January 20, 2026 • 38 mins
Teleportation is a major mode of travel in science fiction, but when will it become a reality? To find out, Mango and Gabe are grappling with the history and theoretical science behind one of humanity’s most anticipated technologies. Along the way, they explore the surprising connection between teleportation and ancient stage magic, and introduce you to the most romantic song about quantum entanglement that you’ve ever heard. (Probably.)
- Check out David Nagler’s website and his band, As For the Future!
- Listen to Mangesh’s conversation with Daniel Whiteson about aliens, physics, and alien physics!
- Learn more about Daniel’s work, books, and podcast at his website!
Get your official Part-Time Genius membership card! Tell us your name, address, and one fun fact and we’ll send you one for free. Email higeniuses@gmail.com, DM us on our socials, or leave a message at (302) 405-5925.
Follow us on Instagram @parttimegenius and Bluesky @parttimegenius.bsky.social!
Photo by Logan Gutierrez via Unsplash. Thanks, Logan!
Learn more about your ad choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
You're listening to Part Time Genius, the production of Kaleidoscope
and iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Guess what gave? What's that mango? Did you know that?
Speaker 1 (00:26):
The word teleport was actually in use as far back
as the late nineteenth century, But it was not a
verb back then, it was a noun. A teleport was
a hypothetical device that could carry a person's atoms from
one place to another in the blink of an eye.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
So this was in an old sci fi novel or something.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Surprisingly not so, the word popped up in an Australian
newspaper blurb published in eighteen seventy eight, just a couple
decades after the invention of the telephone. So at the
time the wonder of wire transmissions was still fresh in
people's minds, and to capitalize on that, someone wrote this
tongue in cheek article heralding the next technological breakthrough. The
(01:06):
anonymous writer claimed to have read in a Bombay newspaper
that scientists in India had successfully transported both a dog
and a human boy Adam for Adam, through a wire
and then reassembled them on the other end.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Wow. Well, I feel like the question everyone's asking is
did they go through together or separately.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
I love where your head's at, and the answer is
both kind of. According to the article quote, a dog
was placed on the metal disc and a powerful current
was applied to it. After a while, the animal disappeared
and was found at the other end of the wire,
contentedly gnawing a bone, just as it was doing before
it was transported. Afterwards, a boy was experimented upon, and
(01:52):
the same effect was observed as with the dog. It
was then attempted to send the boy and the dog
along the wire at once, but by an unfortunate accident,
the infinitesimal atoms of the boy and those of the
dog got mixed in transit, and the result was that
they both looked like dreadfully unnatural creatures.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
No, are you sure that's from a newspaper, because that
is also beat for beat what happens in those fly movies,
except you know, with Jeff Goldbloom and house Fly and
like a million times more. Plus it's disgusting.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
So gross, and probably the grossest take on teleportation in
any of science fiction. But yeah, yeah, this ridiculous story
got picked up by newspapers across Australia, New Zealand, the
US as well. And the really funny part is that,
even after describing the freak accident with the boy and
the dog, the writer went on to boast that the
teleport would be able to send people from India to
(02:46):
England in a matter of minutes, with just a slight
chance of passengers turning into horrible genetic mutants.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Sad to say, but I bet there's at least a
few commuters out there who'd be willing to chance it anyway.
But you know, I've got to say, Mango, I'm starting
to think this teleport experiment may not have actually happened. Yeah,
I think you're right now. Some of the papers that.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Ran the story indicated that the claims were likely made up,
And since there are no dog boy hybrids running around Mumbai,
at least none that I've seen, it is safe to
say that the teleport was just a big hoax. Now,
the real question is whether it could ever be more
than that. In other words, is teleportation actually possible? And
(03:29):
if so, how close are we to being able to
do it? And that's what we're going to spend this
episode trying to figure out.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
So let's dive in.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Hey there, podcast listeners, Welcome to part time genius. I'm
Mongish particular, and today I am joined by my friend
and fellow sci fi fan Gabe lucy A.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Now Will's Adams got a little mixed up in the teleporter,
so most of them couldn't be here get that stor today.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
But over there in the booth is our friend and
producer Dylan Fagan, who's wearing one of his signature on
them T shirts. This one says my other car is
a teleportation chamber, which I think actually raises more questions
than it does answers.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Yeah, you mean, like, why would anyone put that on
a T shirt instead of a bumper sticker? Exactly? We
don't even know what his first car.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Is, But the bigger question is who.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Needs a car if you can teleport?
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Right? Personally, I don't think I'd ever get behind the
wheel again. I mean, for me, I'm recording this from
Munich today. I took a flight to Amsterdam, and then
a flight to Munich and then a bus ride to
this lovely town where this conference is being held. But honestly,
I'm so sleep deprived and I would have loved to
(05:02):
have just teleported here.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Yeah right, I feel like you are the prime candidate
for this the target target customer. Yeah, I would definitely
use a teleportation for travel obviously if it were an option,
but you know, working from home, I don't take that
many big trips. I'm not a jet setter like you,
so for me it would it would probably just be,
(05:24):
you know, teleporting directly into my reserved seat of the movies,
like just before the credits start, you know. But I
like that. It's it feels like a real time saver,
right right, very practical. Anyway, the idea for today's episode
came from a listener named Asher, who listens to the
show with his dad and his sister Lily, who is
also a big fan, and he had one very simple
(05:47):
question for us, Mango, how close are we to being
able to teleport? And we didn't know the answer, so
we decided to figure it out. That is so awesome.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
I love that Asher and his family listen, and I'm
so happy to be dug into this question.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Me too. But before we get into the science of teleportation,
I want to talk a little more about the history
of the concept and you know, the impact that it's
had on our imaginations. Now, the idea of a person
or object traveling instantaneously from one point to another has
been around for hundreds, if not thousands of years, and
(06:22):
while it's impossible to know what gave rise to it,
back in the day, teleportation wasn't thought about in terms
of science and technology. It was something that could only
conceivably happen through the use of magic, and in fact,
one of the oldest and most famous magic tricks in
the world the Cups and Balls illusion. It's built entirely
on the concept of teleportation. Known examples data as far
(06:46):
back as ancient Greece and Rome in the year three BCE,
and some historians think it goes back even further to
ancient Egypt. So I'm sure you've seen this trick, but
it's the one where the magician places a ball or
in the ancient Greek's case, pebble, under one of three cups.
Then they rearrange the cups and invite a volunteer to
(07:07):
choose which one the ball is under, and the volunteer
points to what should be the correct cup, only to
find out that the ball has mysteriously jumped and is
now under a completely different cup. So voila the magic
of teleportation.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
You know, I love the cup and Ball trick. I
feel like it's just delightful sleight of hand. I had
no idea it was that old. That's crazy, And obviously
it is really fun to watch, unless someone's asking you
to bet money on it, and then it's just such
a ripoff, right. It feels like you can never get
it right in those cases.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Uh huh. That's spoken with a suspicious level of familiarity,
But you are right, yeah, absolutely. Popular variations of the
trick include several infamous street cons, including shell games and
three Card Monty, but those depend less on the illusion
of teleportation. They do like on the player's own delusion.
(08:02):
You know that the whole thing isn't rigged, which it
definitely is.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Well, it may be easy to debunk the Cup and
Ball's trick and all his crooked cousins, but there are
some centuries old folk tales and rumors of teleportation that
are hard to explain. For example, have you ever heard
the legend of the transported Soldier?
