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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Teleportation

« on: 26/04/2004 03:02:04 »

quote:Originally posted by cannabinoid

Hi whitestar, welcome to the forums.  

Teleportation is a cool theory and I think something we may eventually be able to do, but there are some criteria that must be met before we can.  (probably take 500-1000 years or so before we get there)

First of all, there doesn't exist a technology to convert matter to energy then reassemble that matter exactly as it was found...at least not with complex biomolecules.  Thermodynamics has a lot to do with it.  The amount of energy it would take to counteract the HUGE change in entropy of the system of your body is probably quite large.  While "disorder" isn't the correct way to describe entropy, it is analogous when dealing with changing a solid into a system of particles.  

The method of converting the matter to energy is in question too.  I can convert you to energy by burning you, but that would sorta defeat the purpose since we can't un-burn something.  If you're disassembling the human body, there are chemical reactions involved in the cracking of all of those bonds.  You will need one of two things:  a reaction that is spontaneous for the conditions in which you're teleporting or highly developed nanotechnology that is capable of reassembling an organism from other materials.

So, bearing all these advances in mind, I'm thinking you might want to look into something like space-folding or wormholes instead of disassembly-assembly unless you're planning on setting this thousands of years in the future.  I think it would be unreasonable to believe that all of the above sciences advanced that far in a short time from now.

But imagine for the sake of argument that teleportation were to be accomplish by converting a person into energy and you had the technology to reverse the process. In addition, you send the information along with the energy.



1) The question is, would the person survive the procedure, or would the individual cease to exist and be replaced with a replica, who was literally born into existence once the energy was reconverted back into matter along with the information?


You mentioned that if I decide to set the story 500 to 1,000 in the future, I may employ the disassembly/assembly teleporter.


2) Are you saying that the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle will eventually be broken or bypassed in the far future?


Whitestar

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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Teleportation

« on: 24/04/2004 04:57:13 »

quote:Originally posted by cannabinoid

Hi whitestar, welcome to the forums.  

Teleportation is a cool theory and I think something we may eventually be able to do, but there are some criteria that must be met before we can.  (probably take 500-1000 years or so before we get there) So, bearing all these advances in mind, I'm thinking you might want to look into something like space-folding or wormholes instead of disassembly-assembly unless you're planning on setting this thousands of years in the future.

1) Do you think teleportation that works by disassembling a person at the atomic level will be possible in the far future?


You mentioned that teleportation might be a reality between 500 to 1,000 years from now.


2) How do you think it would probably work?


Whitestar

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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Teleportation

« on: 12/02/2004 19:11:41 »

quote:Originally posted by Donnah

Hi Whitestar, welcome to the forum.  I do some writing too (albeit more editing).  I'd go with teleporting the properties.  You could have teleportation as available to only an elite few.  These people could have clone bodies placed in various locations and kept alive in some sort of life support closet.  They would become alive when activated by transporting the photon properties into them.  This also gives you the opportunity to weave in a sub-plot about stealing bodies by having your "essence" transported into someone else's body, and since it's the wealthy and powerful who have teleportation clones you could have a field day with a stolen clone body.

Thanks for your feedback. So you're convince that once a person is converted into energy, that individual ceases to exist and is replaced with a replica once the energy is reconverted back into matter. What do you think?

Whitestar

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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Teleportation

« on: 11/02/2004 04:42:17 »

Hi everybody.

I have always been intrigued by the concept of teleportation and with the recent advances in quantum teleportation at the University of Innsbruck, the results are encouraging. However, it should be noted that this form of teleportation doesn't allow physicists to teleport the photon itself--only its properties to another, remote photon. Here is the site:

http://www.aip.org/physnews/graphics/html/teleport.htm


I'm an aspiring science fiction writer and what I want to do in my story is achieve teleportation by actually teleporting the people themselves, not their properties. So, I began thinking about how I was going to do that. I thought about creating a teleporter that works by converting matter into energy and reconverting the energy back into matter and being able to pass through walls and ceilings, sort of like radio signals.


The thing that concerns me about this concept has some philosophical issues to address.


1) For starters, does conversion of matter into energy and vice-versa in this case imply the person undergoing the process has ceased to exist, only to be replaced by a replica who was literally born into existence once the energy was reconverted back into matter?


2) What other theories or ideas can I use for my story?


Whitestar