Company claims to have invented personal teleporter

Something just begging to be debunked....?

http://www.qvtd.com/

The website claims to have invented the worlds first practical teleporter, and can be purchased for only 40.3 million dollars. Their patent application appears to be real, but mistakes on their page ("molecules are combined to make elements and elements are combined to make cells, etc." for example), as well as the nature of the claims themselves and lack of proof seems to be very skeptical.

What are your thoughts?

[Artemis]

I honestly don't have the knowledge to tell if something is real or not. All I can say is after watching the Prestige, you'd never get me to use one of those things.

[Brad from Georgia]

Originally Posted by Artemis

I honestly don't have the knowledge to tell if something is real or not. All I can say is after watching the Prestige, you'd never get me to use one of those things.

I'm older than you, so I was thinkin' The Fly.

Brad "the inductor takes the current from the capacitor and bzzz bzzzz bzzzz bzzzz...." from Georgia

[Eddylizard]

As the area code for their phone (206 Seattle) is over 3,000 miles from the postal address* I'm guessing they've actually done it - how else would they answer the phones?

*Not that there appears to be a street called 'Quantum Vision Drive' in Bangor Maine.

206-338-3723 seems to have been a now defunct bullletin board for Vietnam vets to hook up on.

207 However is the area code for Bangor, but with a $40 million + contract riding on it, I wouldn't screw up the area code on the contact us page. 207-338-3723 is a residential number in Belfast, about 40 miles away.

My analysis - an internet jape, and not a very good one. If Quantum Vision want to challenge that, then they can feel free to beam me over to have a look at their kit.

[Dropbear]

Originally Posted by Eddylizard

As the area code for their phone (206 Seattle) is over 3,000 miles from the postal address* I'm guessing they've actually done it - how else would they answer the phones?

This is the great thing about teleporters etc that is rarely followed up by science fiction writers* - the idea of transportation for simple uses. Things like being able to have an extra room, or all north/south facing rooms - possibly in another country or even another planet. Or having your personal office comprise two or more areas - one or more international and one in your own country and maybe one in a rural area for the view.

The thing about teleporter technology that convices me that the site is fake is first and foremost the fact they would beselling it so cheaply. 40.3 million? Ha! Try Billion at least. (Then there's also the fact that a practical personal teleporter is about as far technologically from us as we are from Og dragging the burning stick back to the cave for some light and charcoal for cave drawings.)

Dropbear

*John Barnes was an exception

[hambubba]

Throwing the flag:

Currently, QVTD travel is the fastest mode of transportation known to man with a
speed of 166,892,000 miles per second, just under the speed of light. The
maximum distance limit, if any, has yet to be discovered

[Paveman]

Originally Posted by hambubba

Throwing the flag:

I'm with you. Everybody knows jaunting is much faster.

[hambubba]

Erm, I was noting that for anyone who is interested in hyping a fast mode of transportation, that they have exceeded the speed of light by nearly 1,000 times.

[Paveman]

Originally Posted by hambubba

Erm, I was noting that for anyone who is interested in hyping a fast mode of transportation, that they have exceeded the speed of light by nearly 1,000 times.

Hmm... Didn't even attempt to check the speed.
My intent was just humor.

[Dropbear]

Originally Posted by hambubba

Erm, I was noting that for anyone who is interested in hyping a fast mode of transportation, that they have exceeded the speed of light by nearly 1,000 times.

They haven't exceeded the speed of light though, as they say the transporter travel is just under the speed of light. They simply don't know what the speed of light is. Sort of curious for people involved in quantum engineering.

Dropbear

[Eddylizard]

I'm not even sure the patent is theirs, given as the Patent Holder is someone in Puerto Rico. I think they are just ribbing on it. Which seems reaasonable

The basis for this invention is an event, referring to FIG. 1, occurring on May 2, 2004, in which the inventor ("he") personally experienced a full-body teleportation while walking to the bus stop (A) along a road (B) that runs perpendicular to the nearby commercial airport runways where planes are landing. There is a wide iron grating (D) for water drainage that crosses the road at the center of the bus stop. The grating width is such that one has to make a concerted effort to jump across it in order to get from one side to the other. Approximately 50 meters from the iron grating, he (E) felt a vertical wave (F), similar to a flag waving in the breeze, traveling down the street toward the bus stop. The wave velocity was about 1 meter per second, which was slightly faster than his walking speed. In the next instance, he (G) found himself down the street near the corner of the next block. Realizing that he had passed the bus stop, he turned around to see the iron grating approximately 50 meters up the street in back of him. Because there was no recollection of having jumped across the iron grating nor of having passed the bus stop's yellow marker line, he realized that he had been teleported a distance of 100 meters while moving along with the traveling wave. It was obvious that the wave was pulsed because the front edge overtook the inventor, moved with him momentarily, and then the back edge of wave left him as it moved on down the street. While contemplating this sequence of events, he then looked up and saw in a span of a few seconds a twin-turboprop airplane (C) in the distance crossing above the road while making a shallow descent in order to land at the airport.

