本周热议误区：瞬间移动的真相
内容总结：
“瞬间移动”传闻再起，科学解释其背后真相
近日，美国联邦紧急事务管理局（FEMA）新任命的响应与恢复办公室负责人格雷格·菲利普斯声称自己多次经历“瞬间移动”，引发公众关注。在播客节目中，他描述自己曾瞬间出现在80公里外的餐厅，甚至连同车辆一起“传送”至教堂附近的沟渠。此类故事并非首次出现，历史上自16世纪起便不乏类似传闻。
针对菲利普斯的经历，科学界提出了几种可能的解释。其一为“出体体验”，约10%的人曾报告此类感受，研究指出这可能与大脑颞顶联合区功能暂时紊乱有关，导致空间感知错位。其二为“高速公路催眠现象”，即在长时间单调驾驶后，人对部分行程产生记忆空白，突然“清醒”时仿佛瞬间抵达陌生地点。此外，“微睡眠”也可能是原因之一，这种短暂的意识丧失可能导致驾驶者无意识行驶并发生事故，这或许能解释其连人带车“出现”在沟渠的情况。
尽管菲利普斯强调家人证实其“刚刚离开”，但并无可靠目击者或证据支持其“传送”过程。从科学角度看，宏观物体的瞬间移动目前仍不可能实现。虽然量子领域已实现光子状态的“隐形传态”，但该过程需依赖量子纠缠与经典信息传输，且传送物体规模越大，技术复杂度呈指数级增长。以人类为例，需处理约7×10²⁷个原子的量子状态，远超当前科技能力。
FEMA发言人对相关争议回应称“此事荒谬，不值一提”，但该事件引发了更深层的思考：若“传送”意味着原有个体的毁灭与重建，那么抵达终点的“复制体”是否仍是本人？这已触及哲学与身份认同的范畴。
目前，尚无证据表明菲利普斯的经历超出已知科学解释范畴。专家建议，类似现象更可能与大脑感知机制或疲劳状态相关，而非超自然现象。公众在面对此类传闻时，应保持理性，关注科学解释。
中文翻译：
本周，关于瞬间移动的误解再度浮现。作为科幻作品中常见的设定，瞬间移动指的是物质或能量不经过物理空间而实现两点间的转移。至少从1583年起，关于瞬间移动的传闻便层出不穷——当时神秘学家约翰·迪伊据称从英国家中消失，同一瞬间却出现在布拉格。最新一则报道来自去年12月被任命为美国联邦应急管理局（FEMA）响应与恢复办公室负责人的格雷格·菲利普斯。
在今年1月的《前行》播客节目中，菲利普斯讲述道："有次我和孩子们在一起，我说要去华夫饼屋……当时在佐治亚州，结果我出现在50英里外的华夫饼屋……孩子们惊呼'这不可能，你刚刚还在这里'。但这就是发生了，千真万确。"对他而言，瞬移似乎司空见惯。他还回忆了另一次经历：连人带车被传送到40英里外浸信会教堂旁的沟渠里。"瞬间移动可不好玩，"菲利普斯总结道。遗憾的是，他无法控制这种能力，否则早该在工作中运用了。
关于瞬移声称的几种解释
除了"他疯了"或"他在撒谎"这类论断，菲利普斯的叙述还存在其他可能性。约10%的人报告有过灵魂出窍体验，即感觉意识脱离了肉体。《英国医学杂志》的研究指出，这种体验常与颞顶联合区的功能紊乱有关——该脑区负责整合感官信息以定位自身空间位置。当因疲劳、压力或癫痫、偏头痛等生理原因导致该区域失调时，可能引发感官"错乱"，使人产生脱离肉身所在空间的错觉。这虽非真正的瞬移，但亲历者可能产生类似感受。
或许还存在更通俗的解释："公路催眠"。几乎人人都有过机械重复某件事时"神游天外"的体验：长途驾驶中突然惊觉已驶过50英里却毫无记忆。"猛然回神"的瞬间犹如完成瞬移，因为当事人突然置身陌生地点且对行程毫无印象，这也能解释为何菲利普斯总觉得汽车随他一同传送。
另一种可能是微睡眠——突如其来的短暂睡眠或嗜睡状态，当事人会失去对感官刺激的反应并陷入无意识。在美国，疲劳驾驶每年导致超过600人死亡，这或许能解释为何他会连人带车失忆般出现在教堂旁的沟渠里。
如果真是瞬移呢？
但上述解释未能涵盖菲利普斯故事的全部细节。他声称离家后瞬间出现在50英里外，而家人证实他"刚刚还在这里"。这难道真是瞬移？
虽然无法证伪，但如同历史上自称瞬移的约翰·迪伊、吉尔·佩雷斯、埃拉尔多·维达尔等人一样，菲利普斯的离奇旅程缺乏可靠目击者。无人见证他消失或出现在华夫饼屋，也没有其他证据佐证。因此我们基本可以断定瞬移极不可能发生，但不妨探讨这种可能性。
量子瞬移：唯一的（近似）例外
在量子世界中，瞬移确实存在。在微观粒子（原子、电子、光子等）领域，经典物理定律不再适用：光可同时具备粒子与波动性，理论中的猫可处于生死叠加态，因果律也变成概率游戏。这片混沌中却孕育着有限形式的瞬移。