Speaker 2 (08:21):
No, but I very much want to. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
So there's this long running story about a Spanish soldier,
and this is in the sixteenth century, who fell asleep
at the Philippines and supposedly woke up in Mexico just
a few seconds later. Now, it would have taken him
about two months to make the nine thousand mile journey
by boat, but according to him, he somehow made the
trip in a blink of an eye.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Okay, so I actually think I can explain this one
pretty easily. You ready for this, he was lying, Oh, that's.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Just a hunch.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
A very different typ of science than I was expecting
from that one. But I mean, normally I would agree,
But in this case, the soldier and his name was
Gil Perez, he actually wasn't the only witness. So, as
the story goes, the teleportation happened on the evening of
October twenty fourth, fifteen ninety three. Perez was stationed in Manila,
and this was during the early years a Spanish rule
(09:16):
in the Philippines, and he was stressed out and exhausted
because the Spanish governor had just been assassinated and at
the time there was no clear order of succession. So
that night he dozed off at his post for a
few minutes, and when he opened his eyes he found
himself somewhere completely different. The Palace was nowhere in sight,
and when he asked a bystander where he was. He
(09:37):
was told he was in Mexico City. Perez was understandably baffled,
but he wasn't the only one. When some passeng guards
spotted this frantic guy wearing a Manila uniform, they brought
him in for questioning, and while Perez explained the situation
as best he could, the local authorities were not buying it.
They assumed he was a Spanish soldier who had abandoned
(09:58):
his post, so they threw him in jail.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
For geez, that is gotta be one of the worst
possible ways to wake up from a cat nap, like
just get tossed in prison. But I thought you said
there were other people who vouched for his story. Doesn't
sound like anyone in Mexico believed.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Him so, not at first, but Perez continued to plead
his innocence from his jail cell. He told the guards
about recent events in the Philippines, including how the governor
general had just been assassinated.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Now, unfortunately, the.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Guards had no way to corroborate his claim. News traveled
really slowly back then, right, and the next Spanish ship
from the Philippines wasn't due to arrive for several months. Now,
it's unclear exactly how long Perez spent in prison. Some
sources claim it was two months, others say it was
over a year. But whatever the case, a Spanish galleon
(10:46):
eventually arrived in Mexico from Manila, and when the soldiers
on board reported that the Governor General had been killed,
local officials sent for their strange captive. Not only did
the visiting soldiers confirm every single detail of press as
a story, some of them even recognized him as their
former comrade, which is insane. Right, there was still no
explanation for how he'd wound up in Mexico, but now
(11:08):
his identity was actually verified, So he was released from
prison and allowed to sail back on the next shift
to Manila.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Oh and you just know, the whole way Perez was
bragging about, you know, how much faster it was to teleport.
He probably drove the crew crazy, but I'm sure. But
all right, obviously, the big question here is whether any
of this actually happened. My vote is still no, right,
But is there any proof? No?
Speaker 1 (11:36):
I mean, it is true that the Governor General in
Manila was assassinated that year, and his death led to
confusion over the chain of command. But yeah, beyond that,
there aren't many details to go on. The legend of
the teleporting Spanish soldier didn't appear in print until sixteen
ninety eight, and that was a little over a century
after it supposedly happened. It was published by a Spanish
(11:57):
clergyman and historian in a book called Conquests of the
Philippine Islands, and the count was said to be compiled
from interviews with witnesses who had met Perez firsthand, though
you know, of course, there's no way to verify that now.
From there, though, the legend was recounted in dozens of
books and short stories, including one by Washington Irving, who
you know is the famous American author who wrote Sleepy
(12:20):
Hollow Course. In most versions of the tale, Perez experiences
what you might call spontaneous teleportation, but a more modern
theory is that he slipped into a fugue state, experienced
temporary amnesia while traveling to Mexico, and then woke up
with no idea of how he got there or how
much time had passed. And I guess that's the more
plausible but certainly the less fun explanation.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Well, speaking of fun. After we take a quick break,
I'm going to tell you a little bit more about
spontaneous teleportation, which isn't real, and quantum teleportation, which is real.
And let's just say there's a musical number involved, so
don't go anywhere.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Welcome back to Part Time Genius, where we're talking teleporting.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Now, a quick reminder that.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
We'd love it if you subscribe to the show on
your favorite podcast app. You can leave us a nice
rating and review. We won't stop you from doing any
of that. And if you're enjoying this episode, em it
over to a friend. So, okay, Gabe, talk to me
about spontaneous teleportation, because you said those words and I
have no idea what they mean, but it sounds pretty crazy.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Yeah, well, it's pretty much what happened to the teleporting Soldier.
And it's obviously a very different concept from you know,
the orderly, intentional kind of teleportation, like when someone asks
to be beamed up on Star Trek. But as far
as I can tell, this weirder spontaneous type of teleportation
what us the first one to gain ground in the
(14:01):
public consciousness. The person widely credited for the introduction is
paranormal enthusiast and author Charles Fort. In nineteen thirty one,
he released a bizarre non fiction book called Low, in
which he argued that various high profile missing person cases
and other strange occurrences like frogs and fish falling out
(14:23):
of the sky were proof of a cosmic joker. That's
what he called it. You know, this force that would
spontaneously teleport people and animals for its own amusement.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
So anytime a soaka is missing in a dryer, you know,
or I can't find my car keys, that is I
guess a cosmic joker striking again.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Absolutely, So I am curious.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Though the eighteen seventy eight article I mentioned at the
top of the show coined the noun teleport, So is
Charles fourth the one who came up with the full
term teleportation?
Speaker 2 (14:59):
As far as I can tell, he did. Yeah, And
while laying out the aim of his book, Fort wrote quote,
I shall specialize upon indications that there exists a transportory
force that I shall call teleportation. I shall be accused
of having assembled lies, yarns, hoaxes, and superstitions. To some
(15:19):
degree I think so myself. To some degree I do not.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
That is so mysterious, and I love that he just
can't commit to whether he himself is is assembling lies
and yarns and hoaxes.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Right, but you said.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Some people were actually swayed by h by this anyway.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
I mean, I don't know how much stock people put
in the whole cosmic joker theory, but you know, the
book did get a rave review in the New York
Times and quickly sold through two printings, and from that
point on, teleportation, both the word and the concept became
much more prevalent.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
It is so funny to me that these early uses
of the word, though, like that they came from sources
that were essentially nonfiction, right. Like, I'm not saying the
readers believe these accounts, but they seem to at least
found them plausible. Like it's not sci fi that that
in the way that people are talking about this.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Right, Yeah, so let's play Devil's Advocate. You know, you
said that the article about the teleport came out in
the wake of the telephone, right, so I could imagine
someone hearing that story and thinking, Hey, if science did
something as seemingly impossible as sending a person's voice over
a wire, then why not the entire person. That's interesting.
(16:33):
It probably just seemed like, you know, a difference of degrees,
first the telegraph, then the telephone, and now the teleport.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
And I guess that's honestly how a lot of us
still think of teleportation, right, Like nowadays, we're mostly familiar
with the concept through sci fi stories and also fantasy.
Harry Potter certainly essentially teleports, but that hasn't stopped us
from assuming the technology.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Will actually exist, right.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
And that's probably because we've watched so many futuristic ideas
graduate from science fiction to actual science over the last century.
You think about like space shuttles or video watches or
three D printing or the Internet. You know, all these
things show up on the Jetsons and sci fi and whatever,
Like why not teleportation too?
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Well, I'm that first article you talked about made a
pretty great case for why not teleportation? Like it's nice
to be entirely human and not part dog. But I
know what you mean, Like, on some level we figure
that teleportation must be something that scientists are actively working
toward and you know, will eventually figure out one day.
(17:38):
But the reality is that's probably not the case, or
at least not in the way most of us think.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Is this the part where you let us all down
by explaining, pasim that actual teleportation isn't real and never
will actually be.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Not exactly. It's more like the part where I try
to break down some really dense scientific concepts in a
way that's hopefully both accurate and entertaining. So you are
going to break our hearts, great, so go for it.
