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From: bigthink
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  • By the birth rate of the now educated civilizations and the birth rate of less educated civilizations put in comparison I think we will probably never gain this technology. In fact I believe that most of the technology we know today will be lost in around 100 years because the less educated civilizations will never reach this point of high technology before itself die out of very small amount of reproduction.

  • there is no soul

  • could we rebuild us with no C-14 and other radioactive atoms? could use this medically? also if you break your leg etc, just teleport a copy or 'backup' of it

  • I don't get how teleporting a human would preserve the memories of the teleported person... Wouldn't the brain processes in the original person literally stop? How do the electrons in all the matter in the person's brain cells know how to function just like the original? I'm sorry if that's a little vague, but my official question is "How are memories preserved in the (theoretical) teleportation of human beings?"

  • @chrism4n14 Memories comprise of neurons and synaptic connections, so if you can create an exact copy of that, technically you'll be able to preserve all the memories/emotions/personalitie­s.

  • @phira Ok, I see, thank you.

  • Comment removed

  • GREAT ANSWER! Cause I don't know Either.

  • actually, they say that throughout our life we trade EVERY cells of our body a couple of times. So, if been made by atoms else than the 'original' makes us another person, I died and reborn an impostor several times yet, without using quantum teleportation.

  • Hmm...sudden urge to watch The Prestige...

  • @RebelWithACoz i see what you did there

  • I don't believe in God or souls.. so I don't know about that. Teleportation is the moving of atoms. So if new atoms are created, then it was simply a remote copy; not teleportation.

  • @notoncemoreagain LOL you're just a body

  • Wow, Its the greatest answer I've been heard this long time! "I don't know!"

  • 14 people have been teleported and proved that they are only a copy by disliking this....

  • If only more people said I don't know

  • The soul is the sum of all quantum interactions of the universe compiled for a specific point of reference.

    Every single person is a point of reference.

  • Humans are just databases of information....information they collect while trying to fulfill the objective of propagating are species....We have basically developed a system of filling these unique information (characteristics,behavior of people) under the said persons name...life as we know it is lived to just make humans survive.But this has extended to unnecessary objective of propagating the family and surviving the family of an individual which has led to war,famines etc.

  • what michio is saying in short, i'm a physicist not a philosopher!

  • Aren't the smallest "particles" popping in and out of existence all the time. So that is already happening all the time. The reason why we are not *teleporting* is because of connection to other particles or whatnot. So the act of teleportation would only mean that all of the particles that comprise the "physical" "you" would vanish at the same time and appear somewhere else. This might even be possible with concentration and focus in the mind at certain conciousness states (no idea).

  • There is no soul...

  • @Silents30 Empty comment is empty.

  • An unscientific concept such as the soul shouldn't be part of the discution (leave it to religions or whatever). However the question Kaku raises is still interesting : is the guy walking out of the teleporter still the same guy that walked into it? I would like to answer "no", but if he is a perfect copy, down to the last detail, then no one can tell the difference between the copy and the original, therefore, wouldn't it mean that Copy = Original, so they would both be the original.

  • Ok sure, Metaphysics can be interesting to think about, but ultimately the problems it posits are unanswerable -at least by its own standards of 'Truth'

  • I think the soul would stay attached to whatever atoms or moleculesare being teleported.

  • Questions about souls shouldn't be valid questions.

  • So much easier just thinking of it as zapping you, not killing you and re-birthing you lol

  • An interesting thought experiment could begin with considering a soul as a type of energy that corresponds to a matching containment in our being. That energy, due to the uncertainty principle, could possibly make a quantum leap of it own when the corresponding energy of its old habitation emerges somewhere else as that copy.

  • I did know god is asian !

  • So hes a theoretical physicist? omg so he works with Gordon Freeman!!

  • is it possible to create some sort of invisibility cloak or suit by demagnetizing our atoms so light could not reflect off of us or would that make us just fall apart?

  • @toedoe1234

    You can prevent reflection but that would just make the object black, and opaque and black is only good when against an equally black background (which is standard camouflage), this is the exact opposite of invisibility where you want to be completely transparent, this can only be achieved by either letting the light pass through you (impossible) or lead it around you without disturbing it, which you can do with nano engineered meta-materials.

