Schroedinger's Coin Flip

The experiment was set up thusly: A room with a camera and a computer arm and voice synthesizer an experimenter for the computer and an observer. The experimenter would put a coin in the robots hand and it would flip the coin. If possible it picks up the coin from flip to flip. It would call out the coin based on a single 'ping' from the observer who inputs the future source set slightly after the experiment. There is a table outside the room with a tv which replays the experiment and provides the buttons for the heads/tails 'ping'. It also has an 'abort' button which disables the arm, which is generally used after the experiment to reset the detector for the next trial.

The first twenty trials are two coins tosses, then twenty trials with three coin flips (etc)

The experimenter goes through the first twenty trials without much trouble. However the third coin toss never happens, the signal for the reset button is too strong and the machine is conditioned to two trials before resetting.

The experiment is reset, using the minimal voltage for the reset button to clear the state. The experiment goes well for the next 20 two flip trials, but the experimenter is conditioned to end the trial after two flips. The machine, now fixed, is ready to flip the coin a third time. They both reach for the coin at the same time and the experimenters hand is stabbed by the computer arm.

The observer goes outside to record the results. He pushes the buttons for the first two flips and, not wanting to watch the experimenters hand get stabbed again, decides to hit the reset button.

The experimenter leaves the room his hand now undamaged, wondering why the observer decided to abort the experiment after only two coin tosses, when they were clearly on the third.

They replay the video and it shows the experimenter's hand being damaged, even though it is not.

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As with the Schroedinger cat experiment, measurements are in a state of flux until observed. The observation of the hand injury in no way forces that event to happen, it is merely one quantum state. Back influence on the experiment with the reset button is equally valid as long as there is an alternate observation. The experimenter leaving the room with the undamaged hand proves the validity of that quantum state. The temporal split happens when the observer has the choice on whether or not to hit the reset button after seeing the second flip.