量子隐形传态利用两个"纠缠"粒子实现信息即时传递。测量其中一个粒子可立即确定其伴侣的状态，无论相隔多远——即便相距百万英里，粒子间仍能同步。但关键在于：必须读取结果。完成传输所需数据仍需通过无线电波或光纤等常规信号发送。由于这些信号以光速为上限，从人类视角看仍非瞬时实现。
科学家已成功远距离传送单个光子状态，但宏观尺度应用面临多重阻碍。首先是工程难题。哥伦比亚大学理论物理学家布莱恩·格林曾向《科学时报》这样描述将人从纽约传至洛杉矶的困境："传送人类需要海量纠缠粒子，让人体与这团粒子融合，再与洛杉矶的纠缠粒子关联……数量级是难以逾越的障碍。"
"海量"尚不足以形容其规模：当前自称"格雷格·菲利普斯"的个体约由7×10²⁷个原子构成。监测每个原子的量子态所需算力远超地球现有总和。作为参照，现代科学最远仅将单个光子状态传送到870英里外的卫星。将这项技术放大到传送90公斤重的人类绝无可能。
格雷格·菲利普斯究竟是谁？
这引出了更深层的概念与哲学问题。量子隐形传态中，原始粒子会在传输完成后湮灭。量子态被读取、传输并在别处重构，但源头已然消失。那么最终出现在华夫饼屋的究竟是谁（或何物）？
FEMA发言人就此事对CNN回应称："荒谬到不值一提。"但"谁在真正主持FEMA灾后响应工作"绝非笑谈——如果格雷格·菲利普斯确曾瞬移，那么当前执掌FEMA灾后响应的便不再是原本的他。出现在华夫饼屋的只是原子排列组合而成的、形似菲利普斯的集合体，而真正的菲利普斯早已在高速公路上灰飞烟灭。
英文来源：
This week, people are wrong about teleportation. A common science fiction trope, teleportation is the transfer of matter or energy from one point to another without traversing the physical space between them. Widely repeated claims of teleportation have been cropping up since at least 1583, when occultist John Dee supposedly vanished from his home in England and reappeared at the same moment in Prague. The most recent report comes from Gregg Phillips, who was appointed to lead FEMA's office of response and recovery in December.
On a January episode of the Onward podcast, Phillips said, "I was with my boys one time, and I was telling them I was gonna go to Waffle House...this was in Georgia, and I end up at a Waffle House like 50 miles away from where I was... they said: 'That’s not possible, you just left here a moment ago.’ But it was possible. It was real.”
Teleportation is fairly common to Phillips. He recounted another instance where he and his car were teleported 40 miles into a ditch near a Baptist Church. "Teleporting is no fun," Phillips concluded. Phillips, sadly, doesn't control the teleportation, or he could use it in his work.
