Beam Me Up

June 23, 2008

My favorite character in The X-Men series is Kurt, a.k.a., Nightcrawler, whose special mutant power is the ability to teleport, instantaneously moving from one location to another, even across vast distances. Needless to say, he gets around. The downside is his freakish appearance: blue-tinged skin covered in tattoos -- "one for every sin," he tells Halle Berry's Storm in X2: X-Men United -- with a spiked tail, yellow eyes, and taloned stumps for hands (not to mention that disturbingly reptilian tongue). Poor Kurt won't be winning any "Sexiest Superhero of the Year" contests anytime soon. But his shy, sweet nature resonated with me, as well as his child-like pride in his brief fifteen minutes of local fame. He, himself, is just Kurt, reviled freak of nature, "But in the Munich Circus, I was known as the Amazing Nightcrawler!"

I was reminded of Kurt last week when I stumbled upon a fascinating article, "Five Superpowers Science Will Give Us in Our Lifetime." Picking a dream superpower is actually a frequent topic of conversation in the Geekdom, and for the last several years, my choice has always been teleportation. Think about all the time we waste getting from Point A to Point B, with all the hassles and indignities suffered along the way, regardless of your choice of transport.

Now imagine getting there instantaneously. Poof! One minute you're in Los Angeles, the next you're at your best friend's wedding in the Bahamas. What could be better than that? (For fantasy purposes, it is assumed that one's clothing makes the trip as well. That still leaves the problem of luggage, but really, why haul stuff around when you can just pop back home to change in a nanosecond?)

Maybe that's why I often win such debates. Teleportation is a staple of science fiction for a reason, after all. From a scientific standpoint, it involves dematerializing an object at one point and sending the details of its precise atomic configuration to another location. This information can then be used to construct an exact replica of the original object out of new atoms, arranged in precisely the same pattern as the original.

Teleportation was noticeably absent from the above-cited article, perhaps because it is unlikely to be achieved for any practical purposes in our lifetimes. Physicists can teleport individual photons, and even whole laser beams ("telecloning"), but they are nowhere near being able to teleport a life-sized object. In fact, for a long time physicists assumed it wasn't even possible because the notion violates the Uncertainty Principle.

It's a classic catch-22. If we want to teleport an object, we have to scan it to get the precise information we need about its atomic structure. And I do mean "precise": as in, right down to the subatomic level. But uncertainty says that the more accurately an object is scanned, the more it is disturbed by the scanning process. We can't measure a subatomic particle without altering it in some way. So it's impossible to extract all the information we would need from an object in order to create an exact copy in another location via teleportation.

In 1993, an IBM physicist named Charles Bennett and his colleagues found a convenient loophole via entanglement (see this prior post for a brief recap of entanglement). Three particles are involved: A (the original particle to be teleported), and an entangled pair of particles (B and C) It's a bit like watching a street game of three-card monte. First, B and C are entangled and sent to separate locations. B then interacts with A, and A's information is transferred to B. Since B is still entangled with C, any information transferred to B is also automatically sent to C, without any need to send it across physical space-time. C essentially turns into A, in the new location.

Naturally, there's a catch. We can "outwit" uncertainty, but we can only do so once. The original object is invariably destroyed in the teleportation process, because when B scans A, the latter's properties are permanently altered by the interaction. A no longer exists. C is now the only particle in that original state. So when Nightcrawler pops out of one location and into another, according to our current understanding of physics, he is actually destroying his physical body and recreating it from entirely new atoms in the new location.

Hmmm. Suddenly teleportation doesn't seem quite so attractive. Maybe I'll take that commuter flight after all.

Okay, your turn: what would be your superpower of choice, and why? Bonus points if you can find some real-world science that might one day make it a reality.

Photo: Alex Cumming as Nightcrawler in X2: X-Men United. 20th Century Fox/Marvel Studios (via Wikipedia)

Comments

[birdwatch]

The cloak of invisibility would be fun -- and it's real too, on a very small scale -- combined with the magic carpet to ride on. With the price of gas and where it's heading, perhaps the long-promised flying car will finally make an appearance.

