Since every fundamental particle is in-principle indistinguishable from every other particle, there is nothing special about “my” protons and electrons as opposed to “yours”. So we could theoretically record all of the positions and other information of the particles in an object and rebuild it from other particles elsewhere. But in some sense it would be a copy, not the original object. And there is also the question of whether people can be reduced entirely to their particles, or whether there is something “else” to people (like a mind or a soul). That sort of question science is not really very well equipped to answer.
On top of all that there are the technical issues of recording and transmitting all of the information for every particle in, for example, your body. We can already transmit such information for just a few particles very easily, but I just saw a calculation (last week, actually), that showed that accurately recording and transmitting enough data to teleport a person would take thousands (or maybe even millions) of years given our current technology.
So don’t hold your breath, is I guess what I’m saying.
blue11fudge
Since every fundamental particle is in-principle indistinguishable from every other particle, there is nothing special about “my” protons and electrons as opposed to “yours”. So we could theoretically record all of the positions and other information of the particles in an object and rebuild it from other particles elsewhere. But in some sense it would be a copy, not the original object. And there is also the question of whether people can be reduced entirely to their particles, or whether there is something “else” to people (like a mind or a soul). That sort of question science is not really very well equipped to answer.
On top of all that there are the technical issues of recording and transmitting all of the information for every particle in, for example, your body. We can already transmit such information for just a few particles very easily, but I just saw a calculation (last week, actually), that showed that accurately recording and transmitting enough data to teleport a person would take thousands (or maybe even millions) of years given our current technology.
So don’t hold your breath, is I guess what I’m saying.
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@bagzii: I really wish it was! It would be so great to be able to pop over to visit my friends in the US, or UK and pop home again for dinner!
I think @Kyler has given a great answer.
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I believe scientists have teleported individual particles, but I think Kyler is right – a whole person is just too many particles.
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