WEBVTT - How Close Are We to Teleporting? 0:00:14.560 --> 0:00:17.920 You're listening to Part Time Genius, the production of Kaleidoscope 0:00:18.120 --> 0:00:19.120 and iHeartRadio. 0:00:23.600 --> 0:00:26.560 Guess what gave? What's that mango? Did you know that? 0:00:26.600 --> 0:00:29.479 The word teleport was actually in use as far back 0:00:29.520 --> 0:00:32.879 as the late nineteenth century, But it was not a 0:00:33.000 --> 0:00:36.600 verb back then, it was a noun. A teleport was 0:00:36.640 --> 0:00:39.680 a hypothetical device that could carry a person's atoms from 0:00:39.720 --> 0:00:42.360 one place to another in the blink of an eye. 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:45.360 So this was in an old sci fi novel or something. 0:00:45.560 --> 0:00:48.840 Surprisingly not so, the word popped up in an Australian 0:00:48.880 --> 0:00:52.240 newspaper blurb published in eighteen seventy eight, just a couple 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:55.640 decades after the invention of the telephone. So at the 0:00:55.680 --> 0:00:58.600 time the wonder of wire transmissions was still fresh in 0:00:58.600 --> 0:01:01.920 people's minds, and to capitalize on that, someone wrote this 0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:06.800 tongue in cheek article heralding the next technological breakthrough. The 0:01:06.840 --> 0:01:09.839 anonymous writer claimed to have read in a Bombay newspaper 0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:14.000 that scientists in India had successfully transported both a dog 0:01:14.200 --> 0:01:18.200 and a human boy Adam for Adam, through a wire 0:01:18.720 --> 0:01:21.119 and then reassembled them on the other end. 0:01:21.560 --> 0:01:25.200 Wow. Well, I feel like the question everyone's asking is 0:01:25.240 --> 0:01:27.759 did they go through together or separately. 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:31.759 I love where your head's at, and the answer is 0:01:32.200 --> 0:01:36.480 both kind of. According to the article quote, a dog 0:01:36.640 --> 0:01:39.080 was placed on the metal disc and a powerful current 0:01:39.160 --> 0:01:42.120 was applied to it. After a while, the animal disappeared 0:01:42.160 --> 0:01:44.000 and was found at the other end of the wire, 0:01:44.080 --> 0:01:48.000 contentedly gnawing a bone, just as it was doing before 0:01:48.040 --> 0:01:52.000 it was transported. Afterwards, a boy was experimented upon, and 0:01:52.040 --> 0:01:55.120 the same effect was observed as with the dog. It 0:01:55.200 --> 0:01:57.400 was then attempted to send the boy and the dog 0:01:57.480 --> 0:02:01.360 along the wire at once, but by an unfortunate accident, 0:02:01.720 --> 0:02:04.480 the infinitesimal atoms of the boy and those of the 0:02:04.520 --> 0:02:07.200 dog got mixed in transit, and the result was that 0:02:07.240 --> 0:02:10.680 they both looked like dreadfully unnatural creatures. 0:02:12.080 --> 0:02:15.760 No, are you sure that's from a newspaper, because that 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:19.480 is also beat for beat what happens in those fly movies, 0:02:19.919 --> 0:02:22.360 except you know, with Jeff Goldbloom and house Fly and 0:02:22.440 --> 0:02:25.920 like a million times more. Plus it's disgusting. 0:02:25.520 --> 0:02:28.960 So gross, and probably the grossest take on teleportation in 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:32.280 any of science fiction. But yeah, yeah, this ridiculous story 0:02:32.320 --> 0:02:35.600 got picked up by newspapers across Australia, New Zealand, the 0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:38.120 US as well. And the really funny part is that, 0:02:38.280 --> 0:02:40.840 even after describing the freak accident with the boy and 0:02:40.880 --> 0:02:43.320 the dog, the writer went on to boast that the 0:02:43.320 --> 0:02:45.960 teleport would be able to send people from India to 0:02:46.000 --> 0:02:49.040 England in a matter of minutes, with just a slight 0:02:49.160 --> 0:02:54.239 chance of passengers turning into horrible genetic mutants. 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:56.160 Sad to say, but I bet there's at least a 0:02:56.160 --> 0:02:59.399 few commuters out there who'd be willing to chance it anyway. 