Here is the research behind my technology, which has helped me to visualise how the product might work:
Definition of teleportation:
“Teleportation is the movement of objects or elementary particles from one place to another, more or less instantaneously, without travelling through space.”
Teleportation has been an idea ever since back at the time of the Bible, for instance, in Acts 8:39-40, after Philip evangelised an Ethiopian official:
"When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea."
Teleportation scenarios
There are several hypothetical methods of transporting matter from place to place without physically travelling the distance. Some are seriously proposed and studied by scientists, while others exist mainly in fiction.
- One proposed means of teleportation is the transmission of data which is used to precisely reconstruct an object or organism at its destination. The use of this form of teleportation as a means of transport for humans still has considerable unresolved technical and philosophical issues, such as exactly how to record the human body, particularly the brain, with sufficient accuracy and also be able to reconstruct it, and whether destroying a human in one place and recreating a copy elsewhere would provide a sufficient experience of continuity of existence.
- Dimensional teleportation is a mechanism often shown in fictional works, particularly in fantasy and comic books. It involves the subject exiting one physical universe or plane of existence, then re-entering it at a different location. This method is rarely seriously considered by the scientific community, as the currently predominant theories about parallel universes assume that physical travel is not possible between them.
- Another form of teleportation common in science fiction (and seen in The Culture and The Terminator series of films) sends the subject through a wormhole or similar phenomenon, allowing transit faster than light while avoiding the problems posed by the uncertainty principle and potential signal interference. In both of the examples above, this form of teleportation is known as "Displacement" or "Topological shortcut" , which implies that this kind of teleportation may be similar in mechanism to time travel.
In the infamous Star Trek series, they sold teleportation to the masses as they showed people teleporting from one location to another by a machine called a transporter. This was basically a platform that the characters stood on, while Scotty adjusted switches on the transporter room control boards. The transporter machine then locked onto each atom of each person on the platform, and used a transporter carrier wave to transmit those molecules to wherever the crew wanted to go.
This way is what scientist call biodigital cloning and this theory means tele-travelers would have to die, in a sense. Their original mind and body would no longer exist. Instead, their atomic structure would be recreated in another location, and digitization would recreate the travelers' memories, emotions, hopes and dreams. So the travelers would still exist, but they would do so in a new body, of the same atomic structure as the original body, programmed with the same information.
After research into the field of teleportation I now have greater knowledge into this technology, thus my realisation shall be more realistic.
Breakdown of how the watch will work
The user shall select a location by either typing in the co-ordinates or through the user interface, which will show a map of the world that you zoom into and pick your destination. (A bit like Google Earth) - Once the location has been confirmed, the user shall press the button on the side and its will active the scan.
- The watch shall digitally scan your DNA and atomic structure, along with your emotions and memories and store them.
- Like the wireless technology, the data shall be sent by a digital signal to the required location.
- There, the watch shall rebuild the atoms back together and download the memories back into the brain, as the brain is made up of electrical messages anyway.
- Once the download is complete, the user is able to explore their present location.
Below are drawings of how I envision the watch to look:
PICTURES
The problems with the technology
After looking at how the technology will function, I am now concerned with what the social repercussion of this watch would do and how it would affect our society. Firstly I looked at the problems that could occur.
- How would you able to monitor the movement of people? There would be coming and going from each country, no one would have a nationality and the population would rapidly change every hour rather than over a decade or so.
- Would this increase the crime rates and further aid terrorist? This technology would make it virtually impossible to catch criminals, as they would constantly move if they felt threaten. Also terrorists would be able to enter a location, plant an explosive and teleport away before they would even be detected in the building.
- What would happen if the watch malfunctioned? What would people do if they turned up with half their memories missing, or vital atoms that are needed for life?
Solutions to Teleportation Problems
When I worked out what would cause the biggest problems with this technology, I set about thinking how governments would solve these disadvantages.
- In order to monitor to the control of people, there could be certain locations i.e. travelports, which are like airports. You would have to be check before travel and only allowed to travel to a location that you would have pre-booked. It would help the environment as there would be less fuel emissions made by transportation. National travel would not require monitoring, as like driving a car, you don’t need anyone’s permission to do that.
- With the crime aspect, the police would properly have weapons that could trap the criminal in a force field that has be laid for them when they arrive. The travelports would stop people illegally travelling internationally, but houses and buildings are at risk. As well as burglary alarms, there would have to have a focus field that stops unauthorised people teleporting in. In order to do so, you must have the correct ID, which is like a key. Guests would teleport outside the building then personally be invited in. If you were to lose your watch, it would stop working, as each one is program to your genetic make-up of your skin. If you took it off to shower it would not work until you placed it back on your wrist. That would stop people stealing your identity.
- If the watch were to malfunction, there would be different reactions. If the battery was below the required amount, it would not teleport. If the signal were to become broken, it would be sent to a special area, like a hospital, where all your records are kept. They are update every time you teleport, so you wouldn’t lose any memory nor limb. Once they restored you, the user would be able to move on to their required location.
It seems from looking into the pros and cons that this technology will turn people into data files rather than human, which is an interesting concept. The watch itself is basically uploading the user ready for sending and it is downloaded at the other side, like an email or document. Next I shall look into how to best visualise this idea i.e. advert or news report.
