WDET News
- Teleportation as Transit?
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May 16, 2008General - Link to Audio
\"we\'re made up of more then the tiny particles...\"This week has been National Transit Week across the nation. In Detroit… numerous ideas abound on how to solve the transit problem. But despite the debates….Detroit Public Radio’s Amanda le Claire still has one question on her mind.
SOQ- 3:15
Getting around. It’s one of life’s biggest hassles. There are options…like bicycles …busses…cars or mass transit… if you live in a big city. But as our society changes…how do we see the future of transportation in our lives? Let’s really think ahead to what’s been promised in thousands of science-fiction novels. Teleportation. When will we just be zooping around?
CUT- “We will never teleport.."
Dr Myron Campbell is head of the University of Michigan’s Physics department. He says…until recently… scientists believed atoms could not dematerialize one place and instantaneously materialize in another. Advances in something called quantum teleportation have shown it is possible to transport tiny particles this way. But…Dr Campbell says it doesn’t mean humans will be able to use this technology anytime in the future.
Cut “we are made up of more then tiny little particles…”
While in the future it may be possible to teleport copies of ourselves…sans memories…Dr Campbell says these copies would be far from perfect.
Cut-“it’s not like making a Xerox copy…”
The television series Star Trek brought the idea of teleportation into the homes and minds of generations of Americans. To Dr Campbell’s knowledge…the Star Trek series never explained the principles of beaming up. But…he says the fictional technology of ‘plugging in’…shown in the Matrix movies could be a reality in the future.
“Coming away from Star Trek…”
Dr Campbell says…quantum physicists are currently exploring this kind of technology. But he says…it all began more than one hundred years ago…with the invention of radio. I’m Amanda le Claire…WDET News.