen interpretation implies that the cat remains both alive and dead (to the universe outside the box) until the box is opened. Schrödinger did not wish to promote the idea of dead-and-alive cats as a serious possibility; quite the reverse, the paradox is a classic reductio ad absurdum.[2] The thought experiment illustrates quantum mechanics and the mathematics necessary to describe quantum states.

Discuss.

 

[4wheelin_fool]

I can imagine a scenario involving Schrodinger's hamster and a geocache..

[+Snoogans]

This thread reminds me I have 2 hours of Big Bang Theory to watch on my DVR when I get home.

[+Colonial Cats]

The cat would be dead because the cat is in a sealed box.

[+Colonial Cats]

Could you do it as a puzzle cache with two possible correct answers. The answers would lead you to two separate containers. Since each answer is the correct answer, finding either container would constitute a find. Since this is an either/or situation, if the finder locates both containers he would only get credit for the first container he found.

 

I think this would be a fun cache if you can get a reviewer to sign off on it.

[+va griz]

That's a cool idea.

[+Chief301]

If it catches on it might become a whole sub-genre in itself.

[+Astro_D]

Could you do it as a puzzle cache with two possible correct answers. The answers would lead you to two separate containers. Since each answer is the correct answer, finding either container would constitute a find. Since this is an either/or situation, if the finder locates both containers he would only get credit for the first container he found.

 

I think this would be a fun cache if you can get a reviewer to sign off on it.

 

When I first started caching, there was a multi similiar to this idea (GCEFDC). Except there was only one "correct answer". The first WP consisted of two sets on coordinates. One way led to a dead end (no log book) and the other way led to an ammo box with the log book. I thought it was a pretty cool cache concept.

Edited February 14, 2013 by AstroD-Team

[+MartyBartfast]

How about a GZ at a wall with a path down each side, on one side of the wall there's a lame micro, but the other side of the wall is an Ammo box with lots of swaps, no clues on the web page and ask everyone to keep the secret. What you find will depend on which path you approach from.

[+Viajero Perdido]

You could do it as a multi. Stage 1 is a corner of an equilateral triangle, and there you find coords for a second corner of the triangle. Cache is at third corner, but note that there are two possible places for that third corner, potentially far apart.

 

Here's an example, without the Schrödinger angle. Feel free to borrow the idea; I did.

[+fizzymagic]

A cache with a twist more like Heisenberg would be one where you need to project to the final; you can either have the distance exactly but not the azimuth or the azimuth but not the distance, or both with uncertainty in each.

[+Viajero Perdido]

Schrödinger's Uncertainty Principle?

 

Hmm, I'm almost certain I'd absolutely love a puzzle like that. Or not.

[+JL_HSTRE]

Could you do it as a puzzle cache with two possible correct answers. The answers would lead you to two separate containers. Since each answer is the correct answer, finding either container would constitute a find. Since this is an either/or situation, if the finder locates both containers he would only get credit for the first container he found.

 

Perhaps different ways to find the two solutions? Easy puzzle = hard hide; hard puzzle = easy hide.

[+geocat_]

I have a cache called Schrödinger's Cache but took a much more simple idea to achieve it. I have a larger, tupperware type container that is cracked and nasty (dead) with the real container, a metal bison tube, Gorila taped to the bottom (alive). Nothing tricky, just cute

 

 

[AZcachemeister]

Holographic projector.

 

The cache is there, but it isn't there.

[+Colonial Cats]

Could you do it as a puzzle cache with two possible correct answers. The answers would lead you to two separate containers. Since each answer is the correct answer, finding either container would constitute a find. Since this is an either/or situation, if the finder locates both containers he would only get credit for the first container he found.

 

Perhaps different ways to find the two solutions? Easy puzzle = hard hide; hard puzzle = easy hide.

Maybe solving a Quadratic Equation would work since you can get 2 correct answers for it.

[+niraD]

Holographic projector.

 

The cache is there, but it isn't there.