0:03:00.360 --> 0:03:02.560 But you know, I've got to say, Mango, I'm starting 0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:07.120 to think this teleport experiment may not have actually happened. Yeah, 0:03:07.200 --> 0:03:09.280 I think you're right now. Some of the papers that. 0:03:09.280 --> 0:03:11.919 Ran the story indicated that the claims were likely made up, 0:03:12.280 --> 0:03:16.120 And since there are no dog boy hybrids running around Mumbai, 0:03:16.560 --> 0:03:18.880 at least none that I've seen, it is safe to 0:03:18.919 --> 0:03:22.240 say that the teleport was just a big hoax. Now, 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:24.959 the real question is whether it could ever be more 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:29.560 than that. In other words, is teleportation actually possible? And 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:32.280 if so, how close are we to being able to 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:34.400 do it? And that's what we're going to spend this 0:03:34.440 --> 0:03:35.560 episode trying to figure out. 0:03:36.040 --> 0:03:36.880 So let's dive in. 0:03:58.080 --> 0:04:00.800 Hey there, podcast listeners, Welcome to part time genius. I'm 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:03.600 Mongish particular, and today I am joined by my friend 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:06.240 and fellow sci fi fan Gabe lucy A. 0:04:06.560 --> 0:04:09.440 Now Will's Adams got a little mixed up in the teleporter, 0:04:09.640 --> 0:04:11.880 so most of them couldn't be here get that stor today. 0:04:14.040 --> 0:04:15.960 But over there in the booth is our friend and 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:19.359 producer Dylan Fagan, who's wearing one of his signature on 0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:22.520 them T shirts. This one says my other car is 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:26.440 a teleportation chamber, which I think actually raises more questions 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:27.520 than it does answers. 0:04:28.000 --> 0:04:30.320 Yeah, you mean, like, why would anyone put that on 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:34.440 a T shirt instead of a bumper sticker? Exactly? We 0:04:34.440 --> 0:04:36.520 don't even know what his first car. 0:04:36.400 --> 0:04:38.919 Is, But the bigger question is who. 0:04:38.640 --> 0:04:40.720 Needs a car if you can teleport? 0:04:40.920 --> 0:04:43.840 Right? Personally, I don't think I'd ever get behind the 0:04:43.880 --> 0:04:47.160 wheel again. I mean, for me, I'm recording this from 0:04:47.200 --> 0:04:51.520 Munich today. I took a flight to Amsterdam, and then 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:54.560 a flight to Munich and then a bus ride to 0:04:54.640 --> 0:04:59.080 this lovely town where this conference is being held. But honestly, 0:04:59.200 --> 0:05:02.440 I'm so sleep deprived and I would have loved to 0:05:02.480 --> 0:05:03.640 have just teleported here. 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:06.480 Yeah right, I feel like you are the prime candidate 0:05:06.520 --> 0:05:11.840 for this the target target customer. Yeah, I would definitely 0:05:11.960 --> 0:05:15.080 use a teleportation for travel obviously if it were an option, 0:05:15.279 --> 0:05:18.320 but you know, working from home, I don't take that 0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:20.760 many big trips. I'm not a jet setter like you, 0:05:21.320 --> 0:05:24.640 so for me it would it would probably just be, 0:05:24.920 --> 0:05:28.599 you know, teleporting directly into my reserved seat of the movies, 0:05:28.839 --> 0:05:31.479 like just before the credits start, you know. But I 0:05:31.600 --> 0:05:33.560 like that. It's it feels like a real time saver, 0:05:33.720 --> 0:05:38.800 right right, very practical. Anyway, the idea for today's episode 0:05:38.880 --> 0:05:42.120 came from a listener named Asher, who listens to the 0:05:42.120 --> 0:05:44.279 show with his dad and his sister Lily, who is 0:05:44.360 --> 0:05:47.640 also a big fan, and he had one very simple 0:05:47.720 --> 0:05:50.320 question for us, Mango, how close are we to being 0:05:50.320 --> 0:05:53.320 able to teleport? And we didn't know the answer, so 0:05:53.520 --> 0:05:56.120 we decided to figure it out. That is so awesome. 