"You cannot have a 'wave' when you have no velocity, and gravitational forces do not. (This is a more accurate rendition of the common statement that 'gravitation propagates at an infinite speed'.) (pp. 39-40)
Gravity has no velocity so mattercasting can be instantaneous? But apparently gravity does propagate at light speed. See here. (Newton thought that gravity was instantaneous.)
In Larry Niven's Known Space future history series, teleportation is at light speed. (See also combox here.)
The beam that scans the protein structure, energy level and relative position of every molecule in a human body reduces the body to gas but flashes the information into a transmitter matrix that simultaneously sends the signal to a receiver matrix which immediately reproduces every molecule in microseconds. The body is dead so briefly that it arrives alive.
If it were possible to record the complex signal, then the mattercaster would become a duplicator. Maclaren wonders whether duplication is already possible but suppressed by the Protectorate.
"No government likes revolutions, and molecular duplication would revolutionize society beyond imagining." (p. 39)
Maclaren adds that even now mattercasters have to be guarded and isolated on the Moon because otherwise some fanatic might duplicate enough stolen radium to sterilize a planet. So some duplication is already possible?
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Interesting, these speculations about teleportation. I did think Anderson moved away from using this in his later stories because the interstellar use of teleportation was too scientifically implausible to be tried out except in THE ENEMY STARS and "The Ways of Love."
Ad astra! Sean
Some stories I mean to find and read.
The setting uses the 'wormhole' idea for setting up connections between nearby solar systems, with the wormhole links being sent via STL starship. So it takes years for a link to be set up but once it has been arranged travel time is neglibible except for the time to travel within a solar system between wormhole mouths. So in a way it is similar to the setup with mattercasters in "The Enemy Stars"
https://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/atomicnovel.php#id--John_Lumpkin
http://www.thehumanreach.net/index.shtm
Kaor, Jim!
Reminds me a bit of the Alderson drive we see in Jerry Pournelle's Co-Dominium timeline stories.
Ad astra! Sean
With the difference that the Alderson Drive uses naturally occurring links, so it is a matter of finding the links. The wormhole links have to be created and moved to the locations you want to link at less (probably much less) than light speed. So creating a link between neighboring starts will take years & probably decades to set up. Still even if the ships carrying the wormholes move at 'merely' 5 to 10 % of c, a network of links to dozens of stars could be set up in a century.
Kaor, Jim!
Sounds good to me if such a technology ever became practical and it was the best we could hope for.
Ad astra! Sean
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