Well yeah, okay, so when most of us hear the
word teleporting, we think of physical matter being atomized and
(18:15):
transferred as energy from one point to another, without actually
traveling the physical distance between those points. Right, so let's
call this original flavor teleportation. Sounds delicious, right, Well, the
trouble is nobody's actually tasted it. You see it advertised
all over the place, but no stores carry it and
(18:35):
no one has the recipe. So original flavor is kind
of a tease it is, yes, But now imagine there's
a new, totally different flavor called quantum teleportation, and instead
of zapping matter from point to point, quantum teleportation deals
with the transfer of information.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
I feel like quantum sounds like much better branding, right,
It sounds so much cooler than But if I'm being honest,
teleporting information doesn't sound nearly as fun as teleporting matter,
like I want to zap myself places, or especially when
I was a kid, I wanted to send my sister
other places.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Sure, yeah, okay, so maybe it's not as tasty a flavor,
but it is a more satisfying one in my opinion,
because quantum teleportation is a flavor we can make. It's
something we can actually do right now. So how does
this work exactly? Well, it's not the easiest concept to understand,
but it's basically the transfer of quantum information between two
(19:34):
physically separate yet quantumly entangled entities.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
I feel like that doesn't clarify a whole lot for me,
and probably not for our listeners either. What quantum information
quantum entanglement? So far, this sounds like, you know, just
as science fiction me as original flavor teleportation.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
All right, fair enough, all right, So let's take it
slow for starters. Quantum information is related to quantum states,
which are all the potential properties of a tiny discrete
system like an electron or an atom. So we're not
talking about definite values like an electron's fixed location in space.
We're talking about uncertainties, all the possible places it could be,
(20:20):
along with other properties like its energy, it's spin, or momentum.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
But wouldn't that change over time, Like if an electron
moves to a new position or it interacts with another electron,
wouldn't that create like a whole new set of possibilities?
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Right? Yeah, And that's what quantum mechanics is concerned with,
studying how quantum states evolve and change and are measured
over time. But your question actually hits on the really
tricky thing about quantum states, which is that whenever you
measure one, it collapses. A quantum system exists as many
possibilities at once. The electron is spinning this way and
(20:59):
it's spinning that way, but the act of measurement basically
forces the system to choose and settle into a single
definite state. So the electron is only spinning this way.
Got it.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
So it's basically like Schrodinger's cat, right, Like when the
lid of the boxes closed, the cat is both live
and dead simultaneously, but when you open it, the cat
is either one way or the other exactly.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
And since it's hypothetical, let's say the cat's alive.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Yeah, we are a whole bunch of cat lovers on
this podcast, So I think that makes a lot of sense,
except for.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Will He could go either way on that. Well he's
not here today.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
So quantum states are weird and confusing. I feel like
we got to that fit. But what was the other
phrase that you use? Quantum entanglement.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Yeah, that's even weirder, but also hopefully a little more intuitive.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
So.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
According to space dot com, quantum entanglement is when two
sub atomic particles become linked in such a way that
their properties remain connected no no matter how far apart
they are. So, for example, the basic unit of quantum
information is a quantum bit or cubit. So say you
mingle two particles together and the cubits that determine their
(22:12):
directions become entangled. Now, even if you moved one of
those particles to the opposite end of the universe, those
cubits would still be linked together on a quantum level.
And that means that if one of those particles undergoes
a change, Let's say you bump it and it starts
pointing north, then the other linked particle way on the
(22:32):
other side of the universe will instantaneously point north. Two,
even if they're separated by billions of light years, Altering
one entangled particle will change the characteristics of its twin.
That's really cool. Yeah, And so quantum physicists sometimes explain
this with an analogy they call the Alice and Bob approach.
(22:53):
And in this framework, there are two particles Alice particle
A and her ex boyfriend Bob particle B. And even
though they've you know, gone their separate ways, there's a
part of themselves they still share together. They're entangled cubits,
and changes to one of them can change the other.
I mean that is kind of sweet. But also it
(23:14):
feels like they need therapy.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
So do we know how this kind of spooky interaction happens? Like,
how is it that they end up pointing in the
same direction?
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Yeah, we do not know. But spooky is an apt
description because when this phenomenon was first being theorized, Albert
Einstein famously dismissed it, and he did so with a
German phrase that translates to spooky action at a distance.
He thought the whole idea was laughable because you know,
it flies in the face of classical physics.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
That's really fascinating, But you said quantum teleportation is already happening, right,
So was Einstein.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Wrong on that one? He was? Yeah, And you know,
in recent years, researchers have been able to demonstrate quantum
teleportation at aggressively greater distances. We haven't sent any entangled
cubits to the far side of the universe yet, but
we have teleported quantum information between two clouds of gas
across the bottom of the Danube River, and even from
(24:14):
Earth to a satellite in space. And while it's hard
to imagine many practical uses for this kind of technology,
it could allow quantum computers to transmit sensitive information much
faster and more securely than they ever could through traditional methods.
That is really cool. So could this replace Wi Fi?
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Like, I know WiFi has gotten pretty fast, but like,
if quantum teleportation is instantaneous, it feels like that would
be even better.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Yeah, but you know, let's not get ahead of ourselves,
because remember, you have to measure something to determine its
quantum state. So if I manipulate an entangled particle to
make it point north, I then have to perform a
specific mathematical measurement to make sure I achieve my goal
and not only that, I have to repeat that same
measurement on the other entangled particle, you know, to confirm
(25:02):
that it's also now pointing north. So in other words,
you still have to pass along directions on how to
perform that necessary measurement, which you would have to do
through normal means like text or email. Now I know
I've thrown a lot of heavy science at you, just now, mango,
So to light the mood, I have a surprise. Mary
and I reached out to our old pal David Nageler,
(25:25):
and we said, hey, David, could you write us a
song that explains quantum teleportation? And you know it's also
really catchy And David was like, no problem. So he
sent us this tune about two star crossed particles and
they're entangled cubits. It's called Sending information, and I hope
you love it as much as I do.
Speaker 4 (25:57):
Sending in bomage, sending information, I used to call you
mine something information where not a twine?
Speaker 2 (26:13):
So the prove mald is true.
Speaker 4 (26:16):
Something infirmation, something infirmbation.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
No one on where's the ship sending information?
Speaker 5 (26:28):
And I've never I'll be something information far across the land.
Speaker 4 (26:38):
Something information. You may not understand something information.
Speaker 5 (26:44):
Spooky action ramified something information the metal where you are.
This is a complex mathematical process that's very hard to comprehend.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
So hold on tight, baby of you. Then value the
sign of zero or a one for its quantum.
Speaker 5 (27:10):
Stale light zero, And if I'm not afraid I try,
I'll ride your name across the sky and ring a
tear to mine malcular.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
Fits for you, my dear.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
Sending infombation.
Speaker 5 (27:30):
Maybe that will make it clean.
Speaker 4 (27:33):
Sending infombation this message that I send, Sending infomdation, sending.
Speaker 5 (27:43):
Infomat you transfer milasia, sending infomba.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
What's mine is yours?
Speaker 5 (27:50):
Not mine?
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Normal sending information when others comment came in, math is
through the send. I don't know about you, but that
(28:26):
is hands down the most emotional song I've eard about
two quantum particles. I've got a feeling those crazy kids
are gonna be all right.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
What do you think? Yeah, he absolutely nailed a sign, man.
I mean, quantum teleportation still sounds insane to me. But
if he keeps Alice and Bob together, I am all
for it. But I've got to say, Gabe, I am
not quite ready to let go of the dream of
original flavored teleportation. We have to take a quick break,
but when we come back, I'll tell you a little
(28:56):
bit about one last possibility for actually teleporting Matt and
it involves wormholes. So stay tuned. Welcome back to part
(29:20):
time Genius. Okay, Gabe. So, the big question of this
episode is how close are we to making teleportation a reality?
