In Russia, not all scientific projects get financial backing from the government -- but teleportation does.
On June 22, a special interagency working group, along with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, discussed the country’s scientific and technological plans drawn up by the Russian Strategic Initiatives Agency.
The document, described in detail by Kommersant newspaper, lists innovations Russian scientists plan to accomplish by 2035. Among them are a Russia-based coding language, a 5G mobile network, "smart" buildings, medical implants -- and teleportation.
The concept of people teleporting from one place to another remains in the realm of fantasy, but scientists have already proven the possibility of teleportation on a quantum level.
As presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov explained, the document implies quantum teleportation, not physical. The Russian scientific plans, therefore, are not as far-fetched as they may seem. But this didn’t stop the Russian Twittersphere from poking fun at the country’s scientific ambitions.
President’s Thoughts, a popular satirical account, suggested that teleportation may be useful in solving Russian social issues, including the needs of retired pensioners.
Another Twitter account found a different use for the technology.
"If there is teleportation, who needs the Kerch bridge?" the tweet reads, referring to the ongoing construction of a bridge that is supposed to connect Russia with the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. The multibillion-dollar project has been under construction for a year now.
Many argued that teleportation has existed in Russia for awhile. One user provided proof by way of a clip on the Russian video-sharing website Coub showing Russian street scenes with a voiceover from the Hollywood science-fiction movie Interstellar.
Another Twitter user pointed out that the technology is already in place -- billions of dollars were successfully teleported to offshore accounts in Panama, he tweeted, in an apparent reference to a data leak that tied billions of dollars in offshore money to friends of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Others resorted to darker humor.
"Teleportation is when you live in [the Russian city of] Syzran, but your battalion dies in Donbas, even though you are not there," one user tweeted, alluding to constant Russian government denials of involvement in fighting in eastern Ukraine.
Another user shared a screenshot of an article from November 2015 that reported that local government in Russia's Kostroma region had ordered special equipment for making holes in ice so that people living nearby could do their laundry in the river.
"And by 2035 we will have teleportation!" the tweet reads.
Ilya Massukh, head of the Informational Democracy Fund NGO, told Kommersant that because of science’s rapid development it is necessary to make plans 15 to 20 years in advance.
"It is important to have intermediate goals to have an opportunity to correct the road map and its realization in order not to get involved in knowingly utopian spheres," he said.
