This week, people are wrong about teleportation. A common science fiction trope, teleportation is the transfer of matter or energy from one point to another without traversing the physical space between them. Widely repeated claims of teleportation date back to at least 1583, when esp John D supposedly disappeared from his home in England and reappeared at the same moment in Prague. the most The latest report comes from Greg Phillipswho was appointed in December to lead FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery.
On a January episode Next podcast Phillips Said, “I was with my boys one time, and I was telling them I was going to a Waffle House… This was in Georgia, and I got to a Waffle House 50 miles from where I was… They said: ‘That’s not possible, you just left here a moment ago.’ But it was possible. It was real. ”
Teleportation is quite common for Phillips. He recounted another instance where he and his car were teleported 40 miles away to a crater near a Baptist church. “Teleporting is no fun,” Phillips concluded. Phillips, unfortunately, does not control teleportation, or he can use it in his work.
Some clarification for people who claim they have teleported
There are a number of possible explanations for Phillips’ story that aren’t “he’s nuts” or “he’s lying”. About 10% of people report having an out-of-body experience, the sensation that one’s consciousness has separated from their physical body. According to Research published in the British Medical JournalOBEs are often linked to defects in the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ), the part of the brain that integrates sensory information to orient you in space. If the TPJ is disrupted – from fatigue, stress or biological causes like epilepsy or migraines – a sensory “misfire” can result, where you no longer feel much for the physical space your body occupies. It’s not teleportation, but it feels like teleportation if it happens to you.
There may be a less specific explanation for Phillips’ teleportation: “Highway HypnosisAlmost everyone can “check out” your mind when you’re repeating something; On a long car trip, you suddenly realize you’ve covered 50 miles and have no memory of it. “Getting out of it” feels like you’ve teleported, because you can teleport to a new place without conscious memory of suddenly being there, and without conscious memory of how you got Phil there.
Other possible reasons: MicrosleepA sudden temporary episode of sleep or drowsiness where the person fails to respond to sensory input and becomes unconscious. Drowsy driving accounts for more than 600 deaths annually in the US, and can explain ending up in a ditch in front of a Baptist church with no memory of how it ended up there.
Okay, but if it was Teleportation?
None of them take All Consider Phillips’ story, however. He says he was suddenly 50 miles away when he left his home, to the surprise of his family who confirmed that he “just left here a moment ago.” So was it teleportation?
One cannot prove a negative like historical claimants, but John D, Gil Perez, Harold VidalAnd every other person who has ever said they teleported, there is no credible witness to Phillips’ improbable journey. No one saw him blink out of existence and no one saw him appear at Waffle House. There is also no other evidence, so I feel confident that Mr. Phillips being teleported is extremely unlikely, but let’s explore the possibilities.
One (sort of) exception: quantum teleportation
Teleportation is possible in the quantum world. In the realm of small things – atoms, electrons, photons, etc. – The laws of classical physics do not work. Light can be that particle and a waveTheoretical cats can be living and deadAnd cause and effect is the roll of the dice we approve of. It’s a mess, but a mess that allows a limited type of teleportation.
Quantum teleportation A method of transmitting information instantaneously is by using two “entangled” particles. Measuring a particle instantly determines the position of its partner, even if it is in space—a million miles away, the particle doesn’t care. But there’s a catch: you have to read the result. The data needed to complete the transfer has to be sent via a common signal, such as a radio wave or fiber-optic cable. Since those signals are off at the speed of light like everything else, they are not instantaneous from our point of view.
What do you think so far?
Scientists have successfully teleported a single photon state over distance, but it doesn’t work on a large scale for a number of reasons. First, there are logistics. Here’s how Columbia University Theoretical physicist Brian Greene described the problem Teleporting a person from New York to Los Angeles Science Times:
“We have to have a huge number of these trapped particles to bring in a human, and mix a human with this collection of particles that is in LA…it’s a huge number of problems that get in the way of doing that.”
The word “huge” isn’t big enough: there are about 7 Octillion Atoms currently calls himself “Greg Phillips”. Observing the quantum state of each of them would require more computing power than exists on Earth. For reference, the best modern science has done is to teleport a photon state A satellite 870 miles away. You can’t measure it up to a 200-pound man.
what exactly is Greg Phillips?
It is a logistical problem. There is a big conceptual/philosophical question for teleportation. In quantum teleportation, the original particle is destroyed to complete the transfer. The quantum state is read, transmitted and reconstructed elsewhere, but the source is gone. So who (or what) actually comes to Waffle House?
A FEMA spokesperson responded to the controversy by telling CNN, “This is so stupid it’s hardly acceptable,” but the question of who’s actually running FEMA’s disaster response isn’t stupid, because if Greg Phillips really did teleport, then everything that’s going on right now is FEMA’s disaster response. Not Greg Phillips. A collection of atoms that look and speak like Greg Phillips appear at Waffle House, while the real Greg Phillips fades out of existence on the highway.
