A Few Articles On The Conversion of Energy Into Matter

[Whitestar]

I recently read an article on the net about the conversion of energy into matter. An experiment at Stanford University was accomplished at S.L.A.C. (short for Stanford Linear Accelerator Center). Michael Pidwirny, the guy who wrote it claimed that it might one day be a useful means of teleportation like in Star Trek. Here is a direct quote from him:


"In 1998 researchers at Stanford University's Linear Accelerator Center successfully converted energy into matter. This feat was accomplished by using lasers and incredibly strong electromagnetic fields to change ordinary light into matter. The results of this experiment may allow for the development of variety of technological gadgets. One such development could be matter/energy transporters or food replicators that are commonly seen in some of our favorite science fiction programs."


Here is the website:

http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/6a.html


Here are some links to SLAC's statements released to various publications concerning the experiment:

http://www.slac.stanford.edu/exp/e144/nytimes.html

http://www.slac.stanford.edu/exp/e144/science1202.html


Teleportation has already been accomplished by teleporting a photon's properties, however, not the actual photon itself. For more information, check out the following website:


http://www.aip.org/physnews/graphics/html/teleport.htm


Personally, I don't think that there will ever be a conventional use for converting energy into matter because of the amount of energy contained in one human being. Think about it: if one human can produce thousands of hiroshimas bombs, then you would need thousands of atom bombs worth of energy to create a turkey sandwich. That just doesn't seem practical to me. If that amount of energy were to be released when turning a man into energy, well let's just say there wouldn't be much left of anything for a few thousand miles! In any conversion of matter, some energy is inevitably lost. In addition, such conversions of particles to energy are called annihilations, that is, they are like explosions: the explosive material is completely destroyed and no memory of its original form remains.


But let's play with this thought experiment for now. The atoms that compose our bodies are replaced every (7 years?), I've heard (I don't pretend to know the exact figure, but it seems reasonable). If this is the case, then after 7 years, you are physically completely different than you were at the beginning of the 7 year period. Then, in introspect, I realize to myself that I have a continuity of experiences, at least, my stream of consciousness is not noticeably interrupted.


Now imagine for the sake of arugment that teleportation were to be accomplish by converting a person into energy and you had the technology to reverse the process. In addition, you send the information along with the energy.


The question is, would the person survive the procedure, or would the individual cease to exist and be replaced with a replica, who was literally born into existence once the energy was reconverted back into matter with the information? In my view, when your body is destroy, you die. End of story. What comes out of the teleporter is an exact copy, with all your memories etc, and no knowledge that it isn't you, but it isn't. No one would ever notice the problem, so it only affects you when it happens. Unless, if you believe in souls, there are "conservation of souls" problems to deal with - does the same soul follow the body around? While in an energy state, there is no consciousness, no heart to beat, hence the person who first underwent this form of teleportation has cease to exist and replaced with a replica.



What does everybody else thinks? (Note: I know this question sounds a bit philosophical but I'd be very interested in everyones' opinion anyway.)



Whitestar

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

What comes out of the teleporter is an exact copy, with all your memories etc, and no knowledge that it isn't you, but it isn't.

Why not? If it is an exact replica with the same memories and you aren't willing to posit the existance of a soul, what prevents that replica from being you? The break in continuity?

Thanks for the interesting links and your own intersting thoughts btw, and welcome to Chronicles, Whitestar!

 

[Brian G Turner]

Hi Whitestar, and welcome to the chronicles-network.

Great name, too.

As for the teleportation idea - I'm sure I've seen it argued elsewhere that such a process would only theoretically create the a physical copy. And so if you have a portal on planet 1, and a portal on planet 2, then if someone were to move from planet 1 to planet 2 via teleportation, then once the physical replica of the person was created on planet 2, the original copy on planet 1 would have to be destroyed.Otherwise you would have multiple copies of yourself running around.

Of course, that then begs the question of how much of the human conscious and spiritual experience is entirely physical in origin. More to the point, how strong is the argument that a complete physical copy - ie, on planet 2, would be the exact being as present on planet 1. I suspect, that if we take spiritual philosophy nito account, that the copy on planet 2 could not be regarded as the original unless there is an argument to be made that the "soul" could be moved. In these terms, the original copy on planet 1 has been destroyed, his or her soul released, and an entirely new being (with an entirely new soul?) created on planet 2. Hm...now would the copy really have the full sense of identity?