[Dave Mosher]

My earthly super-power: Being able to master any profession in one day. But talk about being over-qualified...
My non-earthly super power: To be a star child, like Dave Bowman from the Space Odyssey series. (R.I.P., A.C.!)

[Epheros]

I don;t agree with this direction of thought regarding teleportation. The idea of breaking down and ultimiately destroying particles and sub-particles seems like it is an inherently flawed approached, especially since we have not the ability to created matter from energy, though we can covert matter into energy.

I really think the possibility of achieving teleportation lies in understanding dimensional shifts and being able to utilize these wavelengths to effectively close the distance from one point to another along a single plane. Kind of like a Stargate in which you step through and essentially traverse a dimension of time that loops back to a destination. I'm sure we could make some interesting leaps if only we knew how to detect, interpret, and analyze dimensional layers.

[Jennifer Ouellette]

First, we have to prove extra dimensions exist. They are entirely hypothetical at this point, and not "layered" even in theory. But perhaps the Large Hadron Collider will spot them once it gets up and running at full power.

Second, what Epheros describes is more akin to wormholes or closed timelike curves than a "dimensional shift." There are plenty of sound scientific reasons why wormholes and CTCs are, to date, not possible.

And finally, I'm sure I don't need to point out that STARGATE is not a recognized source for accurate scientific information. :) Fun fantasy, yes -- and sometimes it can inspire some interesting directions in science. But ultimately, we're left with what is practical. To date, the only way to achieve any kind of teleportation is through that described in the post. The laws of physics are pretty unyielding in that regard, whether one "agrees" with it or not.

[epheros]

Starting last, yes, I agree that the Stargate reference was a poor choice, but it was the only idea I could think of that would visualize the idea I was going for. Some type of contraption that could focus, along a contained plane, an access through a dimensional layer. The best, non-mathmetically involved explanation (though the math I believe is there) I felt really poignant is summed up in the following youtube videos based on the book "Imagining the Tenth dimension" by Robert Bryanton. This link is part one of two videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkxieS-6WuA

Now, the second observation, reminds me of the painful argument held about the recent movie Jumper, wormholes. I felt that the explanation was a perfect assumptive definition to explain the ability of the main character. No one really knew what allowed them to teleport but the wormhole concept was as best a definition to fit the ignorance of the world involved. "I don't know, it's like some kind of 'wormhole' or something" perfectly captures the concept. This, to me, is another dimensional rift in which two points of distance over time are conjoined by a interposing layer. This conceptualizing the possibility of our minds being able to actualize or initiate multi-dimensional layers, that is if our minds could become aware of these layers that transcend our limitations in the 3rd dimensional reality to we are all subjected.

First comment, that is the problem, how do we prove multi-dimensional layers with technology and science based in the 3rd dimension? All of our understanding and advances are based on everything we are limited by within this reality. Our conjecture, theories, and hypotheses certainly point to the possibility but so do the same ideas refute it.

All in all, I think the ability to teleport, like Nightcrawler and in Jumper, is a possibilty but I think it involves more metaphysical concepts than pure physics or quantum physics. Something about the many studies done by people such as John S. Bell (Bell's Theorem), Stanislav Grof, Fred Wolff, and Michael Talbot seem to have a certain level of commonality that go beyond what our reality can produce.

A little more speculative than I suppose this blog entails but considering the topic...

Always a great argument, I must say. Thanks! :-D

[epheros]

Oh, I forgot, my using the term 'layered' is rather incorrect, I mean more like entangled, something in which the dimensions are not only a part of the whole but separate as well. Think of three or more wavelengths and how they each have their own frequencies which blend in with each other but are distinct themselves, separate but together.

Using the term layered for me was easier to identify the phenomenon as separate in which we use, say, another frequency to 'jump' to a another location in space-time. Essentially, it might be possibile for us to open this rift, or incorrectly-defined wormhole, to move across the distance without the 3rd dimensions restriction within time.

Good argument, or trash talk? ;-)