Re: MEMS: Brains, Uploads, and Limbless Bodies

Hal Finney (hal@rain.org)
Wed, 16 Dec 1998 11:06:13 -0800

Anders Sandberg, <asa@nada.kth.se>, writes, responding to my inner geek's proposal to use quantum teleportation based comm systems:
> What is the need of quantum in all this? Why can't you use ordinary
> telemetry?

Yes, I thought we debunked this whole "quantum teleportation" idea back in late October. It is not a magical form of telemetry; it requires sending ordinary, everyday information via photons or other particles in order to work. All the "quantum" part means is that normally unobservable internal quantum states can be transmitted (at the cost of destroying the quantum state of the sender). But there is no evidence that this internal quantum state has any biological relevance.

Hal