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2/17/2023 1:47 pm  #1


Star Trek transporters should make a duplicate person

I don't know how deeply their function has been explained, but I assume all of the information contained in the physical structure of a person--be it expressed as a wave function or whatever--can be determined, stored, communicated, and recreated in another location.

I can't think of a good reason, other than ethical considerations, that the original person needs to be "destroyed" in order to create the copy. I mean, there's ethical arguments on either side, really. Doesn't the original person have a right to life?

I would be very surprised if the Star Trek universe didn't contain a rogue scientist who creates copies of themself. They can't possibly have a non-crackable anti-duplication safeguard in every transporter device.
 


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2/17/2023 3:07 pm  #2


Re: Star Trek transporters should make a duplicate person

Doesn't the original person have a right to go where they wanted to go?  Instead they are stuck back on the damn platform of the Enterprise.  And then the dude that went down to the planet surface is stuck there and another copy ends up back on the Enterprise.  There's not enough food on the ship for that.  There's got to be a mathematical equation for this but I bet the biomass grows quickly.

Actually, have you seen Moon with Sam Rockwell?

 

2/17/2023 3:14 pm  #3


Re: Star Trek transporters should make a duplicate person

Oh yeah, great GREAT move. Excellent suggestion.

Have you seen Primer?
https://xkcd.com/657/


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2/17/2023 9:44 pm  #4


Re: Star Trek transporters should make a duplicate person

Something similar you might enjoy pondering.

"You WILL balance the equation."

Think Like A Dinosaur - The Outer Limits: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5ved5j (44:27)

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0667991/ (The question they considered, about whether or not a human being deserves to live when an exact copy exists, is a great thought experiment. ...)

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_Like_a_Dinosaur ("Think Like a Dinosaur" is a science fiction novelette written by James Patrick Kelly, originally published in the June 1995 issue of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine. The story won the 1996 Hugo Award for Best Novelette, the Asimov's Reader Poll Award, and the SF Chronicle Award. It was also nominated for the Locus Poll Award and the Nebula Award. ... it was adapted as the "Think Like a Dinosaur" episode of The Outer Limits TV series.)

 

2/18/2023 2:19 pm  #5


Re: Star Trek transporters should make a duplicate person

glatt wrote:

Actually, have you seen Moon with Sam Rockwell?

Or "The Prestige"
 


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