Beam Me Up

“Beam me up, Scotty” is a famous line from a science-fiction television show. In the show, a “transporter” was used to move people from one place to another.

Could this science fiction soon become a reality? Recent technology has made it possible to transport small particles, known as photons, from one location to another. This is called quantum transport. Currently, its application is confined to electronics, but the theory has been proven possible.

The laws of physics may make it impossible to ever build a transporter that will send a human from one location to another. Such a machine would have to send atoms at the speed of light. It would also have to map and send trillions of atoms to include DNA mapping. Then, the molecules would have to be put back in place perfectly without so much as one being out of place.

Two other problems are dematerializing and materializing. The breaking apart of a human into subatomic particles seems highly unlikely. An even greater problem is putting the person back together in a different location.

In actuality, if such a “transportation” machine could be built, it would likely work more like a three-dimensional fax machine. In other words, the person would be scanned and a replica assembled elsewhere.

At this time, the quantum transportation of humans seems extremely unlikely. However, at least one physicist—science writer Michio Kaku—thinks further development of the technology could happen in the future. Although, he says, it will first take centuries of work.

Even in our lifetimes, technology has developed in unimaginable ways. Who knows what the future holds?