Speaker 2 (29:27):
And so far the answer seems.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
To be not even remotely close unless you count quantum teleportation,
which most people probably don't. So one thing we haven't
discussed is why teleportation feels so unlikely Now, the major
hurdle turns out to be the impossibility of instantaneous travel,
which goes back to that annoying universal speed limit, the
(29:49):
speed of light. Now, whether you're dealing with information, or
solid matter, or even a natural force like gravity, the
fastest that anything can travel in our universe is the
speed of li light. And while three hundred million meters
per second is still pretty fast, it is a far
cry from instant.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Yeah, it's it's hard to argue with a universal law,
but you know that means speed of light teleportation is
still on the table, right. I'm imagining something like a
tractor beam that could push or pull your body at
the speed of light, and maybe it could even break
you down into sub atomic particles like the transporter on
Star Trek, you know, so that you wouldn't you know,
(30:28):
weigh as much.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
It is a beautiful dream, give, I've got to admit that,
But unfortunately we run into a problem, which is that
nothing with mass can ever travel at the speed of light.
So even if you're broken apart somehow, your individual particles
would still have to travel below light speed, and to
get them moving even that fast would require a tremendous
amount of time and energy.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
You might be able to.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Move a few particles that quickly, but not all the
particles in a human body, and it's just never gonna happen.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Wow, Mangos, such a buzzkill. But I'm just spitballing here.
But what if you sent a scan of yourself at
the speed of light?
Speaker 1 (31:05):
Right?
Speaker 2 (31:06):
We know information can move that fast, So what if
you measured the exact position of every particle and molecule
in your body and then scent that information across space
like as a beam of light. If there was someone
waiting at your destination, you know, with a big fat
stack of fresh particles. They could theoretically, you know, follow
(31:26):
those instructions and reassemble you from scratch.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Yeah, but then it's a copy, right, Like, it's not
the real you. What about the personalities and the memories
and all the other intangible things that make us who
we are. You wouldn't get that just by copying the
arrangement of your molecules. Not to mention that in this scenario,
the really you doesn't even get to teleport.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
You're stuck at home.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
Whether your jankie clone gets to explore the moons of
Jupiter or wherever the other character is.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
Okay, yeah, yeah, kind of a raw deal for the
real me. Plus, you know, I guess the logistics are
pretty daunting. You'd have to have a body reconstruction machine
waiting at every location you want to visit, which means
that somebody you would have to schlep out there and
you know, the old fashioned way and set up all
the equipment. I hate to say it, but the deeper
we drill down, the more it feels like teleportation just
(32:19):
isn't in the cards for us.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Well, don't throw in the towel just yet, because there's
one last option on the table, and that is portals,
or as some people like to call them, wormholes. So
if we knew how to open a tunnel through space time,
we could simply step through it and be immediately transported
somewhere else.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Oh sure, yeah, wormholes. Because you know this episode hasn't
been confusing enough, let's throw in some more brain melting
theoretical science while we're at it.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
I know, right, And that's why I called in some
backup for this one. I reached out to our resident
particle physicist Daniel Whitson and asked them to give us
the lowdown on this hail mary approach to teleportation. And
here's what do you have to say?
Speaker 3 (33:00):
So the other option is much more like teleportation in
that it actually moves your body, your electrons, those same
ones that make up you. And that's to say, Look,
we're going to shorten the distance between here and there. Right,
we are limited by the speed of light. But what
if we just opened up a portal. What if we
connected space time in not a simple way where like
(33:22):
everything is just next to the thing that's near it
on the lattice, but there's like a weird connection. So
this is a wormhole, and in principle, physics says that
these things are possible, that you can have connections between
here and there, so that the distance between here and
there is effectively zero, and I can just like step
through a portal and boom, I'm at karate practice.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
Wow. Okay, so there you have it.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
Right.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
The key to teleportation, as most of us imagine it,
is wormholes. Pack your bags and you know, point me
to the nearest portal. Right, Well, not so fast.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
There is still a lot we don't know about wormholes,
like if they're even real.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
So we don't know if they exist in the universe naturally,
we don't know if we could make them artificially. Nobody
knows how to do it. There's all sorts of problems
with how you might keep them open, which requires some
kind of pressure or negative mass or negative energy matter,
which nobody knows if it exists at all. We're not
even at the engineering step here. It's like, nobody knows
that this is possible, but the equations that general relativity
(34:22):
suggest that it should be. On the other hand, we
also know general relativity is not the fundamental answer to
how does the universe work? Because it ignores quantum mechanics
and everything else. So it could be that when we
get a better theory, one that merges general relativity and
quantum mechanics, we discover, oh, wormholes aren't actually allowed in
the real theory of the universe. So wormholes are a
(34:44):
fun possibility and they would accomplish what your listener wants,
but we don't know if they actually can be built
in the universe. We've never seen one.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
So even the particle physicists are stumped. That's not a
good sign. But is this something they're working on at least.
Speaker 5 (34:59):
You know?
Speaker 1 (35:00):
I asked Daniel that exact question because I told him
that we have a young listener named Asher who's really
hoping teleportation could become real one way or another.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
And let's just say he threw the ball back into
Ash's court.
Speaker 3 (35:13):
In terms of wormholes, this is something people in theoretical
physics think about, noodle around with. I don't know of
any big research efforts like actively trying to build a wormhole,
but definitely something people think about and sort of hoping
that when we get a theory of quantum gravity it's
still going to be possible. Absolutely huge open questions here,
(35:33):
and somebody young with a still flexible brain might be
the one to crack it all.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
Right, there you go, Asher, teleportation and wormholes could be real.
It's up to you.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
I have a feeling no one is too thrilled with
that answer. I mean, I'm not thrilled with that answer
because I want to teleport and I'm sure Asher does too.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
Yeah. You know, as frustrating as it is that there's
no clear solution right now, at least we know none
of it is settled yet. A while ago, no one
could have dreamed about quantum teleportation, and now we know
that's real. So maybe the next step is figuring out,
you know, how to apply it to more than a
few particles at a time, or connecting the dots to
harness the power of wormholes. And who knows, maybe Asher
(36:16):
or Lily or one of our other listeners will be
the one to do it.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
Yeah, that would be amazing. Well, thanks again to Asher
for suggesting this topic. We love hearing from listeners, So
if you have an idea for the show or a
question you'd like us to explore, call our hotline at
three O two four oh five five nine two five.
That's three O two four oh five five nine two five,
or you can send us an email at High Geniuses
(36:40):
at gmail dot com. That's Hi Geniuses at gmail dot com,
and you can follow us on Instagram and Blue sky
at Part Time Genius. Big thanks to the incredibly talented
David Naegeler for writing us yet another song about physics.
We will link to his music in the show notes.
It is not normally about physics, but uh, but we
are thrilled he covered that topic for us. Our friend
(37:03):
Daniel Whitson's work is all about physics, on the other hand,
and you should definitely check out my conversation with him
about his latest book, Do Alien Speak Physics, which is
a wonderful, wonderful read. Those links are in the show
notes as well. That does it for today. We'll be
back next week with another brand new episode, but in
the meantime from Will, Dylan, Gabe, Mary, and myself, thank
(37:24):
you so much for listening. Part Time Genius is a
production of Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio. It is hosted by my
good pal Will Pearson, who I've known for almost.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
Three decades now. That is insane to me.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
I'm the UTA co host Mangeshatikular aka Mango. Our producer
is Mary Phillips.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
Sandy.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
She's actually a super producer. I'm going to fix that
in post. Our writer is Gabe Lucyer, who I've also
known for like a decade at this point, maybe more.
Dylan Fagan is in the booth. He is always dressed up,
always cheering us on, and always ready to hit record
and then mix the show after he does a great job.
I also want to shout out the executive producers from
(38:17):
iHeart my good Pals Katrina and Norvel and Ali Perry.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
We have social media support from Calypso Rallis. If you
like our videos.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
That is all Calypso's handiwork for more podcasts from Kaleidoscope
and iHeartRadio. Visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or tune
in wherever you listen to your favorite shows. That's it
from us here at Part Time Genius.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
Thank you so much for listening.