Some explanations for people claiming they've teleported
There are a number of possible explanation for Phillips' story that aren't "he's nuts" or "he's lying." About 10% of people report having had an out-of-body experience, the sensation that one's consciousness has separated from their physical body. According to research published in The British Medical Journal, OBEs are often linked to a glitch in the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ), the part of the brain that integrates sensory information to orient you in space. If the TPJ is disrupted—by exhaustion, stress, or biological causes like epilepsy or migraines—a sensory "misfire" can result, where you no longer feel moored to the physical space your body occupies. It's not teleportation, but it might feel like teleportation if it happens to you.
There might be a less esoteric explanation for Phillips' teleportation: "highway hypnosis." Just about everyone can relate to your mind "checking out" while you're doing something repetitive; on a long car trip, you suddenly realize you've covered 50 miles with no memory of it. "Snapping out of it" can feel like you've teleported, as you're suddenly in a new place without conscious memory of how you arrived there, and could account for the fact that Phillips' car seems to teleport with him.
Another possible cause: microsleep, a sudden temporary episode of sleep or drowsiness where an individual fails to respond to sensory input and becomes unconscious. Drowsy driving accounts for over 600 fatalities annually in the U.S., and could explain ending up in a ditch in front of a Baptist church with no memory of how he ended up there.
OK, but what if it was teleportation?
None of that takes all of Phillips' story into account though. He says he left his house then suddenly was 50 miles away, much to the surprise of his family who confirmed that he "just left here a moment ago." So was it teleportation?
No one can prove a negative, but, like historical claimants John Dee, Gil Perez, Heraldo Vidal, and every other person who has ever said they teleported, there were no reliable witnesses to Phillips' improbable journeys. No one saw him blink out of existence and no one saw him appear at the Waffle House. There's no other evidence either, so I feel confident saying that Mr. Phillips is extremely unlikely to have teleported, but let's explore the possibility.
The one (kind of) exception: quantum teleportation
Teleportation is possible in the quantum world. In the realm of tiny things—atoms, electrons, photons, etc.—the laws of classical physics don't work. Light can be a particle and a wave, theoretical cats can be alive and dead, and the cause and effect we take for granted are a roll of the dice. It's a mess, but a mess that allows a limited kind of teleportation.
Quantum teleportation is a method of instantly transmitting information using two "entangled" particles. Measuring one particle immediately determines the state of its partner no matter where it is in space—could be a million miles away, the particle does not care. But there's a catch: You have to read the result. The data needed to complete the transfer has to be sent via a normal signal, like a radio wave or a fiber-optic cable. Since those signals are capped at the speed of light like everything else, it's not instant from our point of view.
Scientists have successfully teleported single photon states over distance, but it doesn't work at a larger scale for a number of reasons. First, there's the logistics. Here's how Columbia University theoretical physicist Brian Greene described the problem of teleporting a person from New York to Los Angeles to Science Times:
"We'd have to have a huge number of these entangled particles to bring a human being, and have the human being be co-mingled with this collection of particles that are entangled with the ones in L.A...It's the huge number problem that gets in the way of doing it."
The word "huge" isn't big enough: there are roughly 7 octillion atoms currently calling themselves "Gregg Phillips." Monitoring the quantum state of each of them would require more computing power than has ever existed on Earth. For context, the best modern science has done is teleporting a single photon state to a satellite over 870 miles away. You can't scale that up to a 200-pound man.
What, exactly, is Gregg Phillips?
That's the logistical problem. There's a larger conceptual/philosophical question to teleportation. In quantum teleportation, the original particle is destroyed to complete the transfer. The quantum state is read, transmitted, and reconstructed elsewhere, but the source is gone. So who (or what) really arrives at the Waffle House?
A Fema spokesperson responded to the controversy to CNN, saying, "This is so silly it’s barely worth acknowledging," but the question of who is actually running FEMA's disaster response is not silly, because if Gregg Phillips really did teleport, whatever is currently running FEMA's disaster response is not Gregg Phillips. A collection of atoms that look and talk like Gregg Phillips appeared at a Waffle House, while actual Gregg Phillips blinked out of existence back on the highway.