So... If Star Trek type transporters existed, would you use one?

[paulram16]

So recently, there was a new Transport station that took you from London to New York and you got VIP access to try it out. Would you?

[Pursuedtank]

I wouldn't be the first to use it, no. I would wait until proper tests were carried out and proved beyond reasonable doubt that it was perfectly safe.

[paulram16]

I wouldn't be the first to use it, no. I would wait until proper tests were carried out and proved beyond reasonable doubt that it was perfectly safe.

I wouldnt use it, think about it, being destroyed in one place and rebuilt somewhere else... technically its you but.... Yeah

[ZedNova]

Depends, i'd have to learn exactly how it works before i'd try it.

[paulram16]

Read the history of it - http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Transporter

[Select Few]

No. From what I understand, the "You" that steps into the transporter and the "You" that steps out are not the same. The one that steps out is just a copy of the one that stepped in, and the original "You" is destroyed. With that in mind, my answer is no.

[Pursuedtank]

I wouldnt use it, think about it, being destroyed in one place and rebuilt somewhere else... technically its you but.... Yeah

Despite what my answer was I still answered no in the poll, which is my actual answer.

[OdinYggd]

He insisted we go first, Sir. He said something about first seeing how it scrambled our molecules.

Probably something like this, at least until the technology became affordable and was certain to not cause any ill effects.

Also by that time I'll have learned how to set up an endless level 4 diagnostic so that I can live forever by trapping myself in the backup buffer.

[paulram16]

I was thinking, everyone you knew that has previously used them would be telling you 'its fine, see? Its me i am ok' but they arent the originals... Your family,friends all gone, your left with the essence.

[TwoHedWlf]

Nope, doesn't do me much good being killed and so a copy of me can appear somewhere else.

Also I'd feel guilty for my poor copy having to be in New York or London. Screw that.

[redwolfy]

im not committing suicide just to save 2 hours on a trip

[Deaf3279]

It sound nice but I vote no. because... "It would be much cheaper and certainly handier from a story point of view to simply 'dematerialize' the passenger in the transporter chamber, 'rematerialize' him on the planet surface. We can also save the effect here of the crew being transported down a light beam to the planet." The Making of Star Trek

dematerialize then rematerialize... What if... Really is transporter is doing is scan you and kill you during dematerialize then create new of you as clone while rematerialize down planet.

In 2361, on Nervala IV, the USS Potemkin was conducting an evacuation of the science outpost on the planet. Lieutenant William T. Riker was part of the away team at the time.

An unusual distortion field meant the Potemkin had difficulty beaming up Riker. A second confinement beam was initiated to overcome these difficulties, with the intent of reintegrating the two beams in the transporter buffer.

This was unnecessary as only one beam was successful at transporting Riker, the modulation of the distortion caused the second beam to be reflected back down to the surface, materializing two Rikers, one on the ship, and one on the planet's surface. Unlike the two Kirks created in 2266, both Rikers were functionally identical to the original man.

almost sound like it's clone device

[satcharna]

Immediate travel over planetary distances? Definitely. The convenience and societal benefits outweigh all disadvantages.

[ShachonianX]

It sound nice but I vote no. because... "It would be much cheaper and certainly handier from a story point of view to simply 'dematerialize' the passenger in the transporter chamber, 'rematerialize' him on the planet surface. We can also save the effect here of the crew being transported down a light beam to the planet." The Making of Star Trek

dematerialize then rematerialize... What if... Really is transporter is doing is scan you and kill you during dematerialize then create new of you as clone while rematerialize down planet.

In 2361, on Nervala IV, the USS Potemkin was conducting an evacuation of the science outpost on the planet. Lieutenant William T. Riker was part of the away team at the time.

An unusual distortion field meant the Potemkin had difficulty beaming up Riker. A second confinement beam was initiated to overcome these difficulties, with the intent of reintegrating the two beams in the transporter buffer.

This was unnecessary as only one beam was successful at transporting Riker, the modulation of the distortion caused the second beam to be reflected back down to the surface, materializing two Rikers, one on the ship, and one on the planet's surface. Unlike the two Kirks created in 2266, both Rikers were functionally identical to the original man.

almost sound like it's clone device

The transporter made two Kirks once and two Rikers once?

[satcharna]

The transporter made two Kirks once and two Rikers once?

On separate occasions, yes.

Stargate SG-1 explains the concept rather well, actually. What it does is scan you, layer by layer, and then transfer the file to another device. Once the file is transferred, your mass is sent through a wormhole to the receiver, which uses the earlier file to put you back together, as the wormhole transfer doesn't keep track of where every particle is supposed to go.

