Quantum Dots Might Be Key For Teleportation

prostoalex writes "Researchers from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore have created a model teleportation system using quantum dots. PhysOrg reports that 'tiny clusters of atoms known as quantum dots may be excellent media for quantum teleportation, a physics phenomenon in which information — in the form of a quantum state, a very specific mathematical signature of an atom — can be transmitted almost instantaneously to a distant location without having to physically travel through space.'"

Comments

bullshit

[Anonymous Coward]

BullSHIT!

Re:bullshit

[NinjaTariq]

Wasn't that was one of the problems einstein had and could never get to the bottom of was the spooky action at distance? Where effects of quantum entanglement do travel faster than the speed of light. Various theories have come along to explain it, including faster than light particles which travel between the two entangled particles effectively going back in time and setting the observed property when the two were in close proximity.

In theory it is possible to travel faster than light, the theory of relativity is symetrical around the speed of light. But it is impossible for any particle to go across the light barrier, either slow down under it or speed up over it.

It may be impossible to implement (currently) like many things in theoretical physics, but so were so many things we take for granted now a century ago.

Re:bullshit

[Torvaun]

Teleportation is absurd -now-. 150 years ago, magic picture boxes were absurd. 150 years before that, a magic box that could transmit sound near instantaneously from place to place was absurd. How about taking someone's heart out, putting a new one in, and having that person not die from it? Allowing blacks and women to vote? The very concept of a man controlling billions of dollars? The only true absurdity to be found is the certainty that things will always be as they are.

Some of our routine surgeries would have been called vivisection. Many of our standard technologies would be called witchcraft. And when the rules said no to cruel and unusual punishment, that meant that we wouldn't be burned at the stake.

How much POWER will that take?

[Travoltus]

Measured in nuclear reactors, I mean.

"Teleporting one quantum dot will take 5 nuclear reactors", and such.

Re:How much POWER will that take?

[Nullav]

Depends. Are we talking about text, page scans, or the actual Library of Congress? What do you mean by 'it'?

Re:Teleporter death

[WarJolt]

What you are talking about is philosophical issue. With teleportation you no longer exists where you were and you exist where you are now, but thats true as you walk through space. I think the problem occurs when you consider the energy that makes up your matter is part of you.

Let me ask you a question. Isn't it true that your cells are constantly regenerating themselves? The matter you were made up of when you were born no longer is the same matter, but you are still you. So if your qunatum state was duplicated and during the process the original was destroyed then you would still think you are you. Would you still BE you? That just opens a whole can of worms.

The question in my mind is can quantum teleportation bring along your soul? If you don't believe in a soul you have to ask yourself a couple of questions. Are you only you because of that matter that makes you up? The matter that makes you up comes from the stuff you eat. So is the stuff you eat part of you before you eat it? Is it only you when you make food part of your cells and your body? What makes you unconfortable with the idea of your body being made up of different energy? Consider this: Your body is constantly rebuilding itself with new and different energy and disposing of the old parts. Whats the difference?

I bet most people wouldn't step into a teleportation unless the quantum state of your atoms were reconstructed with the SAME energy.

Re:Teleporter death

[stjobe]

Oh, but I disagree :)

"Just" philosophy (as you so eloquently put it) is not at all "meaningless and essentially useless", and quite a few answers can and have been found through philosophy.

However, the questions that are asked in philosophy cannot usually be answered empirically. Neither by observation or experiment, nor by reference to faith or revelation, but rely instead wholly on reason. This should not be taken as evidence that the questions cannot be answered. Logic, for instance, is based purely on reason and it springs, as do so many other fields of study, from philosophy. It also answers a lot of questions.

In fact most of what we now call science was at one time or other found under the heading "philosophy", and only with advances in philosophy did it spring forward as a science in it's own right.

So you see, far from being meaningless and essentially useless, philosophy is in fact inherently meaningful and useful as a tool to explore areas of knowledge science does not yet have the ability to tread. For instance, the philosophy of mind to which this discussion pertains.