*Not at the posted coordinates*
Read the story below. Check your answer here to get the coordinates.
Our story begins in 1947, with an American Behaviorist by the name of B. F. Skinner. He was a man whose interest in science and psychology informed the way he lived. As an Atheist, a Poet, and Inventor, he was responsible for a great many idea and creation, and the findings from his experiments are world-famous.
But in those experiments he had a particular affinity for a certain kind of test subject...
Imagine for a moment, that you awake in a strange metal room. Your arms and legs are bound, preventing you from moving. In front of you is a crude black and white screen, displaying a strange fuzzy image. All around you, perhaps just outside the metal walls, is the sound of air rushing past.
Suddenly, an object drifts into view! You look at it for a moment, trying to make sense of the strangely shaped blob on the screen. You can’t tell what it is, but something about it is strangely familiar. It comes to rest in the corner of the screen, just within reach. Compelled, you reach out with your nose, straining your neck.
Tap! As your nose makes contact with it, it jumps wildly! The room jolts, moving you around with it! As it comes to rest, you notice this object, now front and centered, is growing in size. You can’t resist...
Tap! Tap! Tap!
It grows larger, consuming the screen entirely! You feel oddly satisfied, knowing somehow that you have served your purpose here. Unfortunately, you explode just moments later.
Did I mention you are a pigeon?
Yes, the “Pigeon Guided Missile” B. F. Skinner created during WWII never really took off, but some of his other pigeon themed experiments changed the way we think about behavior. Take this for example, his famed experiment entitled “Superstition in the Pigeon”:
As an atheist, B. F. Skinner was always critical of religion. More specifically, he was concerned with the way we humans are prone to superstition and ritual. He wanted to set out and show that, under a controlled environment, he could invoke superstitious behavior in just about anything. To do this, he got his bird-brained test subjects together for an evening feast.
Already conditioned to be extra hungry, the pigeons were placed in separate cages, each with a mechanical feeding device. A button, also placed in the cage, was programmed to dispense food whenever it was pushed. The birds, as they discovered this, quickly found themselves in control of their food supply. They were free to eat whenever they wanted; they just simply had to push the button!
But then, something changed. At 11:36 am the next day, Skinner made some modifications to the cages...
Now, the button wasn’t working quite right! Sometimes they would hit the button, and nothing would happen! Other times, it would work just fine. Most of the time, they wouldn’t even be near the button and food would come out. The birds were desperate to feed, and began trying other things: Spinning, twirling, acting like a pendulum - anything to get the cage to release food.
Over time, they would find themselves doing one of these actions, and out of nowhere the food would return! Thinking that their behavior must’ve caused it to trigger, they would do it again! And again! Sure enough, after doing this for a long enough time, they would get more food. And, after enjoying a plentiful feast, they would start up their ritual again, waiting for another bite.
It turns out Skinner simply disconnected the buttons entirely. He rigged up the feeder to a timer, set to go off every 24 hours. Every day, at the same time, the food would present itself. No matter how hard the poor pigeons tried, none of their methods actually influenced when their food would arrive. They developed superstition, believing they controlled something they did not. His findings mirrored our own predisposition to superstition, and how easily we are susceptible to it.
B. F. Skinner was famous for many other things, both pigeon related and not. Though he died in 1990, his work and words still influence us to this day. To solve this cache, his words may prove a valuable tool in your quest.