Fear of the Future

Despite the title this is not the convention fear of the future. Imagine a futuristic world. One where Dawn French bots roam the streets and Judy Dench has forever been immortalised in ice. This future may seem appealing however after copious and unnecessary amount of though on the matter I have made several conclusions.

Firstly, I'm pretty sure by the time this future reaches the present day I will be a very old age... I'm guessing I shall have just turned 269.(This estimate is based upon the assumption that death will be optional.) 

Secondly, There will be some form of alternate transport...namely Teleportation!!!! DUN DUN DUN! This concept with today's knowledge, according to the ever logical Mr Annett (my chemistry teacher, is completely impossible due the something about not knowing the location of electrons in the atom. Ignoring the minor complications of it's impossibility I'm sure the human race will overcome that issue.

So when the sun rises on the day when the first teleportation system is up and running I shall be avoiding it at all costs and will insist on using my polluting petrol car (assuming I've actually got my license by then)  simply to give the ozone layer a challenge. Personally I'm quite comfortable with my atoms being ripped apart and transferred from one place to another to be reformed only if it's be rigorously tested and it doesn't hurt much. My problem with teleportation, however, lies with the type of teleportation where they use different atoms to reform you. 

Thinking logically, it's still going to take a lot of energy to move the atoms from one location to another; so, the most probable outcome is that the information will be transported and you will be reassembled using different atoms. Simple enough concept, but I am lead to believe that you wouldn't be you. When you are ripped apart you die. When you are reassembled it would be someone else who is identical to you in every way, right down to the atom.It's like the plot line from the film "The Prestige", if you don't know the plot I shan't ruin for you. In layman's terms, you die; clone takes over your life. 

Another problem arises though. The clone is like you in every tiny little way so no-one knows that you've died and hence are lead to believe that you've simply teleported. People use the system not knowing that they will die. The cycle continues, the clone being the same as you were before the process, doesn't have any memory of dying and therefore doesn't realise that they will die when they use the system either. Thus begins the deathly cycle where the planets dies daily and no-one knows. I name it, THE DEATHLY CYCLE!

My view of the future in teleportation.
James