[Dondi]

While the idea of transporters may have been around before the 1960s (as in the original movie "The Fly", the transporter concept owes it's popularity to the TV series Star Trek. What is interesting is that the original plan was to have the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise fly the starship down to the planet every week, however with the production budget being limited, a more economical method had to be devised to transport the crew to the planet's surface:

"According to The Making of Star Trek, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry's original plan did not include transporters, instead calling for characters to land the starship itself. However, this would have required unfeasible and unaffordable sets and model filming; transporters were devised as a less expensive alternative. Transporters first appear in the original pilot episode "The Cage". The transporter special effect, before being done using computer animation, was created by mixing glitter with water, then agitating the solution."
Source: Wiki

I'm not impress with QVTD's website at all. There's nothing but a white flash on the video and the links page is dubiously untechnical:

Wikipedia - Quantum Mechanics
Wikipedia - Quantum Teleportation
U.S. Air Force Teleportation Physics Study (.pdf)
IBM Article on Teleportation
United States Patent Office
HowStuffWorks.com


HowStuffWorks.com? What a great source.

[Lainie]

Originally Posted by Artemis

All I can say is after watching the Prestige, you'd never get me to use one of those things.

Originally Posted by Brad from Georgia

I'm older than you, so I was thinkin' The Fly.

Galaxy Quest

"But the creature is inside out. . . . (BANG). . . .and it exploded."

[FullMetal]

I have to ask this, but has anyone considered Viral Marketing?
I think it is, part of my reasoning is this FAQ

Doesn't teleporting interfere with DNA production?

There is some controversy on that issue. In one instance, a slight genetic mutation
did occur in a test subject, but it has never been shown to have had any adverse
effects. So far, QVTD travel has proven to be completely safe for living beings

possibly a remake of the fly? or a sequel?

[Bryan With a 'Y']

Originally Posted by FullMetal

I have to ask this, but has anyone considered Viral Marketing?

I was wondering that very thing...
Long shot - I understand Watchmen is actually filming now. Dr. Manhattan, perhaps?

[Buckle Up]

Because there was no recollection of having jumped across the iron grating nor of having passed the bus stop's yellow marker line, he realized that he had been teleported a distance of 100 meters while moving along with the traveling wave.

Good DOYC...it happened to me too! There have been many times when I have been walking or driving, and I realize I've gone a certain distance without remembering actually having traveled it...now I know - I was teleported! Wow. I hope this teleportation didn't have any troubling effects on my DNA. Meow.

[Eddylizard]

Originally Posted by Buckle Up

Good DOYC...it happened to me too! There have been many times when I have been walking or driving, and I realize I've gone a certain distance without remembering actually having traveled it...now I know - I was teleported! Wow. I hope this teleportation didn't have any troubling effects on my DNA. Meow.

I have achieved a similar effect, albeit using a slightly different method, not involving passing aircraft. Myself and some volunteers each consumed several pints of ethanol stabilised teleportation fluid at our teleportation research centre (The Portal Utility Buliding, or P.U.B.) The next day we all reported having been teleported several hundred metres or more to our houses, with no recollection of how we got there from the P.U.B. There were some ill effects, but they seemed to be short lived.

I have written to the Ministry of Defence seeking further funding for my research, but so far they have declined to reply.

This short-sightedness on behalf of the British Government to fund my purchase of more teleportation fluid is indicative of why the UK is no longer a world leader in technology.

[SoToasty]

Originally Posted by Eddylizard

I have achieved a similar effect, albeit using a slightly different method, not involving passing aircraft. Myself and some volunteers each consumed several pints of ethanol stabilised teleportation fluid at our teleportation research centre (The Portal Utility Buliding, or P.U.B.) The next day we all reported having been teleported several hundred metres or more to our houses, with no recollection of how we got there from the P.U.B. There were some ill effects, but they seemed to be short lived.

I have written to the Ministry of Defence seeking further funding for my research, but so far they have declined to reply.

This short-sightedness on behalf of the British Government to fund my purchase of more teleportation fluid is indicative of why the UK is no longer a world leader in technology.

Don't be so down on the British Govt. You see, they have already done numerous studies on this particular method of teleportation. Unfortunately, the studies have proven that not only is this particular method loaded with side effects, it was also determined to be unreliable. Subjects in the study reported the following side affects.
Drowsiness, confusion, over active bladder, numbness, and nausea, as well as headaches, dry mouth that could last for several hours.

In addition, numerous subjects were teleported to the wrong location. The teleportation beam could also be disruptive to outlying areas with reports of over turned or broken furniture, excessive noise reported by the neighbors, and in some cases the subjects reported missing clothing.

In short, the ESTF was discarded a long time ago. Sorry you won't getting any funding for your study.

[Brad from Georgia]

Homer Simpson used his teleporter so he could stay in the living room watching TV while relieving himself in the bathroom at the same time. Brilliant man.

[Buckle Up]

Originally Posted by Brad from Georgia

Homer Simpson used his teleporter so he could stay in the living room watching TV while relieving himself in the bathroom at the same time. Brilliant man.

I thought his prevention of having to climb the stairs was even better. I gotta get me one o' those!

And make sure you have a saxophone in the house before mixing your DNA with a small insect.