The end result is that you are scanned, killed, and then recreated at your destination. That goes both for Stargate-style instantaneous transportation and Star Trek style beaming transportation. If you believe in the concept of souls, then yes, that means that a clone of you is created while you die. If you believe that our brains are, for all intents and purposes, just organic computers and electrical/chemical impulses, then the new body is identical to your original one, and for all intents and purposes the same person.

Edited May 24, 2013 by satcharna

[Rage097]

I'm afraid that it would put my head on backwards like in Spaceballs.

"Why didn't anyone tell me my @*$ was that big!?"

[The Jedi Master]

"I'm not getting in that thing unless you go first."

[MDBenson]

If it was safe I'd be all over it

[NASAFanboy]

No way. I don't want to die and have my life lived by someone else. It ain't worth it, no matter what.

[LeonG17]

On separate occasions, yes.

Stargate SG-1 explains the concept rather well, actually. What it does is scan you, layer by layer, and then transfer the file to another device. Once the file is transferred, your mass is sent through a wormhole to the receiver, which uses the earlier file to put you back together, as the wormhole transfer doesn't keep track of where every particle is supposed to go.

The end result is that you are scanned, killed, and then recreated at your destination. That goes both for Stargate-style instantaneous transportation and Star Trek style beaming transportation. If you believe in the concept of souls, then yes, that means that a clone of you is created while you die. If you believe that our brains are, for all intents and purposes, just organic computers and electrical/chemical impulses, then the new body is identical to your original one, and for all intents and purposes the same person.

In theory, the universe is destroyed every smallest unit of time then remade into nearly identical copies, just changed a bit. Therefore, the overall effect is like TV or films, our brains puts it together into one smooth motion. So we are cloned millions of times each second.

[architeuthis]

almost sound like it's clone device

There is a hilarious Cory Doctorow short story with this premise.

I'm generally in agreement with others in this thread. You die when the transporter activates, and another person who remembers being you steps out at the other end. Much better to use transporters as factories...

On the other hand I wonder if our continuity of consciousness destroyed when we sleep and another person who recalls being us awakes later in our body. It is not a dissimilar problem I think. After all you could easily argue the bodies at either end of the transporter are identical down to molecules. Whence the soul?

Edited May 24, 2013 by architeuthis

[Moon Goddess]

On separate occasions, yes.

Stargate SG-1 explains the concept rather well, actually. What it does is scan you, layer by layer, and then transfer the file to another device. Once the file is transferred, your mass is sent through a wormhole to the receiver, which uses the earlier file to put you back together, as the wormhole transfer doesn't keep track of where every particle is supposed to go.

The end result is that you are scanned, killed, and then recreated at your destination. That goes both for Stargate-style instantaneous transportation and Star Trek style beaming transportation. If you believe in the concept of souls, then yes, that means that a clone of you is created while you die. If you believe that our brains are, for all intents and purposes, just organic computers and electrical/chemical impulses, then the new body is identical to your original one, and for all intents and purposes the same person.

I didn't think that's how the StarGate works, I thought the stargate was holding open an actual wormhole a shortcute through space, no need to disassemble. However that said that sounds a lot more logically possible than the star trek one. Both still impossible with Heisenberg but still at least the stargate has equipment on other end to do the reassembly, Star Trek expects you to put yourself back together.

In theory, the universe is destroyed every smallest unit of time then remade into nearly identical copies, just changed a bit. Therefore, the overall effect is like TV or films, our brains puts it together into one smooth motion. So we are cloned millions of times each second.

You know that really doesn't make me feel any better about it.....

[satcharna]

I didn't think that's how the StarGate works, I thought the stargate was holding open an actual wormhole a shortcute through space, no need to disassemble. However that said that sounds a lot more logically possible than the star trek one. Both still impossible with Heisenberg but still at least the stargate has equipment on other end to do the reassembly, Star Trek expects you to put yourself back together.

Actually, one of the episodes has Carter explain that the wormhole can't transfer mass coherently, the receiving Stargate is needed to interpret a "blueprint" the sending Stargate sends through first, or people would come through as a sizzling clump of random material.

[Ben Kerman]

Why does almost everyone say you "die and another person continues to live your life"?

As far as science knows, you probably wouldn't even notice the transport, if you were reassembled exactly as you were before the transport.

[Yuming]

Our cells die and copy themselves naturally. In terms of cells, we are not the same as we were 10 years ago, because almost all of our cells have divided and the originals have died off, yet we retain our memories, knowledge, ect. Is it really so different having a machine do it?