You wouldn't need a holographic projector... just two opposing parabolic mirrors. Imagine putting a bison tube in something like this:

http://optigone.com/

 

Anyway, I've found puzzle caches where the puzzle produced multiple solutions, and part of the puzzle cache experience was figuring out which one was correct (either through brute force, or by solving the meta-puzzle). A similar approach could be used for a Schrödinger's Cache. The puzzle produces two locations. At one location is the cache. At the other location is a block of wood shaped like the cache. Seekers have no way to know which is where. The CO could swap them occasionally, and possibly even encourage finders to toss a coin and swap the container for the decoy if the coin toss comes up heads.

[+egroeg]

GCY44R Schrodingers Cat(che) is a two stager. At the first stage you are given two sets of coords and you have to choose which one to go to.

[+cache_test_dummies]

I like the ideas posted above.

 

A different concept would be to create a Large Hadron Collider cache. It would cost 7.5 billion euros and take 10 years to build, and then, once in place, would take another 4 years to work through some issues before being published. Now fully operational, there would be a single event resulting in evidence consistent with a find, but the data would require more analysis before we could be certain it was actually found. But even before the analysis was complete the cache would need maintenance, and be made temporarily unavailable for two years.

[+pixeltash]

I've completed a cache like this near where I live... first you find a micro with 4 sets of co-ordinates in it, then you have to go to each of these co-ords and in each there is hidden a box, but only one of the boxes contains a log book and no sig no find. The CO moves the log around from cache to cache.

 

Naturally when I completed it the log was in box no.4!

[+NYPaddleCacher]

I like the ideas posted above.

 

A different concept would be to create a Large Hadron Collider cache. It would cost 7.5 billion euros and take 10 years to build, and then, once in place, would take another 4 years to work through some issues before being published. Now fully operational, there would be a single event resulting in evidence consistent with a find, but the data would require more analysis before we could be certain it was actually found. But even before the analysis was complete the cache would need maintenance, and be made temporarily unavailable for two years.

 

I'm going to be out at Stanford for a few days of meetings and noticed that there is an unknown cache at the Stanford Linear Accelerator

[+niraD]

I was reminded of GC13GC7, which implemented the Monty Hall problem as a puzzle cache of sorts. Something similar could be done to implement Schrödinger's Cache.

[+Andromeda321]

I guess I could put my physics degree to good use and make up an unknown cache with the Schrodinger Equation, and if you get the solution you can go to the final? Then not put it up on geochecker.com so you don't know if it's really there until you find it.

 

(For those interested, the standard quantum mechanics undergraduate textbook these days is written by a physics prof named Griffiths, and is famous because it's a blue book that has a picture of a cute little live kitty on the front... and a dead kitty on the back! Also, I met Griffiths once and he insisted that the last word in the book be what it is, which is "gullible.")

[+Andromeda321]

I like the ideas posted above.

 

A different concept would be to create a Large Hadron Collider cache. It would cost 7.5 billion euros and take 10 years to build, and then, once in place, would take another 4 years to work through some issues before being published. Now fully operational, there would be a single event resulting in evidence consistent with a find, but the data would require more analysis before we could be certain it was actually found. But even before the analysis was complete the cache would need maintenance, and be made temporarily unavailable for two years.

 

The general rule in science is if it was easy we would've already done it. Though for the record, if you're so cynical about the successful LHC I hate to know what your description would be for the Superconducting Super Collider.

[+cache_test_dummies]

I like the ideas posted above.

 

A different concept would be to create a Large Hadron Collider cache. It would cost 7.5 billion euros and take 10 years to build, and then, once in place, would take another 4 years to work through some issues before being published. Now fully operational, there would be a single event resulting in evidence consistent with a find, but the data would require more analysis before we could be certain it was actually found. But even before the analysis was complete the cache would need maintenance, and be made temporarily unavailable for two years.

 

The general rule in science is if it was easy we would've already done it. Though for the record, if you're so cynical about the successful LHC I hate to know what your description would be for the Superconducting Super Collider.

No cynicism intended - I was shooting for playful satire, and obviously missed the mark. I meant no offense to members of the scientific community.

 

[+duncanhoyle]

Two caches at the same coordinates...

 

http://coord.info/GC2HJYV

http://coord.info/GC2HK2Q

 

The mystery is in a tunnel below the traditional which contains instructions on how to find the entrance. It was fun but not dark enough!