You're listening to Part Time Genius, the production of Kaleidoscope
and iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Guess what gave? What's that mango? Did you know that?
Speaker 1 (00:26):
The word teleport was actually in use as far back
as the late nineteenth century, But it was not a
verb back then, it was a noun. A teleport was
a hypothetical device that could carry a person's atoms from
one place to another in the blink of an eye.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
So this was in an old sci fi novel or something.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Surprisingly not so, the word popped up in an Australian
newspaper blurb published in eighteen seventy eight, just a couple
decades after the invention of the telephone. So at the
time the wonder of wire transmissions was still fresh in
people's minds, and to capitalize on that, someone wrote this
tongue in cheek article heralding the next technological breakthrough. The
(01:06):
anonymous writer claimed to have read in a Bombay newspaper
that scientists in India had successfully transported both a dog
and a human boy Adam for Adam, through a wire
and then reassembled them on the other end.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Wow. Well, I feel like the question everyone's asking is
did they go through together or separately.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
I love where your head's at, and the answer is
both kind of. According to the article quote, a dog
was placed on the metal disc and a powerful current
was applied to it. After a while, the animal disappeared
and was found at the other end of the wire,
contentedly gnawing a bone, just as it was doing before
it was transported. Afterwards, a boy was experimented upon, and
(01:52):
the same effect was observed as with the dog. It
was then attempted to send the boy and the dog
along the wire at once, but by an unfortunate accident,
the infinitesimal atoms of the boy and those of the
dog got mixed in transit, and the result was that
they both looked like dreadfully unnatural creatures.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
No, are you sure that's from a newspaper, because that
is also beat for beat what happens in those fly movies,
except you know, with Jeff Goldbloom and house Fly and
like a million times more. Plus it's disgusting.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
So gross, and probably the grossest take on teleportation in
any of science fiction. But yeah, yeah, this ridiculous story
got picked up by newspapers across Australia, New Zealand, the
US as well. And the really funny part is that,
even after describing the freak accident with the boy and
the dog, the writer went on to boast that the
teleport would be able to send people from India to
(02:46):
England in a matter of minutes, with just a slight
chance of passengers turning into horrible genetic mutants.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Sad to say, but I bet there's at least a
few commuters out there who'd be willing to chance it anyway.
But you know, I've got to say, Mango, I'm starting
to think this teleport experiment may not have actually happened. Yeah,
I think you're right now. Some of the papers that.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Ran the story indicated that the claims were likely made up,
And since there are no dog boy hybrids running around Mumbai,
at least none that I've seen, it is safe to
say that the teleport was just a big hoax. Now,
the real question is whether it could ever be more
than that. In other words, is teleportation actually possible? And
(03:29):
if so, how close are we to being able to
do it? And that's what we're going to spend this
episode trying to figure out.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
So let's dive in.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Hey there, podcast listeners, Welcome to part time genius. I'm
Mongish particular, and today I am joined by my friend
and fellow sci fi fan Gabe lucy A.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Now Will's Adams got a little mixed up in the teleporter,
so most of them couldn't be here get that stor today.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
But over there in the booth is our friend and
producer Dylan Fagan, who's wearing one of his signature on
them T shirts. This one says my other car is
a teleportation chamber, which I think actually raises more questions
than it does answers.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Yeah, you mean, like, why would anyone put that on
a T shirt instead of a bumper sticker? Exactly? We
don't even know what his first car.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Is, But the bigger question is who.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Needs a car if you can teleport?
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Right? Personally, I don't think I'd ever get behind the
wheel again. I mean, for me, I'm recording this from
Munich today. I took a flight to Amsterdam, and then
a flight to Munich and then a bus ride to
this lovely town where this conference is being held. But honestly,
I'm so sleep deprived and I would have loved to
(05:02):
have just teleported here.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Yeah right, I feel like you are the prime candidate
for this the target target customer. Yeah, I would definitely
use a teleportation for travel obviously if it were an option,
but you know, working from home, I don't take that
many big trips. I'm not a jet setter like you,
so for me it would it would probably just be,
(05:24):
you know, teleporting directly into my reserved seat of the movies,
like just before the credits start, you know. But I
like that. It's it feels like a real time saver,
right right, very practical. Anyway, the idea for today's episode
came from a listener named Asher, who listens to the
show with his dad and his sister Lily, who is
also a big fan, and he had one very simple
(05:47):
question for us, Mango, how close are we to being
able to teleport? And we didn't know the answer, so
we decided to figure it out. That is so awesome.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
I love that Asher and his family listen, and I'm
so happy to be dug into this question.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Me too. But before we get into the science of teleportation,
I want to talk a little more about the history
of the concept and you know, the impact that it's
had on our imaginations. Now, the idea of a person
or object traveling instantaneously from one point to another has
been around for hundreds, if not thousands of years, and
(06:22):
while it's impossible to know what gave rise to it,
back in the day, teleportation wasn't thought about in terms
of science and technology. It was something that could only
conceivably happen through the use of magic, and in fact,
one of the oldest and most famous magic tricks in
the world the Cups and Balls illusion. It's built entirely
on the concept of teleportation. Known examples data as far
(06:46):
back as ancient Greece and Rome in the year three BCE,
and some historians think it goes back even further to
ancient Egypt. So I'm sure you've seen this trick, but
it's the one where the magician places a ball or
in the ancient Greek's case, pebble, under one of three cups.
Then they rearrange the cups and invite a volunteer to
(07:07):
choose which one the ball is under, and the volunteer
points to what should be the correct cup, only to
find out that the ball has mysteriously jumped and is
now under a completely different cup. So voila the magic
of teleportation.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
You know, I love the cup and Ball trick. I
feel like it's just delightful sleight of hand. I had
no idea it was that old. That's crazy, And obviously
it is really fun to watch, unless someone's asking you
to bet money on it, and then it's just such
a ripoff, right. It feels like you can never get
it right in those cases.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Uh huh. That's spoken with a suspicious level of familiarity,
But you are right, yeah, absolutely. Popular variations of the
trick include several infamous street cons, including shell games and
three Card Monty, but those depend less on the illusion
of teleportation. They do like on the player's own delusion.
(08:02):
You know that the whole thing isn't rigged, which it
definitely is.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Well, it may be easy to debunk the Cup and
Ball's trick and all his crooked cousins, but there are
some centuries old folk tales and rumors of teleportation that
are hard to explain. For example, have you ever heard
the legend of the transported Soldier?
Speaker 2 (08:21):
No, but I very much want to. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
So there's this long running story about a Spanish soldier,
and this is in the sixteenth century, who fell asleep
at the Philippines and supposedly woke up in Mexico just
a few seconds later. Now, it would have taken him
about two months to make the nine thousand mile journey
by boat, but according to him, he somehow made the
trip in a blink of an eye.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Okay, so I actually think I can explain this one
pretty easily. You ready for this, he was lying, Oh, that's.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Just a hunch.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
A very different typ of science than I was expecting
from that one. But I mean, normally I would agree,
But in this case, the soldier and his name was
Gil Perez, he actually wasn't the only witness. So, as
the story goes, the teleportation happened on the evening of
October twenty fourth, fifteen ninety three. Perez was stationed in Manila,
and this was during the early years a Spanish rule
(09:16):
in the Philippines, and he was stressed out and exhausted
because the Spanish governor had just been assassinated and at
the time there was no clear order of succession. So
that night he dozed off at his post for a
few minutes, and when he opened his eyes he found
himself somewhere completely different. The Palace was nowhere in sight,
and when he asked a bystander where he was. He
(09:37):
was told he was in Mexico City. Perez was understandably baffled,
but he wasn't the only one. When some passeng guards
spotted this frantic guy wearing a Manila uniform, they brought
him in for questioning, and while Perez explained the situation
as best he could, the local authorities were not buying it.
