Star Trek Transporter

[Schism]

* Nevermind *

[Kill Mee]

one word ... Heavy

[BobtheCkroach]

Arggh! I read your whole post thinking "i'm gonna sound all kewl and say that Bones said that exact same thing"...and then you robbed me...nice job, Schism..

Seriously, though, I agree. I would not like knowing that I wasn't my original self.

[JIMINATOR]

ah, star-trek - really if they are beaming energy patterns from one area to another, then what is the need to destroy the body? and how does the body actually get destroyed? what happens to the matter? and the huge amount of energy that would be released if it was vaporised? how does the transporter beam allow them to pull someone off of a planet? I can understand them beaming someone from one chamber to another, but from a planet to a chamber or vice versa - what is there on the other side to either reconstitute a person or to disassemble them? why couldn't they permanently store an image of you in the buffer, giving you immortality? why....

[Slice]

Arggh! I read your whole post thinking "i'm gonna sound all kewl and say that Bones said that exact same thing"...and then you robbed me...nice job, Schism..

Seriously, though, I agree. I would not like knowing that I wasn't my original self.
Bones was a freak. If you take apart your computer then put it back together is it not the same computer?

[Slice]

The question is, I think, if you destructively analyze each component that your computer is made of (down to the sub-atomic level), convert that information into a blueprint for making an identical computer, is the new computer the same as the old computer, or just a perfect copy?
If the atoms remain the same then yes.

[Dangerous Dan]

Good point. Because they are able to beam people into empty space. So somehow the energy itself is converted back into matter. Some sort of focused beam I suppose. Maybe similar to projecting an image onto a screen. I dunno what the screen would be in this case. I've read where the Star Trek writers where asked how the transporter worked, and they replied "Very well." :D

As for storing the energy pattern permanently, apparently it takes a huge amount of energy to maintain it without having it degrade. In one of the movies Scotty managed to create some sort of loop that maintained his energy pattern for something like, I dunno, eighty years? And that's how he managed to show up in the Picard generation of ST.
i ACTUALLY saw that episode, i have no comment and have no opinion though, i'm just amazed that i now what you're talking about, lol

[solid snake295]

if it was creating a clone how could there memory stay intact?
it has to be more then just zapping a clone to another location.
if it was a clone they wouldnt know what was going on, if they even knew how to talk it would be like
guy 1- hey.... guy, wtf just happened?
guy 2- i dont know, get away from me you pointy eared freak!
guy 3- WTF is wrong with your forehead?
guy that got FUBAR'ed by the transporter- PA CHOP! PA CHEWY CHOMP!



- for the record, i dont watch star trek :rofl:

[OUTLAWS 9.99repeating^32]

Ok, I have a few things to say.

First, I'm not going to go into discussions of a metaphysical soul, although it would be a major problem in this "reconstructing of atoms" idea. I feel that it would become a much too heated debate (atheistic vs theistic basically).

But second, I believe that such a device would be possible, although it would have to be extremely, extremely accurate. The human body contains billions of cells, and many more times that amount of atoms, which work together as a single unit. To dissemble and reproduce such a unit would be a very difficult task.

This is not to say that it is impossible, however. I think the machine would have to take a snapshot of the position of every atom in the body, save this combined image, and then build it back up again, atom by atom. In our understanding today, this would produce the same person, because atoms are the building blocks of matter.

What would this mean? Well, it would mean that everyone could be 'immortal' - in the sense that they could see anypoint they wanted to in the future for as long as their life had left. If there was something to operate the reconstruction machine, one could be brought back to life (with the same memory) at any point in time. Such a machine could have profound medical implications because one could run a multitude of different experiments on the same person and start over again at any time. It would also have profound military implicatoins because one would have a near-infinite "clone" military, provided there was enough energy to run the machine (clones would be produced at the peak of life as well, not as babies as we can do today).

Such a machine scares me and I hope one never exists. Although it is used for a "good" purpose in Star Trek, it's other more malignant uses outweigh any benefits in my mind. Interesting topic guys.