Poll: Teleportation and other impossible things.

[CANofKAM]

I for one think that it is impossible and will never happen but some people seem to think otherwise, if you are one of these people, elaborate as to why.

I just felt like starting some argument/doomed discussion.

EDIT: ok, let me rephrase it, im talking about something larger then an atom or two, im talking a large scale tele-portation. not necessarily a human but bigger things.

 

[cookyy2k]

I for one think that it is impossible and will never happen but some people seem to think otherwise, if you are one of these people, elaborate as to why.

I just felt like starting some argument/doomed discussion.

Possible, and done.

Evidence [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3811785.stm]
More evidence [http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/17/us/scientists-teleport-not-kirk-but-an-atom.html]

 

[Spectral Dragon]

I don't believe considering it's a fact that teleportation exists. We haven't been able to teleport more than maybe an atom at a time as it is, but it's so possible that it's been done. Do I need more agruments?

 

[Phlakes]

Nothing is impossible. Really. For multiple reasons- one, is it possible that some kind of God-like being/energy/sauerkraut exists? Yes, it's possible. That could explain the beginning of the universe, which right now defies physics.

And if it's possible something like that exists, it's possible that it could make anything happen. Including teleportation.

And there are others, but I won't get into it now.

Also, everything above me.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Depends on your definition of "teleportation". If you are talking about a process, it's easy to say if that's impossible. If you just mean a result, something like "go from here to there really fast, and not be affected by certain things in the way", there may be many ways of doing that, and you only need one to be possible.

 

[StrixMaxima]

It is perfectly possible, but it is a very nuanced question.

How large is the object in question?

How far will it be teleported?

How well you want its characteristics to be preserved?

What are the short and long terms effects on biological matter?

Is life (as a condition) teleportable?

 

[Kae]

I believe it is possible but I doubt it can be used on living creatures, note that I say doubt that means I'm not completely 100% convinced of it's impossibility though it does saddens me that there is no way I'll ever get to see this technology in action.
Well let me elaborate a little more, I believe that teleportation is possible but that the process involves travelling at the speed of light, which would make the particles become figments of light thereby separating the particles and when it gets to the end the particles have to rejoin and make the object again which would make it nigh impossible for more elaborate things like a living being to teleport successfully considering that it could rearrange all of the particles in the wrong order, BUT it might work on simple materials like let's say stuff like stone, metals and so on and so forth.

DISCLAIMER: I have no knowledge of how physics actually work so this is a pure assumption and there are 0 facts involved in this.

 

[Blueruler182]

With current technology? No, it's not. But a hundred years ago the internet was impossible. Cyborg limbs are just over the horizon and metal body parts would have been called fits of fancy way back when.

 

[cookyy2k]

I for one think that it is impossible and will never happen but some people seem to think otherwise, if you are one of these people, elaborate as to why.

I just felt like starting some argument/doomed discussion.

EDIT: ok, let me rephrase it, im talking about something larger then an atom or two, im talking a large scale tele-portation. not necessarily a human but bigger things.

I don't see why bigger things are not possible. If you can take the quantum state of every particle in an object and transfer it to an equal number of particles at the other end you have just teleported the object. The only limiting factor is bandwidth, you'd need to send horrendous amounts of data to be able to teleport anything more than a couple of bound atoms.

EDIT: This [http://www.phys.uni-paderborn.de/~wstefan/papers/PhysScr_74_2_007.pdf] gives a good account of teleportation feasibility. I will want you it's a .pdf and is a research paper so is reasonably complex.

 

[FreakSheet]

Teleportation? Maybe. HUMAN Teleportation? Sounds impossible. Because I assume being disassembled atom by atom and sent through space, then being rebuilt will kill a person and maybe send a copy to the other end.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Didn't they recently send neutrinos faster than the speed of light or something? In anycase, teleportation has always been kind of ehhhh in my books. I don't like the thought of being completely disintegrated by science just to move some where really, really fast. Well, at least not until its been done 1,000,000 times by people who aren't me safely.

I will however like being able to send people things over the net by teleportation. Here ya go mate, have some local cuisine you've never been able to try in Britain. Now send over the Branston Pickles!

 

[SeeIn2D]

Well it has been done like everyone before me said. I don't know if human teleportation will be possible in the future, but then again we may be looked back upon by high school classes with the teacher saying "Now class don't forget that people a couple hundred years ago never though teleportation would ever be possible on a human scale". It's always been my favorite super power though and I like the concept of using it in computers to create basically infinite speeds in computers. This concept is really similar to the concept of the ansible from Ender's Game.

 

[Agayek]

I for one think that it is impossible and will never happen but some people seem to think otherwise, if you are one of these people, elaborate as to why.

I just felt like starting some argument/doomed discussion.

Teleportation has been proven. Now it's only a matter of time before we understand the basic mechanics and figure out how to scale it up. It's not likely to be any time soon (and I doubt it will reach commercial availability before 2150), but it will happen.

Even beyond that, what people need to figure out is that nothing is impossible. We just don't know how to do it yet.

Anything you can imagine will one day be possible (assuming our species lives long enough). It's just a matter of applying science and having a dash of luck. If you can manage both of those, it'll happen.

 

[Stammer]

It's possible to teleport objects in small-scale already. I'm extremely convinced that within the next century or so we'll be teleporting everywhere we go.

Additionally, the science behind the mass effect (from the games of the same name) is actually quite sound. If we can harness dark matter it should be very possible to instantaneously go from point A to point B.

And even if neither of those works out, there's a good chance that within the next couple hundred years our entire lives are going to be completely connected via the internet. We'll be able to visit our friends from the other side of the world instantly because our whole entire minds will be downloaded into the system.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Everything seems impossible until someone actually manages to pull it off.

 

[bluegate]

Gonna go with yes, because if everyone went around thinking stuff isn't possible, we wouldn't get anywhere and we wouldn't have cars, computers, airplanes and what not.

In order to get stuff done you need to believe in it and work hard at getting to it.

 

[spartan231490]

I for one think that it is impossible and will never happen but some people seem to think otherwise, if you are one of these people, elaborate as to why.

I just felt like starting some argument/doomed discussion.

EDIT: ok, let me rephrase it, im talking about something larger then an atom or two, im talking a large scale tele-portation. not necessarily a human but bigger things.

Scientists have already teleported light, and atoms.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/17/us/scientists-teleport-not-kirk-but-an-atom.html
http://news.discovery.com/tech/teleport-light-experiment-110418.html

So yeah, teleportation is possible. It's not an I think, it's a reality. Of course, teleporting a large object over any distance would require decades or more worth of research, and a lot of energy.

 

[shotgunbob]

The problem with teleporting a human is that you essentially are killed on one end and a copy of you comes out the other.

I do think it is possible however.

 

[Dfskelleton]

We'd probably need special teleport stations, as well as extremely advanced technology, but it could always happen I suppose. Let's just hope the experiment doesn't end up like it usually does in fiction. I mean like this:

Spoiler

or this:

Spoiler