  • @melis256 but if you demagnetise an atom the light would not bounce off of it, so then it would go through it, and if it goes through it it can keep on going with no effect, therefore it can bounce off of objects behind it and then continue back through said atom. so yes it would make you invisible, i think what you were thinking about was if youre atoms were to absorb light without reflecting it, thats what would turn something black. it makes a good argument though

  • @theoreticalphysosist

    Do you have some scientific documentation of this? As far as I know, you can only magnetize and therefore demagnetize materials which can take on a magnetic field like iron, nickel and cobalt. But since the permanent magnetic field originates from the combined alignment of the individual atoms spin, I don't see how demagnetizing an individual atom is possible since there is no counter pole noise.

    Also, these are quite opaque even when demagnetized.

  • @theoreticalphysosist cont.

    Two things must be true if an object is to be completely invisible.

    It must have zero light absorption and its refractive index must be exactly the same as the outside medium for the desired wavelengths.

    This would ensure zero dispersion and no reflections.

    However this implies that not one single electron was capable of absorbing a photon of any wavelength or that there is no electrons (ಠ_ಠ).

  • @melis256

    -- you would also have to ensure that no energy from absorbed higher frequency ionizing radiation ever is re-radiated as light in the spectrum you want to stay invisible in.

    -

    With large objects which are made of many different materials it is much easier to lead the light around the object than through it. And it can be built like a low pass filter where the shortest wavelength is the edge, kinda like a reverse Faraday cage.

  • So what you're saying is that if we teleport a person, a ginger is created?

  • @sk8rkid135 hey fuck you man. im a red head.

  • @3Dtacos you should get that looked at

  • WTF!!! when were we able to teleport atoms!?!?!

  • Yeah...gingers exist....

  • I will be one of those old farts that refuse to use the teleportation device.

    "Oh grandpa, you're silly it wont kill you."

    *cough* Thats what they want you to think, it will kill us all, repeatedly!

  • @EqualsThreeable That is a silly belief to hold, what evidence do you have that such a thing exists?

  • so if it can be done, why hasnt it

  • @joelyn21327 We know it can be done, but we have no way to do it and will not for a long while.

  • @joelyn21327 No offence but that is a really stupid question.

  • @joelyn21327 Because: Subject B will have the same memories and experiences as subject A. You will never know if the Original(A) made it. In short: B will say the same as A.

  • could this be done without disasembling the oringonal person's atoms? because if so, you have a duplication machine, and then you have infinate money. next, if they atoms have to be disassembled for the process to work, where do they go? are they used to make the copy? if so, how is the copy NOT the same thing as the origonal?

  • I believe in a soul, I would like to believe that a soul can move and identify itself with a human, this is why I believe when you get hit by a car and die in the hospital, your soul goes to heaven or the other place, and if the doctor brings you back to life your soul returns to you. If you teleport, break yourself apart, thus killing yourself, and then your body reconstructs itself somewhere else, your soul will feel that and return to you. Transporting useful information across the universe.

  • it would seem that this video directly contradicts the other on this channel "Why Einstein Gets the Last Laugh."

  • We can always use Snooki as a test dummy.

  • @Evenflowist314 Unfortunately, a test subject would have to be someone widely believed to actually have a soul.

  • @Evenflowist314 no way! she's pregnant

  • @blssdfall27 Then we'll use the baby as test dummy!

  • @blssdfall27

    So? Kill two birds with one stone.

  • @Evenflowist314 If we use her then we won't know if the soul is gone or not. If there's no soul to begin with how can you figure out if it went away?

  • @Udontgetmymetal

    We'll at least know what horrific mutation is inside of her.

  • @Evenflowist314 But we can't test whether she lost her soul or not. She never had one!

  • @Evenflowist314 nah man, even if she is an empty husk after, we wont be able to tell if she's changed at all :p

  • @Evenflowist314 true but wat if the experiment is great success.. then she is even more "famous"

  • @mrpaulaz What if... there's no such thing as a soul.

  • Indeed information is all we are.

  • what if... when an exact copy is made, the soul jumps into it.