0:05:56.160 --> 0:06:00.119 I love that Asher and his family listen, and I'm 0:06:00.160 --> 0:06:01.600 so happy to be dug into this question. 0:06:02.160 --> 0:06:06.000 Me too. But before we get into the science of teleportation, 0:06:06.160 --> 0:06:08.159 I want to talk a little more about the history 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:10.560 of the concept and you know, the impact that it's 0:06:10.600 --> 0:06:14.120 had on our imaginations. Now, the idea of a person 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:18.800 or object traveling instantaneously from one point to another has 0:06:18.920 --> 0:06:22.320 been around for hundreds, if not thousands of years, and 0:06:22.360 --> 0:06:25.280 while it's impossible to know what gave rise to it, 0:06:25.360 --> 0:06:28.760 back in the day, teleportation wasn't thought about in terms 0:06:28.760 --> 0:06:31.760 of science and technology. It was something that could only 0:06:31.839 --> 0:06:35.359 conceivably happen through the use of magic, and in fact, 0:06:35.440 --> 0:06:38.240 one of the oldest and most famous magic tricks in 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:42.279 the world the Cups and Balls illusion. It's built entirely 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:46.120 on the concept of teleportation. Known examples data as far 0:06:46.160 --> 0:06:49.560 back as ancient Greece and Rome in the year three BCE, 0:06:50.360 --> 0:06:53.279 and some historians think it goes back even further to 0:06:53.440 --> 0:06:56.719 ancient Egypt. So I'm sure you've seen this trick, but 0:06:56.960 --> 0:06:59.520 it's the one where the magician places a ball or 0:06:59.520 --> 0:07:03.560 in the ancient Greek's case, pebble, under one of three cups. 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:06.919 Then they rearrange the cups and invite a volunteer to 0:07:07.000 --> 0:07:09.960 choose which one the ball is under, and the volunteer 0:07:10.000 --> 0:07:13.320 points to what should be the correct cup, only to 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:16.520 find out that the ball has mysteriously jumped and is 0:07:16.600 --> 0:07:20.600 now under a completely different cup. So voila the magic 0:07:20.640 --> 0:07:21.480 of teleportation. 0:07:22.480 --> 0:07:25.480 You know, I love the cup and Ball trick. I 0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:28.120 feel like it's just delightful sleight of hand. I had 0:07:28.120 --> 0:07:31.240 no idea it was that old. That's crazy, And obviously 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:34.480 it is really fun to watch, unless someone's asking you 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:36.440 to bet money on it, and then it's just such 0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:39.120 a ripoff, right. It feels like you can never get 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:40.920 it right in those cases. 0:07:41.520 --> 0:07:46.320 Uh huh. That's spoken with a suspicious level of familiarity, 0:07:46.440 --> 0:07:50.880 But you are right, yeah, absolutely. Popular variations of the 0:07:50.880 --> 0:07:55.200 trick include several infamous street cons, including shell games and 0:07:55.280 --> 0:07:58.920 three Card Monty, but those depend less on the illusion 0:07:58.960 --> 0:08:02.320 of teleportation. They do like on the player's own delusion. 0:08:02.480 --> 0:08:04.640 You know that the whole thing isn't rigged, which it 0:08:04.680 --> 0:08:05.480 definitely is. 0:08:06.280 --> 0:08:09.160 Well, it may be easy to debunk the Cup and 0:08:09.240 --> 0:08:12.520 Ball's trick and all his crooked cousins, but there are 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:15.880 some centuries old folk tales and rumors of teleportation that 0:08:15.920 --> 0:08:18.960 are hard to explain. For example, have you ever heard 0:08:19.040 --> 0:08:21.160 the legend of the transported Soldier? 0:08:21.800 --> 0:08:24.360 No, but I very much want to. Yeah. 0:08:24.400 --> 0:08:27.320 So there's this long running story about a Spanish soldier, 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:29.960 and this is in the sixteenth century, who fell asleep 0:08:30.000 --> 0:08:33.679 at the Philippines and supposedly woke up in Mexico just 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:36.600 a few seconds later. Now, it would have taken him 0:08:36.600 --> 0:08:39.280 about two months to make the nine thousand mile journey 0:08:39.280 --> 0:08:41.920 by boat, but according to him, he somehow made the 0:08:41.960 --> 0:08:43.360 trip in a blink of an eye. 