The sinister side of the Star Trek transporter

[Jaric]

Last week, CGP Grey released a YouTube video (below) explaining the practical considerations and philosophical head-scratching involved in a "Star Trek"-esque transporter. In short, it would involve the atoms that make us up to be broken down and then reassembled in a different state. Of course, the atoms would be identical to you; the way you look, the structure of your brain, even technically your thought patterns and memories. But then comes the metaphysical headache of whether that is you or just a copy of you. If it does just copy you, then the transporter is pretty much a fancy suicide booth.

http://www.iflscience.com/physics/are-star-trek-transporters-actually-suicide-booth/

Pole incoming.

 

[Muse]

Wow, that was interesting to read.

 

[Jaric]

Behold, the Galaxy's most prolific serial killer.

 

[BostonTim]

Behold, the Galaxy's most prolific serial killer.

I can't do it Captain, we'll all be blown to bits."

 

[Muse]

Behold, the Galaxy's most prolific serial killer.

He was just doing his job.

 

[Jaric]

I can't do it Captain, we'll all be blown to bits."

And then reassembled at a different location.

 

[PumpDee]

Yup. It's the off season all right.

 

[patswin]

I was hoping for some Holo-deck fantasies with Troi.

 

[BradyGirl]

A transporter reminds me of the suicide booths in <i>A Taste Of Armageddon</i>, the TOS episode in which the planet Eminiar VII kept their war 'clean' by computers calculating casualties and people walked right into the booths once they'd been notified the computer had tagged them.

I'm with McCoy about the transporter.

 

[bideau]

Seems that Bones McCoy had good reason to hate those contraptions.

[edit]: BradyGirl beats me by a few seconds.

 

[mikiemo83]

what color shirt am I wearing?

 

[Jaric]

what color shirt am I wearing?

Let be honest, we're all red shirts.

However that's really irrelevent as "you" won't even make it off the ship. "You" will be murdered, your matter disassembled, and then reassembled at the atomic level into a creature that believes it's "you" but is actually closer to an animated fax.

 

[gomezcat]

Let be honest, we're all red shirts.

However that's really irrelevent as "you" won't even make it off the ship. "You" will be murdered, your matter disassembled, and then reassembled at the atomic level into a creature that believes it's "you" but is actually closer to an animated fax.

Yep. I see no obvious benefit of transporting as we currently understand it. If we somehow discover laws of physics that make it safer, then fair enough.

 

[Jaric]

Yep. I see no obvious benefit of transporting as we currently understand it. If we somehow discover laws of physics that make it safer, then fair enough.

Well since the basic function of the machine requires murder and the total disassembly of all your matter, it's unlikely it's ever going to be truly "safe."

 

[Muse]

Well since the basic function of the machine requires murder and the total disassembly of all your matter, it's unlikely it's ever going to be truly "safe."

So...would you enter one or not? I've had this son with my son many times and he stays true to form with the thought of never ever entering one. Me on the other hand I probably would more so than him.

 

[Jaric]

So...would you enter one or not? I've had this son with my son many times and he stays true to form with the thought of never ever entering one. Me on the other hand I probably would more so than him.

Absolutely not. I choose life.

 

[Darth Despot]

If you are annihilated, your structural code is digitized and beamed somewhere and then the code is encrypted and new molecules are assembled into a copy of you, can you still collect "your" social security?

 

[Jaric]

If you are annihilated, your structural code is digitized and beamed somewhere and then the code is encrypted and new molecules are assembled into a copy of you, can you still collect "your" social security?

That depends on how long "you" have been paying in to it in between beamings (at which point the new "you" is no longer eligible because the "you" that paid in to SS was destroyed by the murder machine)

 

[Muse]

Absolutely not. I choose life.

Gotcha, so does my son. I guess after all these years of crap done to me due to medical issues I am more willing than I might be otherwise? Other than that I might just be bonkers.

 

[Jaric]

Gotcha, so does my son. I guess after all these years of crap done to me due to medical issues I am more willing than I might be otherwise? Other than that I might just be bonkers.

Makes you wonder about the ethics of making "alterations" to the reassembled "you".

For example, I'm sure it's a coincidence that all the women end up a cup size larger after a beaming.