Mon, Nov 08, 2004
Beam Me Up, Scotty!
If you thought you heard a laugh of derision last week, you were
probably listening to physicists and financial watchdogs keeping an
eye on the military. The reason? An 88-page report posted by the
Federation of American Scientists on its website. In short, the
report has generated a collective "PSHAW!" from serious scientists
in this country.
What raises the hackles on scientists' necks are lines like
these, taken directly from the study:
These concepts are based on the existence of parallel
universes/spaces and/or extra space
dimensions. The theoretical and experimental work that has been
done to develop these concepts is
reviewed, and a recommendation for further research is made.
The report looks at three different kinds of teleportation:
- Quantum teleportation,
which changes the characteristics but not the location of
sub-atomic particles over great distances
- Wormholes, where the report's author, Eric Davis, suggests
intense gravity can literally rip open "entrances to distant
locales."
- Psychokinesis -- psychic manipulation of the physical (sort of
like Uri Geller's spoon bending)
"It is in large part crackpot physics," said physicist Lawrence
Krauss of Case Western Reserve University, in an interview with USA
Today. He's the author of "The Physics of Star Trek," a book
detailing the physical limits that prevent teleportation. He
describes the Air Force report as "some things adapted from
reasonable theoretical studies, and other things from nonsensical
ones."
The study cost the Air Force $25,000. In it, Davis recommends
the government spend another $7.5 million for further
investigation. But FAS scientists maintain the only teleportation
that will result from that expenditure will the disappearance of
taxpayer money and the simultaneous appearance of said money in the
researcher's wallet.
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