They assumed he was a Spanish soldier who had abandoned
(09:58):
his post, so they threw him in jail.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
For geez, that is gotta be one of the worst
possible ways to wake up from a cat nap, like
just get tossed in prison. But I thought you said
there were other people who vouched for his story. Doesn't
sound like anyone in Mexico believed.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Him so, not at first, but Perez continued to plead
his innocence from his jail cell. He told the guards
about recent events in the Philippines, including how the governor
general had just been assassinated.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Now, unfortunately, the.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Guards had no way to corroborate his claim. News traveled
really slowly back then, right, and the next Spanish ship
from the Philippines wasn't due to arrive for several months. Now,
it's unclear exactly how long Perez spent in prison. Some
sources claim it was two months, others say it was
over a year. But whatever the case, a Spanish galleon
(10:46):
eventually arrived in Mexico from Manila, and when the soldiers
on board reported that the Governor General had been killed,
local officials sent for their strange captive. Not only did
the visiting soldiers confirm every single detail of press as
a story, some of them even recognized him as their
former comrade, which is insane. Right, there was still no
explanation for how he'd wound up in Mexico, but now
(11:08):
his identity was actually verified, So he was released from
prison and allowed to sail back on the next shift
to Manila.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Oh and you just know, the whole way Perez was
bragging about, you know, how much faster it was to teleport.
He probably drove the crew crazy, but I'm sure. But
all right, obviously, the big question here is whether any
of this actually happened. My vote is still no, right,
But is there any proof? No?
Speaker 1 (11:36):
I mean, it is true that the Governor General in
Manila was assassinated that year, and his death led to
confusion over the chain of command. But yeah, beyond that,
there aren't many details to go on. The legend of
the teleporting Spanish soldier didn't appear in print until sixteen
ninety eight, and that was a little over a century
after it supposedly happened. It was published by a Spanish
(11:57):
clergyman and historian in a book called Conquests of the
Philippine Islands, and the count was said to be compiled
from interviews with witnesses who had met Perez firsthand, though
you know, of course, there's no way to verify that now.
From there, though, the legend was recounted in dozens of
books and short stories, including one by Washington Irving, who
you know is the famous American author who wrote Sleepy
(12:20):
Hollow Course. In most versions of the tale, Perez experiences
what you might call spontaneous teleportation, but a more modern
theory is that he slipped into a fugue state, experienced
temporary amnesia while traveling to Mexico, and then woke up
with no idea of how he got there or how
much time had passed. And I guess that's the more
plausible but certainly the less fun explanation.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Well, speaking of fun. After we take a quick break,
I'm going to tell you a little bit more about
spontaneous teleportation, which isn't real, and quantum teleportation, which is real.
And let's just say there's a musical number involved, so
don't go anywhere.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Welcome back to Part Time Genius, where we're talking teleporting.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Now, a quick reminder that.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
We'd love it if you subscribe to the show on
your favorite podcast app. You can leave us a nice
rating and review. We won't stop you from doing any
of that. And if you're enjoying this episode, em it
over to a friend. So, okay, Gabe, talk to me
about spontaneous teleportation, because you said those words and I
have no idea what they mean, but it sounds pretty crazy.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Yeah, well, it's pretty much what happened to the teleporting Soldier.
And it's obviously a very different concept from you know,
the orderly, intentional kind of teleportation, like when someone asks
to be beamed up on Star Trek. But as far
as I can tell, this weirder spontaneous type of teleportation
what us the first one to gain ground in the
(14:01):
public consciousness. The person widely credited for the introduction is
paranormal enthusiast and author Charles Fort. In nineteen thirty one,
he released a bizarre non fiction book called Low, in
which he argued that various high profile missing person cases
and other strange occurrences like frogs and fish falling out
(14:23):
of the sky were proof of a cosmic joker. That's
what he called it. You know, this force that would
spontaneously teleport people and animals for its own amusement.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
So anytime a soaka is missing in a dryer, you know,
or I can't find my car keys, that is I
guess a cosmic joker striking again.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Absolutely, So I am curious.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Though the eighteen seventy eight article I mentioned at the
top of the show coined the noun teleport, So is
Charles fourth the one who came up with the full
term teleportation?
Speaker 2 (14:59):
As far as I can tell, he did. Yeah, And
while laying out the aim of his book, Fort wrote quote,
I shall specialize upon indications that there exists a transportory
force that I shall call teleportation. I shall be accused
of having assembled lies, yarns, hoaxes, and superstitions. To some
(15:19):
degree I think so myself. To some degree I do not.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
That is so mysterious, and I love that he just
can't commit to whether he himself is is assembling lies
and yarns and hoaxes.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Right, but you said.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Some people were actually swayed by h by this anyway.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
I mean, I don't know how much stock people put
in the whole cosmic joker theory, but you know, the
book did get a rave review in the New York
Times and quickly sold through two printings, and from that
point on, teleportation, both the word and the concept became
much more prevalent.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
It is so funny to me that these early uses
of the word, though, like that they came from sources
that were essentially nonfiction, right. Like, I'm not saying the
readers believe these accounts, but they seem to at least
found them plausible. Like it's not sci fi that that
in the way that people are talking about this.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Right, Yeah, so let's play Devil's Advocate. You know, you
said that the article about the teleport came out in
the wake of the telephone, right, so I could imagine
someone hearing that story and thinking, Hey, if science did
something as seemingly impossible as sending a person's voice over
a wire, then why not the entire person. That's interesting.
(16:33):
It probably just seemed like, you know, a difference of degrees,
first the telegraph, then the telephone, and now the teleport.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
And I guess that's honestly how a lot of us
still think of teleportation, right, Like nowadays, we're mostly familiar
with the concept through sci fi stories and also fantasy.
Harry Potter certainly essentially teleports, but that hasn't stopped us
from assuming the technology.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Will actually exist, right.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
And that's probably because we've watched so many futuristic ideas
graduate from science fiction to actual science over the last century.
You think about like space shuttles or video watches or
three D printing or the Internet. You know, all these
things show up on the Jetsons and sci fi and whatever,
Like why not teleportation too?
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Well, I'm that first article you talked about made a
pretty great case for why not teleportation? Like it's nice
to be entirely human and not part dog. But I
know what you mean, Like, on some level we figure
that teleportation must be something that scientists are actively working
toward and you know, will eventually figure out one day.
(17:38):
But the reality is that's probably not the case, or
at least not in the way most of us think.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Is this the part where you let us all down
by explaining, pasim that actual teleportation isn't real and never
will actually be.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Not exactly. It's more like the part where I try
to break down some really dense scientific concepts in a
way that's hopefully both accurate and entertaining. So you are
going to break our hearts, great, so go for it.
Well yeah, okay, so when most of us hear the
word teleporting, we think of physical matter being atomized and
(18:15):
transferred as energy from one point to another, without actually
traveling the physical distance between those points. Right, so let's
call this original flavor teleportation. Sounds delicious, right, Well, the
trouble is nobody's actually tasted it. You see it advertised
all over the place, but no stores carry it and
(18:35):
no one has the recipe. So original flavor is kind
of a tease it is, yes, But now imagine there's
a new, totally different flavor called quantum teleportation, and instead
of zapping matter from point to point, quantum teleportation deals
with the transfer of information.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
I feel like quantum sounds like much better branding, right,
It sounds so much cooler than But if I'm being honest,
teleporting information doesn't sound nearly as fun as teleporting matter,
like I want to zap myself places, or especially when
I was a kid, I wanted to send my sister
other places.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Sure, yeah, okay, so maybe it's not as tasty a flavor,
but it is a more satisfying one in my opinion,
because quantum teleportation is a flavor we can make. It's
something we can actually do right now. So how does
this work exactly? Well, it's not the easiest concept to understand,
but it's basically the transfer of quantum information between two
(19:34):
physically separate yet quantumly entangled entities.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
I feel like that doesn't clarify a whole lot for me,
and probably not for our listeners either. What quantum information
quantum entanglement? So far, this sounds like, you know, just
as science fiction me as original flavor teleportation.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
All right, fair enough, all right, So let's take it
slow for starters. Quantum information is related to quantum states,
which are all the potential properties of a tiny discrete
system like an electron or an atom. So we're not
talking about definite values like an electron's fixed location in space.
