Beam Me Up Scotty

[DrFilth]

comes a step closer , no longer just a dream and seen in the science fiction films


http://phys.org/news/2014-05-team-accurately-teleported-quantum-ten.html

[DrFilth]

> thin-skinned me has made it this far, mostly... <

don't forget to wear gloves in the lab

[jim360]

Lab? Me?! Never!

[Zacs-Master]

On a serious note, given your viewpoint Jim, do you / would you only work on projects which you believe have a distinct possibility of becoming reality?

[DrFilth]

.
.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxKJyeCRVek

[wolf63]

In Star Trek the Enterprise is often seen orbiting a plate that wants to join the Federation. The crew have to decide if the planet is peaceful and civilised enough.

Let's face it, our planet is a mess. There are wars and atrocities all over the world. As a species we are not a complete success at ensuring a good future for all peoples.

[DrFilth]

wolf hence,

we come in peace shoot to kill

[jim360]

That's a difficult question to answer because it might depend a bit on the sort of timeframe you had in mind for something becoming reality. I don't really know, is the answer. It might also depend on how long my career in Science lasts, and what I want to do with it. But loosely speaking I suppose the answer would be that I'd probably at least want some hopes of progress of a sort being made in my lifetime.

It would also depend on how whoever it was asking me to work on the project picthed it. "Do you want to work towards achieving human teleportation?" would be lucky to receive a polite "no, thanks". But "do you want to work on furthering our ability to transmit quantum information over large distances on an increasingly complex scale?" might well get me interested. Although I probably wouldn't do that either, but for more technical reasons, such as that I expect to be working on other things entirely; and anyway there are many people out there better-qualified to aid in this particular experiment.

Would I only work on things that could succeed in my lifetime? Probably not -- but it will depend on how you define success. I'd be only to happy to help contribute in a small way to something that would be realistically achievable only long after I'm dead; but I wouldn't want to get involved in a project that has both a slim chance of success in the first place and equally little promise of small steps being possible. Even supposing it were possible ever, human teleportation now is a dead piece of research before it even starts. There's just far, far too much to sort out before then.

[Zacs-Master]

I see. You must be financially secure then. Or prepared to live in poverty.

[jim360]

I don't think that's exactly fair. There's plenty of stuff to work on that will get me a reasonable salary without trying to reach for the stars. It's just that most people wouldn't be very excited about it. The idea that I'd have to pursue a project like the one you're apparently proposing in order to keep myself of the streets seems rather far-fetched to me.

[Zacs-Master]

I'm not proposing that at all. I was merely seeing how your ideals fits in with paying the mortgage.

[kvalidir]

So if Stephen Hawking said ''Hey Jim, do you want to work towards achieving human teleportation?" you'd tell him to sling his hook? I somehow seriously doubt that Jim :)

[jim360]

I think I'll be fine. There are lots of small problems that get little or no attention in the media, so people never hear about them, that it's possible to make a living wage in solving or working on.

[Zacs-Master]

Maybe your lack of ambition is an indicator to your general outlook on life and therefore presupposes you to view the world in a glass half empty way?

[jim360]

"So if Stephen Hawking said ''Hey Jim, do you want to work towards achieving human teleportation?" you'd tell him to sling his hook? I somehow seriously doubt that Jim :)"

OK if Mr. Hawking asked me I'd be vaguely interested but I'd probably secretly think he'd finally lost it. Rather like with that football equation he just did. I'm somewhat surprised that he did that.

* * * * * * *

Not meeting Stephen Hawking, at least not formally, might actually end up being one of my biggest regrets. A couple of times he passed me in a corridor or the lobby, and one time we were in a lecture hall together, but I never did pluck up the courage to introduce myself to him and tell him how much he inspired me to take up this subject.

[Zacs-Master]

Maybe Stephen has more of an eye for the commercial opoortunity than you give him credit for?

[jim360]

What lack of ambition?

This is turning far too much into being about me. Not that I'm saying it isn't one of my favourite subjects, but it's pretty ridiculous in the space of a single thread to be variously accused of having no imagination, nor any ambition, whilst also having my finances assessed. Seriously?

[kvalidir]

He's allegedly very gracious, so if you get the chance say hello.

[Zacs-Master]

All the evidence is there.

[jim360]

When I was 12 I closed Hawking's book "The Universe in a Nutshell" and said to myself that this is what I wanted to do, and that I was going to go to Cambridge. Oh, and then become a professor, if memory serves. I don't think I can be accused of having no ambition. Nor is it fair to say I have no imagination. What some people do seem to not appreciate is that imagination on its own can, in some fields, only take you so far. At some point, you actually have to start learning something. Along the way, you might find that some things you had imagined about are (probably) impossible. This isn't a crushing realisation, because at around the same time you also learn about a whole wealth of other things that you'd almost certainly never have been able to imagine in your wildest dreams. There's a trade that, as far as I can see, is seriously worth it. I don't think it's that different in some ways from what you might think the view is going to be from the top of a hill and what it turns out to be when you get there. Often it's nothing like you expected, but it's still just as fantastic -- and while you might not be able to see something you were hoping to see, you get to see many things that you'd never have thought of that are just as wonderful, if not more so.

* * * * * * *

kvalidir... I suppose I was just too shy. And while I was once outside his office on a quiet afternoon, contemplating knocking on the door and saying hello, I don't think I'd ever have been able to do it. Might have ended up star-struck and tongue-tied.

[Zacs-Master]

I thought you might play the 'I'm a professor' card. Academic ambition / success is fine but commercial ambition / success is quite another thing.