On the Subject of Quantum Teleportation
“Beam me up, Scotty” Captain James T. Kirk exclaims, as he narrowly escapes a macabre fate at the hands of the Klingon army. A beam of light is cast down onto the captain, instantaneously transporting him aboard the safety of his own starship. This technology, employing the use of teleportation, has saved many U.S.S. Enterprise crew members lives’ throughout countless episodes of the Sci-Fi TV series Star Trek. Teleportation being largely fictional at the time of production of the original Star Trek, is no longer fiction; Quantum teleportation has been demonstrated experimentally several times at the sub-atomic scale, with the first successful trial being carried out in 1998. The longest distance record …show more content…
If there were a way to teleport a human subject from point A to point B, but such teleportation involves destroying (killing) the original in order to create an exact replica (down to the atomic scale). Is the person that steps out of the device at point B the same person that entered the device at point A? This scenario raises several questions concerning consciousness, identity, and the existence of metaphysical qualities (such as a soul). It would be erroneous to assume that, if experiments are taking place today involving quantum teleportation, and research continues to exponentially increase the limits of this technology, that teleportation would never be used commercially to transport cargo, both living and dead—Thusly it can be assumed that if the technology is feasible in the future, the question of use on human cargo will arise. Nonetheless, this poses a novel problem for lawmakers and legislators of the future. Should such technology be limited to non-sentient living beings—or banned outright? Legislation on the subject would have to consider the hard science behind quantum teleportation, dealing with non-falsifiable questions such as unseen or immeasurable changes between the original object before teleportation, and physically identical copies afterwards. Such debates would lead to a revolution in the definition of …show more content…
The research center conducted a study in the 1950’s involving doping food consumed by human subjects with isotopes that emitted unique radioactive signatures. These signatures were closely traced, allowing researchers to precisely follow the paths of the atoms in the human body. Then director Paul C. Aebersold announced the following in the Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution regarding the conclusion of the experiment “Tracer studies show…that approximately 98% of the atoms in the body are replaced annually” (232). If 98% of the bodies atoms are replaced naturally over the course of a year, it can be concluded that transposing one’s identity on to a new set of atoms (i.e quantum teleportation) falls perfectly in line with natural processes taking place in the body. It is suffice to say that if one considers this no significant change, that quantum teleportation can also be considered as
“Beam me up, Scotty” Captain James T. Kirk exclaims, as he narrowly escapes a macabre fate at the hands of the Klingon army. A beam of light is cast down onto the captain, instantaneously transporting him aboard the safety of his own starship. This technology, employing the use of teleportation, has saved many U.S.S. Enterprise crew members lives’ throughout countless episodes of the Sci-Fi TV series Star Trek. Teleportation being largely fictional at the time of production of the original Star Trek, is no longer fiction; Quantum teleportation has been demonstrated experimentally several times at the sub-atomic scale, with the first successful trial being carried out in 1998. The longest distance record …show more content…
If there were a way to teleport a human subject from point A to point B, but such teleportation involves destroying (killing) the original in order to create an exact replica (down to the atomic scale). Is the person that steps out of the device at point B the same person that entered the device at point A? This scenario raises several questions concerning consciousness, identity, and the existence of metaphysical qualities (such as a soul). It would be erroneous to assume that, if experiments are taking place today involving quantum teleportation, and research continues to exponentially increase the limits of this technology, that teleportation would never be used commercially to transport cargo, both living and dead—Thusly it can be assumed that if the technology is feasible in the future, the question of use on human cargo will arise. Nonetheless, this poses a novel problem for lawmakers and legislators of the future. Should such technology be limited to non-sentient living beings—or banned outright? Legislation on the subject would have to consider the hard science behind quantum teleportation, dealing with non-falsifiable questions such as unseen or immeasurable changes between the original object before teleportation, and physically identical copies afterwards. Such debates would lead to a revolution in the definition of …show more content…
The research center conducted a study in the 1950’s involving doping food consumed by human subjects with isotopes that emitted unique radioactive signatures. These signatures were closely traced, allowing researchers to precisely follow the paths of the atoms in the human body. Then director Paul C. Aebersold announced the following in the Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution regarding the conclusion of the experiment “Tracer studies show…that approximately 98% of the atoms in the body are replaced annually” (232). If 98% of the bodies atoms are replaced naturally over the course of a year, it can be concluded that transposing one’s identity on to a new set of atoms (i.e quantum teleportation) falls perfectly in line with natural processes taking place in the body. It is suffice to say that if one considers this no significant change, that quantum teleportation can also be considered as