Teleportation; It's actually already been done?!

[Electric Rain]

That's right... I just found out that teleportation is actually possible... in fact, it's already been done! Check it out.

Okay, so that's pretty friggin' cool 'n stuff... but more so than anything, it's SCARY!!! I would really hate to think of what would happen if a teleportation pod screwed up putting you back together... >.> But think about how much this would change LIFE as we know it! And it might only be a few decades away! DISCUSS!

Edit: Better article. (Wiki)

[vskid]

Thats why I don't understand why we spend so much money on making hydrogen and other alternative fuel cars, why not focus everything on fusion reactors (for some reason they show them working on the Science channel, but theres nothing about them on the internet) to power the world and teleportation for transport. And since the fuel for one of the fusion reactors I've seen is rare on earth, but abundant on the moon, we'll teleport there and teleport the fuel back.

That is the future, not running your car off corn (ethanol-most retarded idea ever).

[Electric Rain]

I guess trying to find better ways to power something that has been around for over 100 years is easier than reconstructing a human... but we could start with transporting small items... like wristwatches 'n stuff.

Hmm... I was just thinking... if we had the ability to scan the makeup of a person, and clone it from nothing (Just massive amounts of energy, I guess?) elsewhere... we would eventually end up mass producing soldiers... don't you guys think? I mean, they have to go through an additional step to destroy the original copy. Instead, we'd take like... the perfect soldier, and then... OMG, IT WOULD BE LIKE FRIGGIN' METAL GEAR SOLID!!!

Maybe we should NOT try to pursue something like this... for the benefit of the human race. >.>

[dman762000]

The problem with all scientific research right now is the government, there is too much control over research , like stem cells, and cloning and yes even energy production, the gov regs everything and if anything truly remarkable comes along the gov steals the patent and looks at how to turn it into a weapon, why don't we have flying cars? the gov already does but they are using them as the next wave of tanks and such, they have already come up with a system that uses electricity and magnetics to produce a shield that protects tanks from anti-tank weapons

[Metallica Man X]

Yeah, the government really seems to have too much control overa lot of these things. I must be a real war-monger tho, cause the thought of flying tanks and sheilds just sounds sweet to me....
But yeah, there's been so many different programs that could have made some real serious, groundbreaking progress, but were held back by the government for one reason or another.

Of course, the holding back of the flying car idea makes a lot of sense to me. Because well, as far as flying cars go.. most probably coudln't afford them anyway, and if they went mainsream somehow; most people these days just couldn't handle them really.
Honestly, just look at all those drunk drivers and horrible accidents due to drunkeness &/or sleepyness and other effects.

Just imagine just how bad it would be if their cars flew!! It'd be 9-11 every friday and saturday night!
I don't know about you, but that does not sound like a good thing to me.

[Limewater]

We don't want to start ignoring other vehicles and focusing all of our attention on teleportation for several reasons.

1. Teleportation requires a huge energy expenditure.
2. The technology is in the distant future. It's nowhere near being feasible in the foreseeable future. However, alternative fuel/more efficient cars are in the "ready" stage.
3. Were teleportation of humans even possible, quite a lot of people would refuse to use it. Most people don't really like the idea of having their entire body destroyed so that it can be replicated.
4. There is little financial incentive for the research, and research is very expensive. Since many people would not want to use such a device for personal transportation, the potential market would be small, and it is also rather doubtful at this point that the technology would ever even get that far. However, there is plenty of money available for more efficient vehicles because people want them and they want to buy them. Auto companies have a lot of money, and they want to maintain market share, so they fund their research.


I don't know a whole lot about fusion reactors myself, since power is not actually my field. I do know, however, that most people don't want to be around them. That sort of thing is hard to sell to people who think it will kill them.

It's not an additional step in the teleportation process that destroys the original. It's the scanning process itself.

The government does not have too much control over research. It's not as if the entirety of scientific research takes place in the United States and is lorded over by the US government. There are researchers all over the world researching this stuff.

Even in the US, research is a lot less regulated than a couple of earlier posters seem to believe. The US government does NOT regulate Stem Cell research. You can research stem cells to your heart's content. Just don't expect to get federal funding for it.

And the US government does not go around stealing people's patents and turning the technology into weapons. That sort of crap happens in movies, not real life. The reason so much technology is used for defense is because the US government funds a heck of a lot of research on technology to be used for defense.

You don't have flying cars because you haven't bought one. They've been around for decades (though not in a format that would probably interest you), but there's not really a proper infrastructure for them. There are only a few around (I think they just to airshows and crap) because they're not really a practical vehicle, sort of like amphibious vehicles. They're fun, but not really worth having. They're just cars that turn into planes.

However, there are several commercial enterprises in development of more modernized consumer versions. They're still in the design phase.

I'd be interested to see a few examples of some of these programs that made or could have made serious progress but were held back by the US government.

[Gump-in-space]

And the US government does not go around stealing people's patents and turning the technology into weapons. That sort of crap happens in movies, not real life.

Sorry, but it does happen, just not in a way that the technology goes into weapons. My brother's teacher said she used to work for Nasa. When the shuttle launched it used to coat the launch pad with a invisible toxic residue.

His teacher and a group of other scientists found a mixture that made the residue glow in the dark and show up yellow in light. They patented it, then a week later they got a letter informing them that the US government now owned the patent (aka Nasa stole it) and completely cut thier names out.

This is a different case then most of you were describing because it happened to be a government team that got the original patent, but would you be happy if you created an invention that the world needed by using your school's lab equipment, and the Department of Education took the patent away from you?

[Limewater]

They patented it, then a week later they got a letter informing them that the US government now owned the patent (aka Nasa stole it) and completely cut thier names out.