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:46.079 Okay, so I actually think I can explain this one 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:50.840 pretty easily. You ready for this, he was lying, Oh, that's. 0:08:53.240 --> 0:08:53.800 Just a hunch. 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:56.520 A very different typ of science than I was expecting 0:08:56.520 --> 0:08:59.960 from that one. But I mean, normally I would agree, 0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:02.600 But in this case, the soldier and his name was 0:09:02.640 --> 0:09:06.600 Gil Perez, he actually wasn't the only witness. So, as 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:09.800 the story goes, the teleportation happened on the evening of 0:09:09.920 --> 0:09:14.360 October twenty fourth, fifteen ninety three. Perez was stationed in Manila, 0:09:14.559 --> 0:09:16.800 and this was during the early years a Spanish rule 0:09:16.800 --> 0:09:19.599 in the Philippines, and he was stressed out and exhausted 0:09:19.640 --> 0:09:23.160 because the Spanish governor had just been assassinated and at 0:09:23.200 --> 0:09:26.160 the time there was no clear order of succession. So 0:09:26.240 --> 0:09:28.400 that night he dozed off at his post for a 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:30.840 few minutes, and when he opened his eyes he found 0:09:30.880 --> 0:09:34.880 himself somewhere completely different. The Palace was nowhere in sight, 0:09:34.960 --> 0:09:37.280 and when he asked a bystander where he was. He 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:41.960 was told he was in Mexico City. Perez was understandably baffled, 0:09:42.000 --> 0:09:44.840 but he wasn't the only one. When some passeng guards 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:48.480 spotted this frantic guy wearing a Manila uniform, they brought 0:09:48.559 --> 0:09:51.440 him in for questioning, and while Perez explained the situation 0:09:51.559 --> 0:09:55.120 as best he could, the local authorities were not buying it. 0:09:55.480 --> 0:09:57.959 They assumed he was a Spanish soldier who had abandoned 0:09:58.000 --> 0:09:59.640 his post, so they threw him in jail. 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:03.880 For geez, that is gotta be one of the worst 0:10:03.880 --> 0:10:06.240 possible ways to wake up from a cat nap, like 0:10:07.000 --> 0:10:09.920 just get tossed in prison. But I thought you said 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:12.480 there were other people who vouched for his story. Doesn't 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:14.520 sound like anyone in Mexico believed. 0:10:14.200 --> 0:10:18.240 Him so, not at first, but Perez continued to plead 0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:20.800 his innocence from his jail cell. He told the guards 0:10:20.800 --> 0:10:23.600 about recent events in the Philippines, including how the governor 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:25.120 general had just been assassinated. 0:10:25.440 --> 0:10:26.480 Now, unfortunately, the. 0:10:26.400 --> 0:10:30.400 Guards had no way to corroborate his claim. News traveled 0:10:30.440 --> 0:10:33.480 really slowly back then, right, and the next Spanish ship 0:10:33.520 --> 0:10:36.920 from the Philippines wasn't due to arrive for several months. Now, 0:10:37.080 --> 0:10:40.760 it's unclear exactly how long Perez spent in prison. Some 0:10:40.800 --> 0:10:43.120 sources claim it was two months, others say it was 0:10:43.160 --> 0:10:46.360 over a year. But whatever the case, a Spanish galleon 0:10:46.440 --> 0:10:50.320 eventually arrived in Mexico from Manila, and when the soldiers 0:10:50.360 --> 0:10:53.000 on board reported that the Governor General had been killed, 0:10:53.360 --> 0:10:56.880 local officials sent for their strange captive. Not only did 0:10:56.880 --> 0:11:00.160 the visiting soldiers confirm every single detail of press as 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:02.439 a story, some of them even recognized him as their 0:11:02.480 --> 0:11:05.960 former comrade, which is insane. Right, there was still no 0:11:06.120 --> 0:11:08.760 explanation for how he'd wound up in Mexico, but now 0:11:08.800 --> 0:11:11.800 his identity was actually verified, So he was released from 0:11:11.800 --> 0:11:14.360 prison and allowed to sail back on the next shift 0:11:14.360 --> 0:11:14.880 to Manila. 