Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site idi.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!idi!kiessig From: kiessig@idi.UUCP (Rick Kiessig) Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers Subject: Re: Matter Transmission Message-ID: <231@idi.UUCP> Date: Mon, 13-Aug-84 20:46:38 EDT Article-I.D.: idi.231 Posted: Mon Aug 13 20:46:38 1984 Date-Received: Tue, 14-Aug-84 02:54:32 EDT References: <42@ssc-vax.UUCP> Organization: Intelligent Decisions, Saratoga, CA Lines: 50 There are other implications of matter transmitters: 1. The 'original' matter must somehow be 'destroyed'. 2. Because of the large amount of energy present in matter (e=mc^2), it seems likely that matter transmitters do NOT in fact imply matter duplication, except perhaps at extremely high cost. In the normal case, it seems more likely that the energy obtained by 'disintegrating' the original matter would have to be used to recreate the object at its new location. I suppose it might be possible to use some other matter as an energy source, but only if the encoding and disintegration processes were seperable, which doesn't seem obvious to me. 3. Because of this, a more likely technology would not involve 'storage' of a 'pattern', but rather disintegration combined with simultaneous recreation at the receiving end. It seems unlikely that sufficient energy could be stored remotely to create any substantial amount of matter - the required energy would more likely be transmitted, along with pattern information. 4. I do think that a pre-cursor of a matter transmitter would have to involve controlled (i.e. non-radioactive) disintegration of matter - into some form of energy capable of holding information. I'm not sure which energy form is capable of passing the required amount of energy most efficiently. Lasers? Microwaves? 5. Another pre-cursor would have to be the creation of matter from energy. Has any theoretical work yet been done on that? The obvious problem is how to 'tell' the energy to condense into some particular molecular form, including specific bonding information. Sounds like a real messy problem. 6. Receiving stations would likely be accompanied by large power plants, because of energy transmission losses that would have to be made up if the original matter were to be exactly recreated. -- Rick Kiessig {decvax, ucbvax}!sun!idi!kiessig {akgua, allegra, amd, burl, cbosgd, decwrl, dual, ihnp4}!idi!kiessig Phone: 408-996-2399