Would you use a teleporter?
Poll: Would you use a teleporter?
Total Members Polled: 89
Discussion
Tim330 said:
Terminator X said:
Captain Smerc said:
I’ve read The Jaunt by Steven King so no
Is that the one where they say don't teleport awake? Foo kin scary short story if so!TX.
I just read that so the answer is no, I'll stick with flying.
Available here, like most Stephen King no happy ending
https://ia801904.us.archive.org/35/items/the-jaunt...
SpudLink said:
Yes, I would.
Interesting thoughts regarding death and cloning of a new individual at the destination. I am made up of cells that die all the time. I don't morn their loss. When I grow new cells I don't think of them as unwelcome intruders.
Wherever my consciousness lives at the moment is 'me'. If I happen to be inhabiting a body that was assembled from pure energy seconds ago, that doesn't bother me.
As for the possibility of being horribly mangled by a transporter malfunction... I could be mangled walking to the post office by a car that mounts the pavement. If the technology was proven and acceptably safe, I'd be off to Bondi beach after work most evenings.
But your body doesn't replace all cells all at once in a different location. It's a gradual, controlled, internal process.Interesting thoughts regarding death and cloning of a new individual at the destination. I am made up of cells that die all the time. I don't morn their loss. When I grow new cells I don't think of them as unwelcome intruders.
Wherever my consciousness lives at the moment is 'me'. If I happen to be inhabiting a body that was assembled from pure energy seconds ago, that doesn't bother me.
As for the possibility of being horribly mangled by a transporter malfunction... I could be mangled walking to the post office by a car that mounts the pavement. If the technology was proven and acceptably safe, I'd be off to Bondi beach after work most evenings.
To understand how this teleportation might work would need a better understanding of consciousness than we currently have. You might be able to instantaneously create an exact clone of yourself in a different location with an identical physical and mental structure and identical memories, but would it be 'you', or would it gain a new consciousness starting from where you left off, effectively someone else living the rest of your life for you?
In essence, it becomes a philosophical and metaphysical debate over whether humans have a soul, and if that soul exists whether it can be transferred to another physical entity by the teleportation machine. If the answer to either of those questions is no then surely you must die when you teleport and another person is created at the other end, so you wouldn't get to enjoy whatever exotic location you were teleporting to. It would just be someone else who thinks they're you.
If a dozen copies of yourself were created, if only you can be
you, then presumably you’d be experiencing what those dozen copies of you were all experiencing simultaneously? So you’d be doing 12 things at once?
Otherwise if they were all copies of you but you were still just you, they would have their own consciousness and not actually be you, they just look the same.
you, then presumably you’d be experiencing what those dozen copies of you were all experiencing simultaneously? So you’d be doing 12 things at once?
Otherwise if they were all copies of you but you were still just you, they would have their own consciousness and not actually be you, they just look the same.
thegreenhell said:
But your body doesn't replace all cells all at once in a different location. It's a gradual, controlled, internal process.
To understand how this teleportation might work would need a better understanding of consciousness than we currently have. You might be able to instantaneously create an exact clone of yourself in a different location with an identical physical and mental structure and identical memories, but would it be 'you', or would it gain a new consciousness starting from where you left off, effectively someone else living the rest of your life for you?
In essence, it becomes a philosophical and metaphysical debate over whether humans have a soul, and if that soul exists whether it can be transferred to another physical entity by the teleportation machine. If the answer to either of those questions is no then surely you must die when you teleport and another person is created at the other end, so you wouldn't get to enjoy whatever exotic location you were teleporting to. It would just be someone else who thinks they're you.
I understand your point. Teleportation is killing ‘me’, with a new individual appearing at the new location. It looks and sounds like me, but maybe it’s not really ‘me’. To understand how this teleportation might work would need a better understanding of consciousness than we currently have. You might be able to instantaneously create an exact clone of yourself in a different location with an identical physical and mental structure and identical memories, but would it be 'you', or would it gain a new consciousness starting from where you left off, effectively someone else living the rest of your life for you?