  • Stuff about souls apart... I don't want to get blinked out of existence and have a copy that is not my current consciousness posing around the surface of mars. That rat bastard... I hope he gets teleported too.

  • Wasn't there an episode of Star Trek that touched on this issue?

  • The perception of the universe (consciousness) could and would be maintained.

    A possible explanation is that some people assert that experience is outside, when it's really inside, it's mere interpretation limited by our perceptive capacities.

    There's also some of the believers of the life energy called "soul", who stubbornly refuse to accept the improbability of such supernatural energy (since it's not accessible to empiricism) and will resort to denialism to keep their emotional comfort.

  • lol technically it would be a copy but "I" wouldnt notice so who gives a shit cause there clearly isnt a soul deffinatly worth trying

  • is no soul duh

  • since when could we teleport water?

  • Isn't energy itself merely information? And, isn't all matter made of energy? With that said, aren't we all, in our very essence, a large collection of pure information, condensed into a physical state?

  • Just throw Schrodinger's cat in there.

  • "I'm a physicist. We don't know the answer to that" means: We know the answer, but you and the Inquisition are not gonna like it.

  • 1:28

    Bingo! He hit the spot with that. Yes, we are "nothing but" information.

  • Okay... so the machine destroys you so that it can recreate you. To recreate you EXACTLY it has to know the exact position of every subatomic particle in your body. It then knows where to put the particles back into place to recreate "you". At that point the machine has a blueprint of your body and with enough energy to work with can make unlimited copies of you. Each copy would begin existence at the point that the original body was destroyed.

  • "At the present time we can only teleport photons...and atoms..." We can teleport things!!! That's a thing that actually happens! Excuse me if this is some widely known fact but OMG!!! That is the coolest friggin' thing I have ever heard, we can teleport things people! o.O

  • Darn it, even his "I don't know" answers sound smart.

  • @deoxys101993 All his answers are I don't know answers, which is why he's a *theoretical* physicist ^_^

  • @Krisisonfire Incorrect. He's a theoretical physicist because he is writing the questions in physics we have yet to ask.

  • @deoxys101993 21 grams, proven by physics to raise his reply to messiah status, Dr. Kaku you are the messiah! but the 21grams is in his belief what is it? they say what is it? man it's a dirty job but someone's gotta do it, said it's a dirty job

  • why does the original have to be destroyed? anybody?

  • @edminjatrel

    Teleportation would work by breaking apart your atoms, scanning where and what each one was, then reassembling it somewhere else. By initially breaking your body apart, you are destroyed. What is reassembled on the other end is a perfect replica made from different atoms. If I build a house in LA, then take it apart and build a perfect copy of the house in Boston, is it the same house? Nope. It isn't even made from the same wood or brick. Same concept here.

  • So the teleported person would be exactly the same, in behaviour and all characteristics and looks etc. What happens to your train of thought, consciousness etc. The voice in your head right this second, would it be my current train of thought in the new body or does a new one inhabit the body and I've died and dissapeared. Regardless of the fact the new body behaves and even thinks identically to me. I am dead, i . e. Teleportation is cloning? Someone help me I cant get my head around this.

  • @waoop it should theoretically have the same thoughts (including the one that was happening when the teleportation took place) because that thought is the electrical and chemical state of your mind at that time, which would be replicated at the other end

  • @scotchy1786 Yeah thanks for that, it has helped my understanding slightly :)

  • What maybe could be a more interesting question: what if I create a clone of yourself, with exactly the same brain. If there is no soul, this human would be you! That mean you would be two persons at the same time. But then would you share two concisious? The only valid naturalist perspective I can think out of this questions is the assumption that there is no thing as a soul, and there is thing such as consicius, that's just an ilusion of perception. But that assumption colides with philosopie.

  • My friend's dad died a few years back, he was brought back with a defibrillator. I'm fairly certain he's still the same person, with the same soul (if you believe in that soul stuff (I don't)).

  • i asked this question before to some metaphysicist who was very picky about the soul, but rather.. if you ever replace every part of your body, limbs and organs all together will you still have your soul? what do you think if i went into a coma and woke up forgetting everything will i still be me and keep my soul or will i not be me for not remembering who i was? if i love meat and i replace my body and still love eat is it still me and if i go to coma wake up and dont like meat is it still me?

