What would happen to the world if teleportation technology was invented?

[PingSpike]

Lets also say it requires direct cable connection just for the hell of it. Its cheap, but costly enough that you won't just waste it on every little thing. Lets say its to expensive to install a transport pad in every house, but there is a common hub everywhere that a post office is now. This hub can be used to transport yourself from your middle of nowhere home to the center of NYC or to send good instantly from china to your local area.

What would happen? This is a common science fiction device, but I don't feel like any science fiction I've seen really scratches the surface of the real change in the world it would cause.

I was thinking that economically it would be insane...I can't even think of all the implications. Real estate location would no longer matter, causing values to plummet in urban areas and sky rocket in undeveloped ones. Car makers would go out of business enmass, as well as rail systems, ship and plane transports. Vacation travel costs are largely equalized. It would cause huge depressions in some areas and massive economic advancement in others.

 

[Engraver]

The bigger something is the more energy it would take to teleport it, so with our current energy production methods I don't think it would be feasible.

 

[skace]

I'd live on a mountain with no conventional means up the sides (someone would have had to mountain climb up it and build the teleporter at the top)

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: skace
I'd live on a mountain with no conventional means up the sides (someone would have had to mountain climb up it and build the teleporter at the top)

It would cost a lot of build a teleporter up there. My arbitrarily decided rules state that its pretty expensive to build a teleporter and out of reach of most private citizens!

 

[markgm]

I think about things like this sometimes, then realize that the only place this will happen is in my holodeck.

 

[Shadowknight]

If teleportation was invented, I'd recommend in investing in crowbars and wear a helmet 24/7.

 

[Eeezee]

Real estate location would still matter; relative location to the nearest teleporter would be a major component for price. And you still have people who prefer the good view/location. A beach house is still going to cost a lot more than a house inland. The only difference is you could live somewhere in Wyoming and work in New York (or wherever). It would still cost as much to travel as a plane ticket (but this price would eventually fall), since whoever starts installing these things will naturally want to get the most profit possible out of tickets.

If it's expensive enough, bulk transport of materials will still be done by truck/boat for the most part (especially trading with nations overseas) until the costs go down.

Car makers and rail operators wouldn't go out of business, you still require those modes of transports if your only teleporters are as common as post offices. You still need a way to get from home to the teleporter. And given that teleportation will be as expensive as a plane ticket, using a car to get from place to place might even be a preferred mode of travel. Furthermore, you'll still need a way to go camping, haul goods, etc.

Until a teleporter is installed in every home (or in every neighborhood) nothing will really change, except travel time will suddenly disappear for those willing to pay the price. And then how does international travel work? You surely wouldn't be allowed to teleport from one country to another without going through some sort of checkpoint. Most countries won't even have one at first if the technology is controlled by its inventor and if it requires a direct cable connection. Eventually every country would have an interconnected teleportation system, so you'd be required to teleport to the border, pass the checkpoint, teleport to the next border, etc. Traveling through europe would take just as long as a plane ride in this fashion due to the many checkpoints.

 

[Linflas]

Russia, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, etc would all take a huge punch in the nuts.

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: skace
I'd live on a mountain with no conventional means up the sides (someone would have had to mountain climb up it and build the teleporter at the top)

And if you can teleport in, who says other people can't? You'll have tons of tourists enjoying your mountain in no time. The only way to stop them is to murder them, but then you'll be arrested.

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: Eeezee

Originally posted by: skace
I'd live on a mountain with no conventional means up the sides (someone would have had to mountain climb up it and build the teleporter at the top)

And if you can teleport in, who says other people can't? You'll have tons of tourists enjoying your mountain in no time. The only way to stop them is to murder them, but then you'll be arrested.

He'd have to buy all the land.

I was thinking a teleport would be more reasonable in cost then a plane ticket. Say $20-25 for a national teleport.

 

[skace]

Originally posted by: Eeezee
And if you can teleport in, who says other people can't? You'll have tons of tourists enjoying your mountain in no time. The only way to stop them is to murder them, but then you'll be arrested.

The teleporter would be at the edge of my property, like a driveway, and it would be gated, so all they could do is drop off stuff, jump off the cliff, or ring the doorbell. And if a ton of people want to teleport onto a cliff they can go right ahead.