We're talking about uncertainties, all the possible places it could be,
(20:20):
along with other properties like its energy, it's spin, or momentum.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
But wouldn't that change over time, Like if an electron
moves to a new position or it interacts with another electron,
wouldn't that create like a whole new set of possibilities?
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Right? Yeah, And that's what quantum mechanics is concerned with,
studying how quantum states evolve and change and are measured
over time. But your question actually hits on the really
tricky thing about quantum states, which is that whenever you
measure one, it collapses. A quantum system exists as many
possibilities at once. The electron is spinning this way and
(20:59):
it's spinning that way, but the act of measurement basically
forces the system to choose and settle into a single
definite state. So the electron is only spinning this way.
Got it.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
So it's basically like Schrodinger's cat, right, Like when the
lid of the boxes closed, the cat is both live
and dead simultaneously, but when you open it, the cat
is either one way or the other exactly.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
And since it's hypothetical, let's say the cat's alive.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Yeah, we are a whole bunch of cat lovers on
this podcast, So I think that makes a lot of sense,
except for.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Will He could go either way on that. Well he's
not here today.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
So quantum states are weird and confusing. I feel like
we got to that fit. But what was the other
phrase that you use? Quantum entanglement.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Yeah, that's even weirder, but also hopefully a little more intuitive.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
So.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
According to space dot com, quantum entanglement is when two
sub atomic particles become linked in such a way that
their properties remain connected no no matter how far apart
they are. So, for example, the basic unit of quantum
information is a quantum bit or cubit. So say you
mingle two particles together and the cubits that determine their
(22:12):
directions become entangled. Now, even if you moved one of
those particles to the opposite end of the universe, those
cubits would still be linked together on a quantum level.
And that means that if one of those particles undergoes
a change, Let's say you bump it and it starts
pointing north, then the other linked particle way on the
(22:32):
other side of the universe will instantaneously point north. Two,
even if they're separated by billions of light years, Altering
one entangled particle will change the characteristics of its twin.
That's really cool. Yeah, And so quantum physicists sometimes explain
this with an analogy they call the Alice and Bob approach.
(22:53):
And in this framework, there are two particles Alice particle
A and her ex boyfriend Bob particle B. And even
though they've you know, gone their separate ways, there's a
part of themselves they still share together. They're entangled cubits,
and changes to one of them can change the other.
I mean that is kind of sweet. But also it
(23:14):
feels like they need therapy.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
So do we know how this kind of spooky interaction happens? Like,
how is it that they end up pointing in the
same direction?
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Yeah, we do not know. But spooky is an apt
description because when this phenomenon was first being theorized, Albert
Einstein famously dismissed it, and he did so with a
German phrase that translates to spooky action at a distance.
He thought the whole idea was laughable because you know,
it flies in the face of classical physics.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
That's really fascinating, But you said quantum teleportation is already happening, right,
So was Einstein.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Wrong on that one? He was? Yeah, And you know,
in recent years, researchers have been able to demonstrate quantum
teleportation at aggressively greater distances. We haven't sent any entangled
cubits to the far side of the universe yet, but
we have teleported quantum information between two clouds of gas
across the bottom of the Danube River, and even from
(24:14):
Earth to a satellite in space. And while it's hard
to imagine many practical uses for this kind of technology,
it could allow quantum computers to transmit sensitive information much
faster and more securely than they ever could through traditional methods.
That is really cool. So could this replace Wi Fi?
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Like, I know WiFi has gotten pretty fast, but like,
if quantum teleportation is instantaneous, it feels like that would
be even better.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Yeah, but you know, let's not get ahead of ourselves,
because remember, you have to measure something to determine its
quantum state. So if I manipulate an entangled particle to
make it point north, I then have to perform a
specific mathematical measurement to make sure I achieve my goal
and not only that, I have to repeat that same
measurement on the other entangled particle, you know, to confirm
(25:02):
that it's also now pointing north. So in other words,
you still have to pass along directions on how to
perform that necessary measurement, which you would have to do
through normal means like text or email. Now I know
I've thrown a lot of heavy science at you, just now, mango,
So to light the mood, I have a surprise. Mary
and I reached out to our old pal David Nageler,
(25:25):
and we said, hey, David, could you write us a
song that explains quantum teleportation? And you know it's also
really catchy And David was like, no problem. So he
sent us this tune about two star crossed particles and
they're entangled cubits. It's called Sending information, and I hope
you love it as much as I do.
Speaker 4 (25:57):
Sending in bomage, sending information, I used to call you
mine something information where not a twine?
Speaker 2 (26:13):
So the prove mald is true.
Speaker 4 (26:16):
Something infirmation, something infirmbation.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
No one on where's the ship sending information?
Speaker 5 (26:28):
And I've never I'll be something information far across the land.
Speaker 4 (26:38):
Something information. You may not understand something information.
Speaker 5 (26:44):
Spooky action ramified something information the metal where you are.
This is a complex mathematical process that's very hard to comprehend.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
So hold on tight, baby of you. Then value the
sign of zero or a one for its quantum.
Speaker 5 (27:10):
Stale light zero, And if I'm not afraid I try,
I'll ride your name across the sky and ring a
tear to mine malcular.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
Fits for you, my dear.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
Sending infombation.
Speaker 5 (27:30):
Maybe that will make it clean.
Speaker 4 (27:33):
Sending infombation this message that I send, Sending infomdation, sending.
Speaker 5 (27:43):
Infomat you transfer milasia, sending infomba.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
What's mine is yours?
Speaker 5 (27:50):
Not mine?
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Normal sending information when others comment came in, math is
through the send. I don't know about you, but that
(28:26):
is hands down the most emotional song I've eard about
two quantum particles. I've got a feeling those crazy kids
are gonna be all right.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
What do you think? Yeah, he absolutely nailed a sign, man.
I mean, quantum teleportation still sounds insane to me. But
if he keeps Alice and Bob together, I am all
for it. But I've got to say, Gabe, I am
not quite ready to let go of the dream of
original flavored teleportation. We have to take a quick break,
but when we come back, I'll tell you a little
(28:56):
bit about one last possibility for actually teleporting Matt and
it involves wormholes. So stay tuned. Welcome back to part
(29:20):
time Genius. Okay, Gabe. So, the big question of this
episode is how close are we to making teleportation a reality?
Speaker 2 (29:27):
And so far the answer seems.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
To be not even remotely close unless you count quantum teleportation,
which most people probably don't. So one thing we haven't
discussed is why teleportation feels so unlikely Now, the major
hurdle turns out to be the impossibility of instantaneous travel,
which goes back to that annoying universal speed limit, the
(29:49):
speed of light. Now, whether you're dealing with information, or
solid matter, or even a natural force like gravity, the
fastest that anything can travel in our universe is the
speed of li light. And while three hundred million meters
per second is still pretty fast, it is a far
cry from instant.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Yeah, it's it's hard to argue with a universal law,
but you know that means speed of light teleportation is
still on the table, right. I'm imagining something like a
tractor beam that could push or pull your body at
the speed of light, and maybe it could even break
you down into sub atomic particles like the transporter on
Star Trek, you know, so that you wouldn't you know,
(30:28):
weigh as much.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
It is a beautiful dream, give, I've got to admit that,
But unfortunately we run into a problem, which is that
nothing with mass can ever travel at the speed of light.
So even if you're broken apart somehow, your individual particles
would still have to travel below light speed, and to
get them moving even that fast would require a tremendous
amount of time and energy.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
You might be able to.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Move a few particles that quickly, but not all the
particles in a human body, and it's just never gonna happen.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Wow, Mangos, such a buzzkill. But I'm just spitballing here.