Your brother's teacher is slanting the story pretty hard.

Except for how your story is told, what happened was completely on the level.

If you go to work for the federal government, be it at NASA, AFRL, NSA, Redstone Arsenal, etc... and you develop something patentable, the US government owns the patent. That is made very clear to any Government employee going into a research position.

Something quite similar happens in private industry. If you work for a company and through that position are paid to develop something patentable, the company will own the patent.

That's not stealing. That's how the system works. If you want to keep your patent, you have to develop your patentable idea yourself with your own money and pay all of the patent filing fees yourself.

I sort of think that the whole story is kind of shady, though. I have a very hard time believing that someone would go from being on a research team at NASA to teaching at the (I'm assuming) high school level.

I'm not saying it can't happen, but that doesn't reflect well upon the teacher in question.

Unless this person was always a teacher. That would explain this person's poor knowledge of how NASA operates. If that was the case, then the teacher was only ever around as a publicity stunt anyway, so take anything he or she says with a grain of salt. NASA's always pulling that kind of crap, like sending John Glenn back into space in eight years ago.


Regarding the teacher scenario:

Well, teachers aren't scientists or engineers.

However, if I worked for the Department of Education and they paid me to work in the lab, then anything I invented in the lab would rightfully be theirs, unless they set up their contract very stupidly.

You hire people to produce something of value.

If I am hired to produce something of value, and I produce it, then the people paying me own what I produced. Otherwise, they've just thrown money in a hole and I'm reaping all of the benefit.

Would you pay someone to build you a new computer and then expect them to take the money you paid them, build the computer, sell it to someone else, and keep all of the money?

[teraflop122]

Limewater knows what he's talking about. I too am getting pretty tired of all this "conspiracy" garbage.

On the subject of fusion power; A reactor is still a reacter if it requires more energy to run then it produces. Fusion reactors have been built, but they can not hold a sustained reaction, and the reactions currently require more energy than they produce.

Most of those teleportation schemes would lead to your death. You see, you walk into the teleporter, you end up dead, and an exact copy of you roams the streets of Venice. When that copy decides to return, it boards the machine, ends up dead, and a third copy leaves back in your original neighborhood. As far as you are concerned, your life ended the moment you boarded the first teleporter. The problem here is continuity of self, or lack-thereof.

Using a teleportation scheme to create supersoldiers would use so much energy you'd probably be better off using that energy directly as a weapon. Competent, easily built and programmed combat robots will occupy the battlefield long before tele-duplicated soldiers.

The skies are not littered with "flying cars" because social and economic conditions have not allowed them to be feasible. The most popular flying car concepts have an onboard computer flying you to your destination, so you wouldn't have to worry about them crashing into buildings and etc.

The United States goverment reflects the will of the people (albiet delayed and slowly, sometimes), and the majority of people displike certain kinds of research. If most people want stem cell research banned, the goverment does so- or at least limits the research through official means. 64% of research occurs in the private sector in the United States. Patents resulting from this research- so long as the goverment is not the main source of funding- are never suppressed, nor altered, nor spirited away into the night. Many big corporations also have legal claim to patentable inventions developed by their employees (its ALL in the fine text), leading to claims of conspiracy and such nonsense.

Come on, guys; this is Democracy, not communism, not fascism. We are the goverment, the goverment is the people. The goverment is nothing more than an extension of ourselves and a means to apply our collective wills on a large scale. Those are the facts. (within the United States of America)

[HotDog-Cart]

No politic talk guys

Also, I hope we get sharks with frikken lazer beams on their heads.

[Limewater]

No politic talk guys

Oh yeah? Take this!

Your country is a Parliamentary Democracy!

And I hope we get dogs with bees in their mouths so when they bark they shoot bees at you.

[Gump-in-space]

Teraflop is a distributer of propaganda... Nicely said Teraflop!

[vskid]

Most of those teleportation schemes would lead to your death. You see, you walk into the teleporter, you end up dead, and an exact copy of you roams the streets of Venice. When that copy decides to return, it boards the machine, ends up dead, and a third copy leaves back in your original neighborhood. As far as you are concerned, your life ended the moment you boarded the first teleporter. The problem here is continuity of self, or lack-thereof.

Ah, nice point. Maybe we'll just use teleporters for transport of goods.

And I'm pretty sure that one of the reactors I've seen could sustain itself, its just that the fuel is one of the rarest substances on earth, but its fairly abundant on the moon (I think its helium 3 or something). There was another reactor that used a more plentiful fuel (don't remember if it could sustain itself), but it could only run a few seconds at a time or else it would start damaging the walls of the reactor. They were on the same show, I think it was a mini series about space exploration on the Discovery Channel, it was on a couple months ago.

[HotDog-Cart]

Oh yeah? Take this!

Your country is a Parliamentary Democracy!

*Doesnt understand* What you say about my dads car!?!


Dogs with Bees in mouth VS Sharks with frikken lazer beams on their head

Who would win?

[benheck]

I've often thought the best use for teleportation would be to put your table scraps in a box and it gets sent to countries where people are starving. I know that sounds gross, but think of leftover pieces of pizza or doggie bags that sit in the fridge until they rot.

Indeed the biggest burden to all pursuits is distance. Let's say you send a bag of rice on a truck to some people in Africa - it can get stolen by rebels. Or something shipped to the UK can get stepped on, in my case. Teleportation would solve all that.

Of course then the developing countries will develop much faster and the price of energy will continue to skyrocket, but that's another subject.

Though if goods were teleported somehow you could make entire fleets of trucks obsolete, which would free up tons of oil.