Originally posted by: PingSpike
It would cost a lot of build a teleporter up there. My arbitrarily decided rules state that its pretty expensive to build a teleporter and out of reach of most private citizens!

How dare you.

 

[Beev]

Drug smuggling would be stupidly easy. Buy a couple black market teleporters and do your trafficking.

 

[Jhill]

I'd put one by my lazyboy and the other in the bathroom.

 

[Turin39789]

The TERRORISTS!

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: Beev
Drug smuggling would be stupidly easy. But a couple black market teleporters and do your trafficking.

You'd have to run a direct line which could get a little tricky. But I agree, smuggling would go crazy. Crime in general I think.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

The shipping and transport industries would certainly bury this technology indefinitely.

 

[Electric Amish]

I wouldn't be spending 10 hours every other week on a freakin' plane.

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
The shipping and transport industries would certainly bury this technology indefinitely.

When I started thinking about the economic implications, it occured to me there are a lot of entrenched players that would want to do just that. But lets just say, some how they dropped the ball on this one and are now dinosaurs.

Cars would still exist, however a lot companies would fold as they became more light duty of niche and their demand went down to nothing.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: PingSpike

Originally posted by: skace
I'd live on a mountain with no conventional means up the sides (someone would have had to mountain climb up it and build the teleporter at the top)

It would cost a lot of build a teleporter up there. My arbitrarily decided rules state that its pretty expensive to build a teleporter and out of reach of most private citizens!

but remember, atoters are not average citizens. they are millionaires before they reach 20.

i don't think cars makers would go out of business. some people have to go several miles to reach a post office, especially in rural areas. if your destination is far away from a hub, you have to get there somehow.

 

[Tylanner]

We would all become incredibly fat.

oh wait...

 

[mooglemania85]

A brilliant but eccentric scientist, while attempting to teleport himself, will have his genes mixed with those of a common house fly. He will slowly transform into a terrifying mutant and have a sudden urge to have secks with Geena Davis.

 

[OrganizedChaos]

Presumably there would be under sea cables connecting various countries.
I'd take out a business loan and buy 3 pads.

Pad 1 would be in a busy metro area, lets say times square.
Pad 2 would be in a foreign country with a corrupt gov't. This pad would be installed upside down dropping you right onto Pad 3 (portal style)
Pad 3 wouldn't be connected to anything, it would disintegrate you and send you to /dev/null

Now that I've got the infrastructure in place I'd open up a suicide office business.

To a customer it would work like this: 1) step into booth 2)follow prompts on touch screen with legal mumbo jumbo 3) out comes contract which you give to on site notary and witness, various lines are signed by all 4) this contract gives the company any and all of your assets. 5) customer steps onto Pad 1 6) poof

 

[Harabec]

This reminds me of Heinlein's Tunnel in the Sky.

 

[JEDI]

Originally posted by: PingSpike
Lets also say it requires direct cable connection just for the hell of it. Its cheap, but costly enough that you won't just waste it on every little thing. Lets say its to expensive to install a transport pad in every house, but there is a common hub everywhere that a post office is now. This hub can be used to transport yourself from your middle of nowhere home to the center of NYC or to send good instantly from china to your local area.

What would happen? This is a common science fiction device, but I don't feel like any science fiction I've seen really scratches the surface of the real change in the world it would cause.

I was thinking that economically it would be insane...I can't even think of all the implications. Real estate location would no longer matter, causing values to plummet in urban areas and sky rocket in undeveloped ones. Car makers would go out of business enmass, as well as rail systems, ship and plane transports. Vacation travel costs are largely equalized. It would cause huge depressions in some areas and massive economic advancement in others.

teleport to the Playboy mansion.

or bank vault.

or teleport in a bomb

etc

 

[Jeff7]

It could mean economic problems in the short run, depending on how quickly the technology is adopted, but long run, it's for the best. It would improve overall efficiency greatly - there'd be much less time wasted simply moving materials from one place to another. Less time transporting material means more time using it.

I'm also sure that some individuals within the various transportation industries would be willing to kill to keep such technology off the market.