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Six Dimensions and Star Trek
Name: Unknown
Status: N/A
Age: N/A
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: Around 1993
Question:
How do theories of six-dimensional geometry apply to time? Is
there any validity to the transporters they created for "Star Trek: the Next
Generation"?
Replies:
There are theories of the universe that involve dimensions higher
than 3 or 4, but they usually do not have any effect on time. These higher
dimensions just increase the spatial dimensions, and only in a very minor way.
Science fiction, of course, does not have to rely on the silly restrictions of
modern physics theories. In principle, one could build some kind of
"transporter". However, the only kind I can think of would be more like
"duplicators", which would produce a second copy of the object being
transported, rather than actually do the transporting. This of course creates
all sorts of philosophical problems which Star Trek has chosen not to worry
about.
A. Smith
A recent discovery in quantum mechanics has shown that there may
be a sense in which "transporting" is different from just copying, so I guess
my previous answer needs to be changed. However, this does not have anything
to do with the fourth dimension (or higher). The technique is to prepare a
pair of coupled quantum systems, then one person takes one of those quantum
systems somewhere far away. Next, it is then possible to make a measurement
on the local system, transmit the result of that local measurement and
reconstitute a new quantum system on the other side. So, if the quantum
mechanical properties of a person are important for keeping them alive, then
people really cannot be duplicated; but they can (by this means) in principle
be transported by sending enough classical information to the other side. Of
course, most biologists do not think quantum coherence is at all important for
life, and therefore be possible to duplicate living things with enough
classical information.
A Smith
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Update: January 2012
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