Do you think there will ever be a transporter like the one used in the Star Trek?

Answer 1

its a possibilty,
but first we must perfect a computer that can handle all the "information" of ALL the atoms (of a human for example) that will be transported.

c2a3j4u5n6 is talking about "quantum teleportation"
actually SA publish an article about it in 97
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=00014CBD-7633-1C76-9B81809EC588EF21&pageNumber=1&catID=4

its a practice that cannot yet transport material, but more like copy information from one quark fragment, to another fragment of the same piece (it can be performed over long distance too)

its not the key in the transportation matter,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_teleportation
but possibly the computer that can keep up with the amount of information in cataloging all the particles of matter during the transport.

we still have a long way to go, and are missing huge elements in the transportation of a whole atom.

but we're about to have some cool computers that will be as fast or faster than the human brain. (and it will probably be made from a cup of water instead of a silicon CPU)

(98 SA article)
http://www.media.mit.edu/physics/publications/papers/98.06.sciam/0698gershenfeld.html

yes. all of this will result in more of a copier than a transporter, but you could copy over a long distance.
and the idea of transporting thoughts might be more difficult than we expect.

Answer 2

I do not think it likely, and will say why.

First, you would not be able to transport anything living (if you want it alive at the end). The device will be more like a 3D copier, except that reconstruction happens at a distance.

I will use an analogy here. Imagine a huge city - say LA. You would need to take a snapshot of every road, every building, every plant, every insect, every car, etc etc etc. Imagine every broken pipe hiding inside a wall, every corroded engine part in a car, etc. If you think this would be bad, you aint got even close - a human body say, would be far more complex. In addition, you would need to know how much water there was in every pipe, which way it was flowing, if at all; how much current was flowing in every wire ...

When you have captured this knowledge, you need to reconstruct it elsewhere.

Now, you will need a fusion-like process, where elements were combined to produce other elements, and in turn, complex molecules. While this knowledge doesn't exist, lets pretend that it does. However, to be useful, it needs to be almost instantaneous (look at how long it takes to produce a few grams of plutonium through nuclear fusion as we know it today).

Your machine would need to create each atom you needed, and then to place them into their rightful place in a 3 dimensional grid, or 'combining chamber'.

Mate, I just don't see it. I'm an optimist and like to see most things as being possible. This is one, which doesn't seem likely to me. It would probably be feasible for small and simple objects, but remember Einsteins E=mc squared? It means that a lot of energy is held even within a microscopic mass. You are creating matter here, implying by this equation that you are using vast amounts of energy. By vast, I mean that a large nuclear power station would not nearly be enough (over the long term). And yet you need to do it instantly.

The more thought I have given this, the more problems I see. I won't bore you with some of the further thoughts I've had, but they all add up to saying no. And we haven't even started talking about how we would transport life - whatever it may be!

Sorry.

Answer 3

I'd like to think so, but I believe it will remain fiction.

Sampling all the atoms in a human body and reassembling them is far more complex than just having a big enough hard drive to store the info on. There is also the Uncertainty Principle, which means that if you observe a particle, you change it's behavior. So to sample all the particles that make you up, you change "you" and to put you back together would be impossible.

I don't like to say impossible, but it seems that way to me. But I'm also open minded. It may happen, but I doubt it.

Answer 4

A few years ago , in an article in Scientific American, the article was about how scientists have actually ' transported '
and are continueing research on transporting light particles.
this will certainly lead to more complex particles and indeed
molecular structures being transported.
the ariticle i am refering to is in the May, 2003 edition...
volume 13, number 1 of SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN.

Answer 5

well i seriously doubt it. controlling a fission reaction, converting 80 kilo's of mass into energy, moving it, and reassembling it somewhere else would require such a control of the elements, and power conduct that would be able to instantly stransport a VAST amount of energy over a distance without burning out. that its probably going to be out of our reach for a loong time.

if it is possible its still going to take us a millenia or 2 to achieve that kind of technology.

Answer 6

no question about it. Its just a matter of when.
Of course its hard to conceive now, but someone will figure out the technology before long, no doubt.

Answer 7

Yes, but I don't know if it will handle organic matter or complex inorganic machines.

Answer 8

Nope... it's too bad too, because it would sure make my commute home easier.

Answer 9

I hope not-that's dorky!