  • I HAVE WATCHED NEARLY ALL YOUR VIDEOS, AND I HAVE NEVER COMMENTED. I COULD SAY I AM A FANATIC OF YOURS.YOU HAVE TOUCHED ON THE TRUTH,BUT YOU APTLY RESPONDED LIKE A SCIENTIST.I RECKON SOON ENOUGH SCIENCE,PHILOSOPHY &RELIGION WILL CONVERGE INTO A "METAPHYSICS". I HAVE BEEN READING EVERYTHING I CAN GET ON THIS AND IT SEEMS ARISTOTLE WAS RIGHT: MIND &SOUL ARE SEPARATE FROM THE BODY. THE BRAIN AND OTHER ORGANS ARE BUT MERE INSTRUMENTS FOR THEIR MANIFESTATION.THE BODY IS ONLY THEIR SIMULACRUM

  • You just teleported Captain Kirk! He never acted like he had a soul, just an ego. You just killed Kirk. Sounds like a win-win situation!

  • What does he mean when he for example Matthew asked one of the most embarrassing question...

  • /watch?v=S5SfwoT_JsQ <----This

  • Every thought I have is a new version of me, stealing the body and mind of the previous self. If that is ok, then teleportation is ok too.

  • a body doesn't work without a soul

    so there will be no copy, once you make the human teletransport then we can discuss what it is, a atom is just piece of matter doesnt have a soul, thats why u can teleport it

  • I am a materialist. I believe that there is no real "soul" that exists outside of the material form. This suggests that all that you are is the material that you are made of, so if that material is destroyed, you die. Sure, another person who is exaclty how you were may have been created, however it would not be you. You would be dead.

  • this guy likes sending people to Mars!!!

  • Wait, what says the copy will have the same personality / memories and all that? What if the copy is just a copy with no memories / personality, somewhat like a newborn

  • @Squishina we'll find out if someone is silly enough to volunteer. I'm not committing suicide in order to give someone else my memories...

  • @Squishina It would not be a copy unless it were identical in its material configuration, including the material configuration of the brain. Even thoughts, memory and personality are simply a result of the configuration of the material and energy in your brain, so assuming the copy is in fact an exact copy, they would have the exact same personality and memories.

  • We don't know.

  • What makes you think there's a "soul" in the first place? The evidence is that we ARE simply matter in a certain state. If we "have" a soul or "are" a soul it must be an aspect of that matter. So it would be recreated in the copy created during teleportation.

    Having read the bible, it seems to me that when Christ talked about the human "soul" he was talking about the essential, incorruptible heart or essence of a person. That would exist regardless of teleportation, I'd imagine.

  • i am great at math: 2 + 2 = 4; i am a great physicist: e = mc2; now listen to me while i teach you about what a soul is....

  • i think it's almost beautiful when he says: "And the answer is: we don't know"

    It's so scientifically beatiful.

  • Not to be racist... but your like the asian Albert Einstein

  • When the soul leaves the body the person dies and so a dead person cannot function.

  • The Atom's are being re-arranged in space and time, therefore the same person. A copy would be a duplication of the atom's and existing coincide. 

  • my name is matthew and i really got scared at the beginning of this.

  • i believe this technology can cure world hunger. teleport cheese burgers to 3rd world countries, for FREE.

  • So he's saying that we CAN teleport a full human body. I'd like to see that.

  • @TheAfterburn3r *facpalm* He said we can, as in the future, teleport human bodies. He didn't say when we will be able to.

  • @TheAfterburn3r Maybe you will... just cause he said CAN doesn't mean today/right now.

  • Why did he came up with the concept of Soul in the scientific video??? But I have an answer... matter is magnetic resonance with constant energy in universe; only frequencies changes and because of wave interactions, some "bodies" are "temporary" nullified.

  • Well if we knew what part of the clump of atoms is the part that gives us consciousness then we'd be able to answer the question better. If it's something physical that we don't yet understand then the liklihood the 'soul' will be the same, and it wouldn't just be a copy.