Anyway - there's great room for a short story there - I figure someone must have addressed this before now in fiction.

 

[PrabhuRaj]

Hi Whitestar, and welcome to the chronicles-network.

Great name, too.

As for the teleportation idea - I'm sure I've seen it argued elsewhere that such a process would only theoretically create the a physical copy. And so if you have a portal on planet 1, and a portal on planet 2, then if someone were to move from planet 1 to planet 2 via teleportation, then once the physical replica of the person was created on planet 2, the original copy on planet 1 would have to be destroyed.Otherwise you would have multiple copies of yourself running around.

I think people have misunderstood the concept of Teleportation. Teleportation is the process by which a matter is first converted in to energy and then transported through some media or no media (fiction but may become true) and then reconstructed at another point. This involves large data transfer. This is not cloning but the fastest way for transportation since energy travels at the speed of light.

The concept is very simple although implementation is the hardest thing. I know it will take some hundreds of years to acheive and implement this technology but remember this. EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE IF WE WORK HARD.

 

[mosaix]

The atoms that compose our bodies are replaced every (7 years?), I've heard (I don't pretend to know the exact figure, but it seems reasonable). If this is the case, then after 7 years, you are physically completely different than you were at the beginning of the 7 year period. Then, in introspect, I realize to myself that I have a continuity of experiences, at least, my stream of consciousness is not noticeably interrupted.


Whitestar

This is interesting on two fronts:

First, I have always thought that I have been ageing in roughly 7 year cycles. This has been especially true with regards to my weight. My weight seems quite stable regardless of how mcuh I eat or how much exercise I take. But, roughly every 7 years, I seem to put on a few pounds and then stabilize at that weight.

Second, if all the atoms in our bodies are replaced how are memories preserved? There must be a special mechanism to make sure that they are. I suppose this brings into play the question of how memories are stored in the first place. But it certainly gives food for thought and possibilities for a story or two.

 

[the smiling weirwood]

Perhaps these mechanisms aren't perfect and this is what causes memory loss?

 

[chrispenycate]

I think people have misunderstood the concept of Teleportation. Teleportation is the process by which a matter is first converted in to energy and then transported through some media or no media (fiction but may become true) and then reconstructed at another point. This involves large data transfer. This is not cloning but the fastest way for transportation since energy travels at the speed of light.

The concept is very simple although implementation is the hardest thing. I know it will take some hundreds of years to acheive and implement this technology but remember this. EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE IF WE WORK HARD.

Teleportation is a general term for instantaneous (or near instantaneous) travel. Sometimes it involves transfer of the total information about an object; position, energy levels and alighnment of every atom in every molecule in thr object, and the position and velocity of each and every molecule. A quantity of information comparitive with the number of atoms in the universe, and requiring something special in the way of bandwidth (you don't want the entrails ready before the skin)
Then there's the dimensional warp, where space is deformed to contiguousify distant points; at least that prevents pirate copies, but it does introduce lots of interesting conservation of momentum problems. Generally, this system ignores light speed, because, like wormholes (one of the frequent explanations) there is no intervening space. This is probably the favorite for science fiction novels.
Psychic or psi techniques generally involve the idea that the human mind is somehow separable from the human brain (and all physical laws) and is capable of ignoring these laws at will. Lightspeed is rarely a factor (except in McCaffery's "Tower and Hive" series, nor energy. nor teleporting into a mass of air and getting bubbly blood; superior mental powers take care of all that.
But actually converting the entire object (any object, though a living object is obviously more critical) instantaneously into energy, transmitting that energy (remember E=Mc2; that's going to melt down anything) and then intantaneouslly convert it back to matter, and expect the matter to be identical to the original?
Being able to exchange matter for energy and vice-versa would be a useful goal in itself, but I don't see it being much heip in teleportation.
Oh, and not all of the atoms in your body get replaced; some skelital calcium (and probably other bits too) stays with you from birth well past death. and living cells can continuously replace all the bits, while the pattern remains the same (in microscopic as in microscopic; practically all the cells in the body are replaced while maintaining continuity of pattern there, too)
Who wrote the story about the interstellar civilisation where only the genotypes of the rich were transmitted, and clones grown in the various colonies, awaiting the precise state of the nervous sxstem to be transmitted and installed, so the personality of the person was transmitted rather than the entire physical structure? Easier, becaue a) less information and b) more time, since the "living" bit doesn't need bump starting.