0:11:15.320 --> 0:11:18.040 Oh and you just know, the whole way Perez was 0:11:18.080 --> 0:11:21.520 bragging about, you know, how much faster it was to teleport. 0:11:22.400 --> 0:11:27.640 He probably drove the crew crazy, but I'm sure. But 0:11:27.720 --> 0:11:30.480 all right, obviously, the big question here is whether any 0:11:30.520 --> 0:11:34.040 of this actually happened. My vote is still no, right, 0:11:34.280 --> 0:11:36.720 But is there any proof? No? 0:11:36.920 --> 0:11:39.040 I mean, it is true that the Governor General in 0:11:39.120 --> 0:11:42.400 Manila was assassinated that year, and his death led to 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:45.760 confusion over the chain of command. But yeah, beyond that, 0:11:45.800 --> 0:11:48.760 there aren't many details to go on. The legend of 0:11:48.800 --> 0:11:52.120 the teleporting Spanish soldier didn't appear in print until sixteen 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:54.880 ninety eight, and that was a little over a century 0:11:54.920 --> 0:11:57.840 after it supposedly happened. It was published by a Spanish 0:11:57.920 --> 0:12:01.200 clergyman and historian in a book called Conquests of the 0:12:01.200 --> 0:12:04.319 Philippine Islands, and the count was said to be compiled 0:12:04.360 --> 0:12:08.000 from interviews with witnesses who had met Perez firsthand, though 0:12:08.240 --> 0:12:10.320 you know, of course, there's no way to verify that now. 0:12:10.440 --> 0:12:12.920 From there, though, the legend was recounted in dozens of 0:12:12.920 --> 0:12:17.640 books and short stories, including one by Washington Irving, who 0:12:17.760 --> 0:12:20.600 you know is the famous American author who wrote Sleepy 0:12:20.640 --> 0:12:24.520 Hollow Course. In most versions of the tale, Perez experiences 0:12:24.559 --> 0:12:28.120 what you might call spontaneous teleportation, but a more modern 0:12:28.160 --> 0:12:31.280 theory is that he slipped into a fugue state, experienced 0:12:31.320 --> 0:12:34.760 temporary amnesia while traveling to Mexico, and then woke up 0:12:34.840 --> 0:12:36.839 with no idea of how he got there or how 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:39.559 much time had passed. And I guess that's the more 0:12:39.600 --> 0:12:42.480 plausible but certainly the less fun explanation. 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:45.440 Well, speaking of fun. After we take a quick break, 0:12:45.480 --> 0:12:47.160 I'm going to tell you a little bit more about 0:12:47.160 --> 0:12:53.880 spontaneous teleportation, which isn't real, and quantum teleportation, which is real. 0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:57.560 And let's just say there's a musical number involved, so 0:12:57.720 --> 0:12:58.600 don't go anywhere. 0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:16.640 Welcome back to Part Time Genius, where we're talking teleporting. 0:13:17.160 --> 0:13:18.760 Now, a quick reminder that. 0:13:18.679 --> 0:13:21.199 We'd love it if you subscribe to the show on 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:24.120 your favorite podcast app. You can leave us a nice 0:13:24.200 --> 0:13:26.520 rating and review. We won't stop you from doing any 0:13:26.559 --> 0:13:29.800 of that. And if you're enjoying this episode, em it 0:13:29.920 --> 0:13:32.840 over to a friend. So, okay, Gabe, talk to me 0:13:32.880 --> 0:13:35.840 about spontaneous teleportation, because you said those words and I 0:13:35.840 --> 0:13:39.400 have no idea what they mean, but it sounds pretty crazy. 0:13:40.080 --> 0:13:43.600 Yeah, well, it's pretty much what happened to the teleporting Soldier. 