Cripes, if our gov’t wasn’t doing everything in its power to kill innovation and capitalism, by 2040 we ought to have the technology to BEAM someone from NY to Philadelphia in 37 milliseconds!
I signed aboard this ship to practice medicine, not to have my atoms scattered back and forth across space by this gadget!Even if a matter teleportation device is ever invented, I think I would want to travel in some old-fashioned way, rather like Bones.
— Dr. McCoy, from Space Seed