Teleportation

Teleportation means the transportation of an object or living being from one place to another by methods other than physical transportation. The subject of teleportation is of interest in the occult as well as science and science fiction.

Teleportation is usually assumed to be instantaneous, or close to it (i.e. a delay of no more than a few seconds).

In the scientific world, some limited progress has been made in the field of teleportation. Experiments have suggested that sub-atomic particles can be teleported but teleporting macroscopic objects is generally considered infeasible.

One variation of teleportation is the concept that objects or living beings could be replicated. For example, instead of disassembling an object at one location and reassembling it at another, the original object is copied and reproduced at the second location. Logically, if the first object was then destroyed, the net effect would be the same as teleportation.

Another related area of study is quantum entanglement, in which two sets of particles are linked across space so that the actions of one immediately affect the state of the other. This phenomena has been demonstrated in numerous experiments and is accepted in scientific circles.

If teleportation does prove to be possible it would present a number of philosophical challenges. For example, does consciousness survive the process? What happens to a person's soul if they are completely disassembled and reassembled?