Will we ever be able to teleport?
Steph Forman from Greater London (age 25-34)
Filed under: Answered Big Questions, Kevin Bird's Big Answers, Mechanics and Transport Big Qs, Physics Big Questions, Theoretical Physics Big Questions, age 25-34
Will we ever be able to teleport?
Posted on February 20, 2008 by Administrator
It seems very unlikely. It may at one point be possible to analyse an object’s molecular structure at all points in space at one instant in time, and then transmit that information (via laser, for example) to a destination. A replicate could potentially be created from this information at the destination. Several good arguments are presented that make the reality of this unlikely (e.g. technical, energy, commercial, and ultimately moral considerations). These include:
Extremely complex technology would be required:
It is felt that massive energies would be required both in the analysis, the signal transfer (e.g. across space) and the re-construction at the destination, which may prove financially restrictive (however we may discover a method of harnessing massive power from stars easily, safely, and cheaply).
The information transferred would have to undergo rigorous data verification to ensure no transmission errors – similar to the way computers over networks communicate, which should be possible.
With regards to the transfer of people/biological entities, the essence of a person is unknown at this stage, and may remain so with regards to the relationship between memory/personality/neurons firing within the brain (the soul/life, if you will – the element that defines a person as a live person, rather than a dead body) and the biochemical/physical side of a living being – it is thought that every atomic and sub-atomic particle’s position, orientation, etc, including electron spin for every atom would need to be known to even hope this would work for a living being. This is in contrast to the relatively simple information (e.g. re atom details) for a non-living/non-biological object, such as a chair. Whilst knowledge of this massive amount of information all for one instant in time seems unlikely, it is potentially possible in so much as at this stage of humanity’s understanding of physics and the universe, we cannot say one way or another. We are naive compared to the information we would need to know one way or the other. If the above method/technology were to become a reality the result would be a duplication of a person at the destination, since the original’s physical self is not transported – merely the information itself. This then presents moral difficulties with the “requirement” to destroy the original (person) for a “true” transportation to be considered as having taken place (the “actual” transportation of anything in the manner usually thought of in a problem such as this seems yet more complicated and yet more unlikely – if not entirely impossible).
Kevin – Member of the Institution of Mechanical
Engineers, South Wales (and keen sci-fi/science fan)