0:13:43.720 --> 0:13:47.679 And it's obviously a very different concept from you know, 0:13:47.720 --> 0:13:52.400 the orderly, intentional kind of teleportation, like when someone asks 0:13:52.440 --> 0:13:55.240 to be beamed up on Star Trek. But as far 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:59.320 as I can tell, this weirder spontaneous type of teleportation 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:01.880 what us the first one to gain ground in the 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:06.160 public consciousness. The person widely credited for the introduction is 0:14:06.240 --> 0:14:11.040 paranormal enthusiast and author Charles Fort. In nineteen thirty one, 0:14:11.120 --> 0:14:15.320 he released a bizarre non fiction book called Low, in 0:14:15.360 --> 0:14:19.280 which he argued that various high profile missing person cases 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:23.400 and other strange occurrences like frogs and fish falling out 0:14:23.440 --> 0:14:27.560 of the sky were proof of a cosmic joker. That's 0:14:27.560 --> 0:14:30.720 what he called it. You know, this force that would 0:14:30.720 --> 0:14:35.400 spontaneously teleport people and animals for its own amusement. 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:39.840 So anytime a soaka is missing in a dryer, you know, 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:43.280 or I can't find my car keys, that is I 0:14:43.280 --> 0:14:45.480 guess a cosmic joker striking again. 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:48.280 Absolutely, So I am curious. 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:51.120 Though the eighteen seventy eight article I mentioned at the 0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:55.320 top of the show coined the noun teleport, So is 0:14:55.400 --> 0:14:57.160 Charles fourth the one who came up with the full 0:14:57.280 --> 0:14:58.280 term teleportation? 0:14:59.120 --> 0:15:01.560 As far as I can tell, he did. Yeah, And 0:15:01.880 --> 0:15:04.720 while laying out the aim of his book, Fort wrote quote, 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:09.920 I shall specialize upon indications that there exists a transportory 0:15:10.120 --> 0:15:14.400 force that I shall call teleportation. I shall be accused 0:15:14.400 --> 0:15:19.080 of having assembled lies, yarns, hoaxes, and superstitions. To some 0:15:19.200 --> 0:15:22.960 degree I think so myself. To some degree I do not. 0:15:24.960 --> 0:15:27.600 That is so mysterious, and I love that he just 0:15:27.640 --> 0:15:32.760 can't commit to whether he himself is is assembling lies 0:15:32.800 --> 0:15:34.080 and yarns and hoaxes. 0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:35.960 Right, but you said. 0:15:35.840 --> 0:15:39.320 Some people were actually swayed by h by this anyway. 0:15:39.520 --> 0:15:41.640 I mean, I don't know how much stock people put 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:44.440 in the whole cosmic joker theory, but you know, the 0:15:44.480 --> 0:15:46.800 book did get a rave review in the New York 0:15:46.840 --> 0:15:50.680 Times and quickly sold through two printings, and from that 0:15:50.720 --> 0:15:54.520 point on, teleportation, both the word and the concept became 0:15:54.720 --> 0:15:55.600 much more prevalent. 0:15:55.840 --> 0:15:57.960 It is so funny to me that these early uses 0:15:57.960 --> 0:16:00.800 of the word, though, like that they came from sources 0:16:00.920 --> 0:16:04.640 that were essentially nonfiction, right. Like, I'm not saying the 0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:07.240 readers believe these accounts, but they seem to at least 0:16:07.240 --> 0:16:09.800 found them plausible. Like it's not sci fi that that 0:16:10.480 --> 0:16:11.960 in the way that people are talking about this. 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:15.080 Right, Yeah, so let's play Devil's Advocate. You know, you 0:16:15.200 --> 0:16:18.320 said that the article about the teleport came out in 0:16:18.320 --> 0:16:21.520 the wake of the telephone, right, so I could imagine 0:16:21.560 --> 0:16:25.200 someone hearing that story and thinking, Hey, if science did 0:16:25.240 --> 0:16:29.120 something as seemingly impossible as sending a person's voice over 0:16:29.200 --> 0:16:33.280 a wire, then why not the entire person. That's interesting. 0:16:33.520 --> 0:16:36.280 It probably just seemed like, you know, a difference of degrees, 0:16:36.600 --> 0:16:40.680 first the telegraph, then the telephone, and now the teleport. 