Why you should never agree to use teleportation
Spoiler: because it’ll probably kill you…at least for a little while.
If you’ve seen any sort of science fiction movie — you’ve probably come across the notion of teleportation. The ability to instantly be transported from one side of the planet — to the other.
Imagine a world where you could be in Paris for breakfast, Buenos Aires for lunch, and the newest restaurant on the moon for dinner. Pure fantasy right?
It may have been fantasy…until 2018 anyway.
Scientists in China successfully teleported a photon from Earth onto a satellite 300 miles away. This moved the concept of teleportation from being impossible to simply being a herculean endeavour.
Before we start tasting that freshly baked French bread each morning — we first need to work out how to teleport larger particles, small inanimate objects, “lesser” forms of life, and finally humans.
That is to say nothing of the seemingly astronomical amount of computing power and transmission bandwidth we will need to be capable of harnessing in order to teleport a human.
One day, a century or two from now, this technology will be mature.
The question then arises — should you use a transporter, or will it mean your instant death with your life being taken over by a doppelganger?
How do you know that whoever steps into the transporter is the same person who steps out?
Let us consider four ways in which a transporter might work, and whether that would mean that “you” come out the other end or a copy.
- Facsimile
- Body Transmission
- Mind Transmission
- Wormholes
Facsimile
Your body is scanned by the teleporter in your lounge room and deconstructed. You are reprinted at the destination with new “ink”.
Whilst atomically (and genetically) identical — the person at the destination would be a copy as the base materials used are different “instances” of those elements. You, of course, are dead — and will stay dead.
To demonstrate with another example — imagine transporting a house from point A to point B using this method. The house in point A has been destroyed, and while the bricks being printed in Point B look identical — they are mere copies.
Body Transmission
Your body is scanned, and deconstructed into its constituent “Lego blocks” (read: atoms). These same blocks are then fed through some sort of pipe (or via quantum entanglement) and drop out at the destination — where they are reassembled into yourself.
Unlike the previous example, the very same atoms in the original you have made it to the destination.
In this scenario — you were definitely killed but were you brought back to life and consciousness. Or was a new instance of your consciousness that was “booted up”?
Does it even matter if it’s a different instance of consciousness?
Mind Transmission
Your body is scanned. A replica is reprinted at the destination — including all the data in your brain (memories, facts, relationships, and neural pathways).
The electrochemical impulses that course through your brain are transmitted (similar to a data file over Bluetooth or wi-fi) and into your new brain.
This way, while the body is new, the original “spark of life” has been transmitted over to Point B. The consciousness of the individual may have effectively just blanked out (as you would under a coma or deep sleep) for a few milliseconds.
Wormholes
The teleportation device creates and opens a wormhole under your feet that creates a tunnel through space-time, with the other end of the wormhole terminating at your destination.
In this way — you and your atoms remain wholly intact, and you effectively walk through a door or get onto a slide which takes you to where you need to go.
This solution saves you from any death and preserves the continuity of your consciousness.
Based on the above — your options for teleportation from Point A to Point B include:
- permanent death whereby you are replaced by a life usurping pretender (no thanks)
- a temporary death where you are brought back to life — but possibly as a different consciousness inhabiting the same body (still no thanks)
- moving your consciousness into a new body (maybe) or
- simply stepping through a portal (I can deal).
What are your thoughts? Are there any other types of teleportation I have missed? Would you be game enough to use the other ones?
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