    But (hypothetically) the copy theory should be coined with deism. If a supernatural entity has given the clumps of atoms we call our bodies consciousness then it probably would be an imposter copy that was created.

  • watched too much michio kaku. time to get some sleep

  • True Religious answer:

    We are souls attached to the body by electromagnetic affinity. As soon as the original body is destroyed, we will suffer like hell for a split second, until we find ourselves attached to the new body, and feel just the same as the other one.

    If a new body is created without destroying the original, this body will live but will never respond with intelligence. The house is the same, but there is nobody home.

    Remember Catholicism is not the only religion around. ;-)

  • @gbmaizol The soul would be your consciousness, i.e. the energy in your brain. So if we move the energy in your brain to the other brain (which is identical) you would just be in a replicated body. Your answer is much more scientific than it is religious. (This is not something that's proven but rather my hypotheses, and yours too, apparantly.)

  • @MadMonkeyCo Well, religion is nothing but hypotheses shared by a considerable amount of people, but you are right about being scientific, because a number of researchers have dedicated their lifetime in producing scientific evidences that the soul survives the body, while the trend scientists mock them.

    We are conscious lifeforms which are now attached to a body of our own, and it sounds just weird to say that we are "the energy in your brain"... The brain is just the steering wheel.

  • I just remembered something. the body that is created does not have "The breath of life" quote from the Book of Genesis anyways while the cells could be alive and maybe even the neurons alive but I don't believe that the body would have full consciousness but rather be in a coma like state (the Bible quote shouldn't be relevant)

  • Clearly Michio is not thinking with portals.

  • @datafreak667 That's not teleportation.... that's the use of artificial wormholes.

  • @MadMonkeyCo A worm hole wouldn't have to destroy the body though would it? the same atom's and all would be moved as unit Whole through a "shortcut" in space. thus there would be no death and no copy. If I am mistaken please tell me how, I am genuinly interested in the subject.

  • @RAYNE0912 Yes that is correct. If we could create artificial wormholes then that would be a much better option than teleportation. Max speed for teleportation would be lightspeed without the help of wormholes.

  • hey youtubers check it... scroll down and up the page and you can see the suggestions look like a snake slithering ... (well i see it) XD

  • "And the answer is................we don't know." That's everyday for us students in Physics classes all over the world.

  • If I'm just information, I'm investing in some data security before I get hacked.

  • The answer is: we don't know.

    Science at it's finest.

    Religions answer: GHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUU­Deh.

  • I Don't care about the soul. What I care about is this:

    If I experience Quantum Teleportation, I get disassembled, and die, I stop existing. MY PERCEPTION OF THE UNIVERSE ENDS. The body on the other side, would have a different perception. It would believe it wasn't but *I* would not experience that, because I would be dead. you don't need to think about the soul for that one.

  • @therealquade Does it matter? Assuming there is no soul, YOUR perception is no different that an exact copy's.

    Think about this... Lets ignore the fact that technology isn't capable of it yet, can you honestly say you are the original, and that you were never teleported? Can you prove it even though you are identical? Before I asked, did you even care whether or not you are the original? I believe not. Then you should not care if your perception ends and begins anew.

  • @setoman1 My perception Is different from my copy, that's the problem.

    If I end, and the copy begins, The copy perceives that, it's perception did not end with the teleportation. On the other hand, from my end, I stop existing, and do not come out the other side. assuming there is no soul, that's blackness devoid of thought for eternity. I never want to experience that. Convert my brain piece by piece into a computer, convert matter into energy and back, Freeze me, I don't care, but dont END me

  • Comment removed

  • @setoman1 to an outside observer, there would be no difference. to the copy, there would be no difference, their perception of the universe would remain un-interrupted. but if i were to teleport, my perception of the universe would end. Somebody with my memories and my personality who looks a hell of a lot like me would be walking around, but I would have been destroyed. I think thats the point being raised here, to teleport yourself, you have to commit suicide essentially.

  • @cwnicol That's exactly what I meant. Thank you.

  • @cwnicol You are essentially missing my point completely. You are just over-thinking it.

  • @setoman1 Well thanks for elaborating, you've made your point that I'm missing oh so clear now...