0:16:40.960 --> 0:16:42.760 And I guess that's honestly how a lot of us 0:16:42.800 --> 0:16:46.480 still think of teleportation, right, Like nowadays, we're mostly familiar 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:50.040 with the concept through sci fi stories and also fantasy. 0:16:50.400 --> 0:16:55.160 Harry Potter certainly essentially teleports, but that hasn't stopped us 0:16:55.160 --> 0:16:56.960 from assuming the technology. 0:16:56.560 --> 0:16:58.600 Will actually exist, right. 0:16:58.680 --> 0:17:01.880 And that's probably because we've watched so many futuristic ideas 0:17:01.960 --> 0:17:05.280 graduate from science fiction to actual science over the last century. 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:09.359 You think about like space shuttles or video watches or 0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:12.200 three D printing or the Internet. You know, all these 0:17:12.200 --> 0:17:15.159 things show up on the Jetsons and sci fi and whatever, 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:17.160 Like why not teleportation too? 0:17:17.400 --> 0:17:19.800 Well, I'm that first article you talked about made a 0:17:19.880 --> 0:17:23.960 pretty great case for why not teleportation? Like it's nice 0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:29.119 to be entirely human and not part dog. But I 0:17:29.160 --> 0:17:31.359 know what you mean, Like, on some level we figure 0:17:31.400 --> 0:17:35.080 that teleportation must be something that scientists are actively working 0:17:35.119 --> 0:17:38.120 toward and you know, will eventually figure out one day. 0:17:38.560 --> 0:17:41.880 But the reality is that's probably not the case, or 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:43.480 at least not in the way most of us think. 0:17:43.640 --> 0:17:45.520 Is this the part where you let us all down 0:17:45.600 --> 0:17:49.400 by explaining, pasim that actual teleportation isn't real and never 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:50.560 will actually be. 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:54.400 Not exactly. It's more like the part where I try 0:17:54.400 --> 0:17:57.679 to break down some really dense scientific concepts in a 0:17:57.680 --> 0:18:02.160 way that's hopefully both accurate and entertaining. So you are 0:18:02.200 --> 0:18:04.480 going to break our hearts, great, so go for it. 0:18:05.400 --> 0:18:10.960 Well yeah, okay, so when most of us hear the 0:18:11.000 --> 0:18:15.159 word teleporting, we think of physical matter being atomized and 0:18:15.359 --> 0:18:19.159 transferred as energy from one point to another, without actually 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:23.080 traveling the physical distance between those points. Right, so let's 0:18:23.160 --> 0:18:28.159 call this original flavor teleportation. Sounds delicious, right, Well, the 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:32.360 trouble is nobody's actually tasted it. You see it advertised 0:18:32.440 --> 0:18:35.320 all over the place, but no stores carry it and 0:18:35.680 --> 0:18:39.159 no one has the recipe. So original flavor is kind 0:18:39.200 --> 0:18:43.040 of a tease it is, yes, But now imagine there's 0:18:43.080 --> 0:18:48.040 a new, totally different flavor called quantum teleportation, and instead 0:18:48.040 --> 0:18:52.040 of zapping matter from point to point, quantum teleportation deals 0:18:52.080 --> 0:18:54.000 with the transfer of information. 0:18:54.480 --> 0:18:58.359 I feel like quantum sounds like much better branding, right, 0:18:58.400 --> 0:19:01.879 It sounds so much cooler than But if I'm being honest, 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:05.560 teleporting information doesn't sound nearly as fun as teleporting matter, 0:19:06.040 --> 0:19:09.080 like I want to zap myself places, or especially when 0:19:09.080 --> 0:19:10.560 I was a kid, I wanted to send my sister 0:19:10.680 --> 0:19:11.320 other places. 0:19:11.880 --> 0:19:15.800 Sure, yeah, okay, so maybe it's not as tasty a flavor, 0:19:16.200 --> 0:19:18.920 but it is a more satisfying one in my opinion, 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:22.400 because quantum teleportation is a flavor we can make. It's 0:19:22.440 --> 0:19:26.400 something we can actually do right now. So how does 0:19:26.400 --> 0:19:30.359 this work exactly? Well, it's not the easiest concept to understand, 0:19:30.400 --> 0:19:34.359 but it's basically the transfer of quantum information between two 0:19:34.480 --> 0:19:38.280 physically separate yet quantumly entangled entities. 0:19:40.480 --> 0:19:43.040 I feel like that doesn't clarify a whole lot for me, 0:19:43.119 --> 0:19:47.600 and probably not for our listeners either. What quantum information 0:19:47.960 --> 0:19:51.240 quantum entanglement? So far, this sounds like, you know, just 0:19:51.280 --> 0:19:55.400 as science fiction me as original flavor teleportation. 0:19:56.119 --> 0:19:58.520 All right, fair enough, all right, So let's take it 0:19:58.560 --> 0:20:03.040 slow for starters. Quantum information is related to quantum states, 0:20:03.240 --> 0:20:06.880 which are all the potential properties of a tiny discrete 0:20:06.920 --> 0:20:10.359 system like an electron or an atom. So we're not 0:20:10.400 --> 0:20:14.959 talking about definite values like an electron's fixed location in space. 0:20:15.280 --> 0:20:20.000 We're talking about uncertainties, all the possible places it could be, 0:20:20.240 --> 0:20:24.919 along with other properties like its energy, it's spin, or momentum. 0:20:25.400 --> 0:20:28.280 But wouldn't that change over time, Like if an electron 0:20:28.440 --> 0:20:32.320 moves to a new position or it interacts with another electron, 0:20:32.800 --> 0:20:35.600 wouldn't that create like a whole new set of possibilities? 0:20:36.000 --> 0:20:39.359 Right? Yeah, And that's what quantum mechanics is concerned with, 0:20:39.520 --> 0:20:43.360 studying how quantum states evolve and change and are measured 0:20:43.400 --> 0:20:46.399 over time. But your question actually hits on the really 0:20:46.400 --> 0:20:50.199 tricky thing about quantum states, which is that whenever you 0:20:50.280 --> 0:20:54.960 measure one, it collapses. A quantum system exists as many 0:20:55.040 --> 0:20:59.080 possibilities at once. The electron is spinning this way and 0:20:59.240 --> 0:21:02.639 it's spinning that way, but the act of measurement basically 0:21:02.680 --> 0:21:06.359 forces the system to choose and settle into a single 0:21:06.520 --> 0:21:10.480 definite state. So the electron is only spinning this way. 0:21:11.040 --> 0:21:11.359 Got it. 0:21:11.400 --> 0:21:14.280 So it's basically like Schrodinger's cat, right, Like when the 0:21:14.320 --> 0:21:16.840 lid of the boxes closed, the cat is both live 0:21:16.880 --> 0:21:19.960 and dead simultaneously, but when you open it, the cat 0:21:20.080 --> 0:21:22.960 is either one way or the other exactly. 0:21:23.080 --> 0:21:25.760 And since it's hypothetical, let's say the cat's alive. 0:21:26.320 --> 0:21:28.520 Yeah, we are a whole bunch of cat lovers on 0:21:28.520 --> 0:21:30.600 this podcast, So I think that makes a lot of sense, 0:21:30.840 --> 0:21:31.199 except for. 0:21:31.240 --> 0:21:33.639 Will He could go either way on that. Well he's 0:21:33.680 --> 0:21:34.480 not here today. 0:21:36.440 --> 0:21:40.040 So quantum states are weird and confusing. I feel like 0:21:40.119 --> 0:21:43.480 we got to that fit. But what was the other 0:21:43.520 --> 0:21:45.920 phrase that you use? Quantum entanglement. 0:21:46.200 --> 0:21:50.040 Yeah, that's even weirder, but also hopefully a little more intuitive. 0:21:50.400 --> 0:21:50.480 So. 0:21:50.720 --> 0:21:54.200 According to space dot com, quantum entanglement is when two 0:21:54.320 --> 0:21:57.600 sub atomic particles become linked in such a way that 0:21:57.600 --> 0:22:01.240 their properties remain connected no no matter how far apart 0:22:01.280 --> 0:22:04.800 they are. So, for example, the basic unit of quantum 0:22:04.880 --> 0:22:08.960 information is a quantum bit or cubit. So say you 0:22:09.040 --> 0:22:12.680 mingle two particles together and the cubits that determine their 0:22:12.720 --> 0:22:16.600 directions become entangled. Now, even if you moved one of 0:22:16.640 --> 0:22:19.879 those particles to the opposite end of the universe, those 0:22:20.000 --> 0:22:23.359 cubits would still be linked together on a quantum level. 0:22:23.800 --> 0:22:26.520 And that means that if one of those particles undergoes 0:22:26.520 --> 0:22:29.080 a change, Let's say you bump it and it starts 0:22:29.080 --> 0:22:32.720 pointing north, then the other linked particle way on the 0:22:32.760 --> 0:22:37.000