But what if you sent a scan of yourself at
the speed of light?
Speaker 1 (31:05):
Right?
Speaker 2 (31:06):
We know information can move that fast, So what if
you measured the exact position of every particle and molecule
in your body and then scent that information across space
like as a beam of light. If there was someone
waiting at your destination, you know, with a big fat
stack of fresh particles. They could theoretically, you know, follow
(31:26):
those instructions and reassemble you from scratch.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Yeah, but then it's a copy, right, Like, it's not
the real you. What about the personalities and the memories
and all the other intangible things that make us who
we are. You wouldn't get that just by copying the
arrangement of your molecules. Not to mention that in this scenario,
the really you doesn't even get to teleport.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
You're stuck at home.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
Whether your jankie clone gets to explore the moons of
Jupiter or wherever the other character is.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
Okay, yeah, yeah, kind of a raw deal for the
real me. Plus, you know, I guess the logistics are
pretty daunting. You'd have to have a body reconstruction machine
waiting at every location you want to visit, which means
that somebody you would have to schlep out there and
you know, the old fashioned way and set up all
the equipment. I hate to say it, but the deeper
we drill down, the more it feels like teleportation just
(32:19):
isn't in the cards for us.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Well, don't throw in the towel just yet, because there's
one last option on the table, and that is portals,
or as some people like to call them, wormholes. So
if we knew how to open a tunnel through space time,
we could simply step through it and be immediately transported
somewhere else.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Oh sure, yeah, wormholes. Because you know this episode hasn't
been confusing enough, let's throw in some more brain melting
theoretical science while we're at it.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
I know, right, And that's why I called in some
backup for this one. I reached out to our resident
particle physicist Daniel Whitson and asked them to give us
the lowdown on this hail mary approach to teleportation. And
here's what do you have to say?
Speaker 3 (33:00):
So the other option is much more like teleportation in
that it actually moves your body, your electrons, those same
ones that make up you. And that's to say, Look,
we're going to shorten the distance between here and there. Right,
we are limited by the speed of light. But what
if we just opened up a portal. What if we
connected space time in not a simple way where like
(33:22):
everything is just next to the thing that's near it
on the lattice, but there's like a weird connection. So
this is a wormhole, and in principle, physics says that
these things are possible, that you can have connections between
here and there, so that the distance between here and
there is effectively zero, and I can just like step
through a portal and boom, I'm at karate practice.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
Wow. Okay, so there you have it.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
Right.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
The key to teleportation, as most of us imagine it,
is wormholes. Pack your bags and you know, point me
to the nearest portal. Right, Well, not so fast.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
There is still a lot we don't know about wormholes,
like if they're even real.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
So we don't know if they exist in the universe naturally,
we don't know if we could make them artificially. Nobody
knows how to do it. There's all sorts of problems
with how you might keep them open, which requires some
kind of pressure or negative mass or negative energy matter,
which nobody knows if it exists at all. We're not
even at the engineering step here. It's like, nobody knows
that this is possible, but the equations that general relativity
(34:22):
suggest that it should be. On the other hand, we
also know general relativity is not the fundamental answer to
how does the universe work? Because it ignores quantum mechanics
and everything else. So it could be that when we
get a better theory, one that merges general relativity and
quantum mechanics, we discover, oh, wormholes aren't actually allowed in
the real theory of the universe. So wormholes are a
(34:44):
fun possibility and they would accomplish what your listener wants,
but we don't know if they actually can be built
in the universe. We've never seen one.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
So even the particle physicists are stumped. That's not a
good sign. But is this something they're working on at least.
Speaker 5 (34:59):
You know?
Speaker 1 (35:00):
I asked Daniel that exact question because I told him
that we have a young listener named Asher who's really
hoping teleportation could become real one way or another.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
And let's just say he threw the ball back into
Ash's court.
Speaker 3 (35:13):
In terms of wormholes, this is something people in theoretical
physics think about, noodle around with. I don't know of
any big research efforts like actively trying to build a wormhole,
but definitely something people think about and sort of hoping
that when we get a theory of quantum gravity it's
still going to be possible. Absolutely huge open questions here,
(35:33):
and somebody young with a still flexible brain might be
the one to crack it all.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
Right, there you go, Asher, teleportation and wormholes could be real.
It's up to you.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
I have a feeling no one is too thrilled with
that answer. I mean, I'm not thrilled with that answer
because I want to teleport and I'm sure Asher does too.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
Yeah. You know, as frustrating as it is that there's
no clear solution right now, at least we know none
of it is settled yet. A while ago, no one
could have dreamed about quantum teleportation, and now we know
that's real. So maybe the next step is figuring out,
you know, how to apply it to more than a
few particles at a time, or connecting the dots to
harness the power of wormholes. And who knows, maybe Asher
(36:16):
or Lily or one of our other listeners will be
the one to do it.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
Yeah, that would be amazing. Well, thanks again to Asher
for suggesting this topic. We love hearing from listeners, So
if you have an idea for the show or a
question you'd like us to explore, call our hotline at
three O two four oh five five nine two five.
That's three O two four oh five five nine two five,
or you can send us an email at High Geniuses
(36:40):
at gmail dot com. That's Hi Geniuses at gmail dot com,
and you can follow us on Instagram and Blue sky
at Part Time Genius. Big thanks to the incredibly talented
David Naegeler for writing us yet another song about physics.
We will link to his music in the show notes.
It is not normally about physics, but uh, but we
are thrilled he covered that topic for us. Our friend
(37:03):
Daniel Whitson's work is all about physics, on the other hand,
and you should definitely check out my conversation with him
about his latest book, Do Alien Speak Physics, which is
a wonderful, wonderful read. Those links are in the show
notes as well. That does it for today. We'll be
back next week with another brand new episode, but in
the meantime from Will, Dylan, Gabe, Mary, and myself, thank
(37:24):
you so much for listening. Part Time Genius is a
production of Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio. It is hosted by my
good pal Will Pearson, who I've known for almost.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
Three decades now. That is insane to me.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
I'm the UTA co host Mangeshatikular aka Mango. Our producer
is Mary Phillips.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
Sandy.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
She's actually a super producer. I'm going to fix that
in post. Our writer is Gabe Lucyer, who I've also
known for like a decade at this point, maybe more.
Dylan Fagan is in the booth. He is always dressed up,
always cheering us on, and always ready to hit record
and then mix the show after he does a great job.
I also want to shout out the executive producers from
(38:17):
iHeart my good Pals Katrina and Norvel and Ali Perry.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
We have social media support from Calypso Rallis. If you
like our videos.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
That is all Calypso's handiwork for more podcasts from Kaleidoscope
and iHeartRadio. Visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or tune
in wherever you listen to your favorite shows. That's it
from us here at Part Time Genius.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
Thank you so much for listening.
Part-Time Genius News
Hosts And Creators
Will Pearson
Mangesh Hattikudur
Popular Podcasts
Two Guys, Five Rings: Matt, Bowen & The Olympics
Two Guys (Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers). Five Rings (you know, from the Olympics logo). One essential podcast for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. Bowen Yang (SNL, Wicked) and Matt Rogers (Palm Royale, No Good Deed) of Las Culturistas are back for a second season of Two Guys, Five Rings, a collaboration with NBC Sports and iHeartRadio. In this 15-episode event, Bowen and Matt discuss the top storylines, obsess over Italian culture, and find out what really goes on in the Olympic Village.
iHeartOlympics: The Latest
Listen to the latest news from the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Milan Cortina Winter Olympics
The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina are here and have everyone talking. iHeartPodcasts is buzzing with content in honor of the XXV Winter Olympics We’re bringing you episodes from a variety of iHeartPodcast shows to help you keep up with the action. Follow Milan Cortina Winter Olympics so you don’t miss any coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics, and if you like what you hear, be sure to follow each Podcast in the feed for more great content from iHeartPodcasts.