    I also fail to see how I'm over thinking things. I came to this conclusion within a few seconds of the clip ending, before looking at any comments. It just seems like the logical outcome of teleportation to me, no elaborate though process required.

  • @therealquade the question is what make you... you? is it only the memory of the past experience or is it something more? if its only the memory then we could quantum teleport you w/o harm... but we dont know, a physic research HAS already filmed people died and see their "soul" or "energy" go away (google "soul leaving body" and seek out 8 pictures on the same image) so we have yet to prove that... the only way to know is to try it -_-

  • @Shamanalaful I never want to try it. I will make assumptions on what will happen, and based on those assumptions, I'll decide what I'll allow for myself. at least I have a semi-rational reason for these assumptions.

  • @therealquade I think that's what he meant by "soul". That's what i mean when i think or say "soul".

  • The answer is there is no souls. By we don't know he means nothing we can totally prove.

  • what the fuck is a soul? moron

  • Who gives a crap, I'd volunteer for the first human trials (assuming numerous successful animal trails). Is that like leaving your "soul" to science? Eh, well, they give me a laugh.

  • am I a geek if I already thought this one out on my own?

  • @FUR10USW45P I've thought of something similar, just with the physics of Pokeballs (don't even go there); it'd require the ball to create a copy of the entire molecular structure of the Pokemon and then break apart the atoms, compressing them in a tiny, tiny space. Upon release, it'd be reformed at rapid rates.

    God, I suck.

  • Do we just use the Xen Relays then? Or maybe kinetic preservation gateways?

  • well... i dont think soul's exist. so this question for me would be a lot easier.

  • @nitromehane189 What happens to the stream of conciousness?

  • @Onifos i dont know. conciousness isnt the soul. 

  • @nitromehane189 No, but its still a complex question with similiar (if not the same) practical implications.

  • @Onifos What happens to the stream of conciousness when you fall asleep & wake up?

  • @nitromehane189 to THINK and to KNOW is two different things.

  • so is there a way to stop the destruction of the persons atoms ?

  • THERE IS NO SOUL, THAT'S THE ONLY ANSWER !

  • @khanhhien06

    Even so, it wouldn't be you. The destroyed version would have no knowledge of the new one. Your consciousness would be destroyed and you would die, while a new consciousness exactly like yours is created. It would basically be a cloning machine that kills the original.

    That being said I would be extremely reluctant to enter any teleporter without precise knowledge on the devices design and function.

  • @khanhhien06 what he means by soul is... just take a second, and stare at the screen. Become aware of yourself: all the things that you're touching, seeing, smelling, hearing. That is the soul. If we made a clone of you, would you be looking through the eyes? Or would you be dead, while some completely different "soul" is looking through eyes, and being in a body, with the exact same looks - as you.

  • if tht was possible then a soul never existed

  • I think humans are just biological computers

  • If I may ask, who's to say that my fingers aren't teleporting from point to point in spacetime as my fingers move across my keyboard? My atoms move from one point to the next, do they not? I know it's not teleportation but it's food for thought.

  • If this is indeed the case, why would anyone willingly be teleported knowing they would die and a clone would continue where they left off?

  • @DirtyBeatzMusic I would if my "clone" was gonna do something badass wherever he got teleported to.

  • MUST GET SMARTER AND TELEPORT MYSELF TO FIND OUT.

  • I have a question. Okay, lets say we are able to teleport humans from Earth to Mars (I don't know the terminology of teleporters so excuse my inaccurate use of terms). There's the machine that destroys the atoms of the human here on Earth. My question is, will the machine that receives the atoms on Mars receive the atoms instantaneously (meaning the teleportation time is faster than the speed of light) or will it take a while for the receiver on Mars to receive the atoms?

  • and the answer is, we don`t KNOW

  • Epic rap battles of history --> Stephen Hawking presentations --> Albert Einstein videos --> bigthink. Ok im going to bed now youtube. cya tomorow night.

  • @M1keOxlong69 Hahaha One of my favourites :D

  • @dt28469 haha thanks

  • Danyarger doesn't know wtf he's talking about. Yes there are electrons, but the reasoning is completely wrong.

  • If the copy doesn't have a soul...... ITS A GINGER!