In essence, it becomes a philosophical and metaphysical debate over whether humans have a soul, and if that soul exists whether it can be transferred to another physical entity by the teleportation machine. If the answer to either of those questions is no then surely you must die when you teleport and another person is created at the other end, so you wouldn't get to enjoy whatever exotic location you were teleporting to. It would just be someone else who thinks they're you.
My answer to that is ‘so what’.
“I” am the emergent property of the matter/energy bundle that is currently writing this post. If you resemble the identical matter/energy bundle in a new location, it’s still ‘me’.
There was no other dimensional / spiritual / metaphysical / ghost to get lost in the process. If there was, people would have noticed long before I ever got to use it.
I don’t believe there would be a lost soul any more than I believe my soul is stolen when someone takes my photo.
E63eeeeee... said:
Surely a completely identical copy of you *is* you.
If you created a dozen identical versions of you, and shuffled them around, so nobody, including all the yous, knew which was the original, which one would be you?
Each has their own consciousness, which at the moment they are created is identical. Each has equal right to think of themselves as ‘me’. If you created a dozen identical versions of you, and shuffled them around, so nobody, including all the yous, knew which was the original, which one would be you?
If I were to emerge at the other end of the teleporter standing next to another ‘me’ because of a malfunction, I can’t begin to know how I would feel. I would know I am ‘me’. But not sure I’d be able stick to my argument and accept the guy I’m standing next to is also ‘me’. But that would be an emotional reaction to a situation no human being has ever faced.
I remember reading somewhere that the problem is with the 'quantum you' rather than the 'physical you' because there's no way to predict which quantum bits might or might not be transported into the physical you.
And yes, for the physicists who'll want to correct me, I wholly understand that the physical person is made up of lots of quantum bits.
And yes, for the physicists who'll want to correct me, I wholly understand that the physical person is made up of lots of quantum bits.
Obvs need the Heisenberg compensator > https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Heisenberg_co...
Cotty said:
welshjon81 said:
No. As you say it would kill you. You may have a clone of yourself the other side but you "as you know/feel it" would be gone forever.
Its a bit like making a clone of yourself, and then committing suicide.
LIke the film The PrestigeIts a bit like making a clone of yourself, and then committing suicide.
The teleport suggested by the OP would be a similar system, but it disposes of the original for you, so no mess.
I seem to be an outlier here. Do people have an ethical issue because they see it as suicide? Or is there a belief that your ‘soul’ will be lost with your original body?
Berger 3rd said:
If a dozen copies of yourself were created, if only you can be
you, then presumably you’d be experiencing what those dozen copies of you were all experiencing simultaneously? So you’d be doing 12 things at once?
Otherwise if they were all copies of you but you were still just you, they would have their own consciousness and not actually be you, they just look the same.
Linda Nagata is very good with these points in the Nanotech Succession Series booksyou, then presumably you’d be experiencing what those dozen copies of you were all experiencing simultaneously? So you’d be doing 12 things at once?
Otherwise if they were all copies of you but you were still just you, they would have their own consciousness and not actually be you, they just look the same.
thegreenhell said:
If you created those identical copies of you without destroying the original, which one would you say is you? And what then are all the others?
TNG episode Second Chances https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Second_Chance...
Silvanus said:
ZedLeg said:
I would but it’s physically impossible. We can’t even fully figure out how consciousness is formed, let alone copying/transferring it.
Not to mention we can't even build the northern section of HS2 
PositronicRay said:
I probably would, but as I'm not an early adopter and a bit risk avrese unlikely.
Surely this is the right answer. If teleportation were invented tomorrow, I suspect there would be few takers next week, but if it were established technology, users would not worry about how it worked. Just like flying- most passengers have no idea why an aircraft stays up, or how a helicopter can fly with no obvious wings- they just accept that these things work and use them for their convenience.Gassing Station | Science! | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff