It's down there somewhere.

[Brother D]

This is from "The Dance of the Voodoo Handbag" by Robert Rankin.

The law of obviosity states, "Everything has to be somewhere and nothing can ever be anywhere other than where it is".

Sound logical?

I'll explain.

Let's say that you have to find something that's supposedly gone missing, where is the first place you'd look? The most obvious place, right?, but if it's missing, it won't be there will it.

So then, you look in the next most obvious place, then the next, then the next and so on, because of the above rule. But in order that you don't involve yourself in an infinite amount of looking, the very best place to start looking, would be in the Least most obvious place.

Still with me? Ok.

But, if the least most obvious place is the most obvious place to start looking, then that makes it the most obvious place. Therefore it's not the least most obvious place anymore, because now it's the most obvious place and there's no point looking in the most obvious place for something thats gone missing is there.

So, having eliminated the least most obvious place, because it's the most obvious place to start looking, what you must ask yourself is, where is the least most obvious Least most obvious place? And that's exactly where it won't be.

So where will it be?

In the original most obvious place, because that is the least most obvious of all least most obvious places it could possibly be.

But if it's not in the original most obvious place, then surely it's not missing and if it's not missing, there no need to look.

Phew! My brain hurts!

[SagebrushSage]

*deleting old posts*

[Brother D]

Maybe there's like a pocket dimension where all of our shit goes, (odd socks, car keys etc). Sometimes things happen to re-appear where they weren't, just to mess us up. Who knows!

[Reverend Al]

"Who's on first?"  "Yes."

[SagebrushSage]

*deleting old posts*

[Hominid]

The law of obviosity states, "Everything has to be somewhere and nothing can ever be anywhere other than where it is".

Unless your name is Schrodinger...  and you're looking for a cat.  ;-)

[SagebrushSage]

*deleting old posts*

[Brother D]

I wasn't sure if the laws of superposition applied! Is there such a thing as Shcroedenbergs' uncertain superposition principle? No one really knows if something is actually where it is, or in any of the places yet to look.

Well dudes, we just don't know.

[SagebrushSage]

*deleting old posts*

[SagebrushSage]

*deleting old posts*

[DudeInnaTruck]

A few options of how i see this
I may be a little out of my element here and only dabbled in the physics of the Universe,  but isn't the basic premise of quantum physics that everything is in flux and will be until viewed from a single point in which case the object is everywhere until it is seen. I know this is the above "cat in the box"
Second view
Just because we can't find it does it mean an object is missing?
Buddha said, "A problem that can be solved is not a problem and a problem that cannot be solved is still not a problem" (paraphrase) with that in mind if an object exists and can be located at some point is it ever missing?
Third view
I um cannot find stuff quite often, I usually resort to consorting the oracle, namely the wife. Obvious place or not she finds it.

[Brother D]

Can it be said that an object not found is outside of our observable universe?