# A test of faith in science - would you use a teleporter? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 10, 2010, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-test-of-faith-in-science-would-you-use-a-teleporter/542660 "2010-06-10T15:28:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![silk1976](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@silk1976](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silk1976)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-test-of-faith-in-science-would-you-use-a-teleporter/542660/1 "2010-06-10T15:28:59Z")
For a long time, I’ve always thought ‘if only we had teleportation - so many problems would be solved’. No need for living near the workplace, no need for transportation in general. I could live in Hawaii and work in MA, and have extra time during the day to boot, because I wouldn’t have my 45 minute one way commute each day. However, as I’ve learned more about the physics of even the hypothetical, I came to realize that anytime you’d step inside a teleporter, you’d be molecularly torn apart and killed. Sure, there would be some re-assembly on the other side, and you’d have all the same memories and cell structure as you had, so theoretically you’re no worse for wear. But still, the idea that I, in the incarnation that I’m aware of, would step onto a teleporter and be killed - thats a bit much to swallow. It’s all well and good to know that when I come out the other side I won’t know the difference - but I’d imagine that there would still be a small portion of time (even a fraction of a second) of the pain of being ripped apart. It also leads to the question - would the new incarnation of you on the other side have those painful memories? I’d imagine there would have to be some mechanism to erase the previous X seconds of your memory so that your new self would not be hesitant to use a teleporter again due to the pain and trauma experienced the last time. What do you think? ---
**Author:** ![Picard\_Kills\_Kirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/dec6dc/32.png) [@Picard\_Kills\_Kirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Picard_Kills_Kirk)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-test-of-faith-in-science-would-you-use-a-teleporter/542660/2 "2010-06-10T15:37:26Z")
Thanks, but I’ll drive. Even if the teleporter recreated me perfectly with the same memories and everything, I’d be afraid it would not have me. What happens to my perspective after I’ve been torn apart? Sure it would be someone who looks, acts, and thinks just like the previous **PKK** , but it wouldn’t be me! At least, I don’t think it would. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-test-of-faith-in-science-would-you-use-a-teleporter/542660/3 "2010-06-10T15:40:04Z")
Sign me up for the teleporter, and while you’re rearranging my molecules, I’d like straight hair and a smaller ass today. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-test-of-faith-in-science-would-you-use-a-teleporter/542660/4 "2010-06-10T16:00:58Z")
Is the teleporter software designed by Microsoft? :dubious: That would make a difference to me. Or if a brownout caused the 'porter to screw up, or a data stream glitch reassembled me with my nose on my forehead. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-test-of-faith-in-science-would-you-use-a-teleporter/542660/5 "2010-06-10T16:03:07Z")
Beam me up Scotty! ---
**Author:** ![silk1976](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@silk1976](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silk1976)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-test-of-faith-in-science-would-you-use-a-teleporter/542660/6 "2010-06-10T16:06:44Z")
Lets assume that the teleporter works perfectly as intended, because obviously if there is a chance of a screw up, far fewer people would use it. I’m mostly curious if there is a lot of excitement about using one, knowing that it is going to kill you in the process. ---
**Author:** ![Joanie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@Joanie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joanie)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-test-of-faith-in-science-would-you-use-a-teleporter/542660/7 "2010-06-10T16:08:28Z")
Only if it could transport me to a different time (as well as a different place). ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-test-of-faith-in-science-would-you-use-a-teleporter/542660/8 "2010-06-10T16:11:08Z")
You may be interested in the goings-on of this thread [over here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=566219) ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-test-of-faith-in-science-would-you-use-a-teleporter/542660/9 "2010-06-10T16:17:12Z")
Beam me up Snotty! ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-test-of-faith-in-science-would-you-use-a-teleporter/542660/10 "2010-06-10T16:24:13Z")
If it was well-established, well-tested technology with no history of side effects, I’d use it. Otherwise it would be like saying “man was not meant to fly, dadgummit!” ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-test-of-faith-in-science-would-you-use-a-teleporter/542660/11 "2010-06-10T16:27:39Z")
If the teleporter operated through molecular reassembly, no, I wouldn’t use it. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-test-of-faith-in-science-would-you-use-a-teleporter/542660/12 "2010-06-10T16:31:36Z")
If it works perfectly, I’d use it. (How much does the service cost? I can’t imagine it’d be free.) What worries me is the potential misuse of it. If it’s operated by honest and reputable people, OK. But what’s to prevent people from using them to teleport into bank vaults, people’s homes, or whatever? If only transporter to transporter travel is possible, and they’re located at major travel destinations, such as airports, then no problem. ---
**Author:** ![JohnnyMac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@JohnnyMac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnnyMac)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-test-of-faith-in-science-would-you-use-a-teleporter/542660/13 "2010-06-10T16:36:29Z")
Hell no, I wouldn’t use it. This is the dinner table conversation my father used on my brother and I when we were children, to introduce us to - philosophy, I suppose. “What makes you **you** ”. We agreed long ago that teleporters _kill_ you, and that continuity in physical form is _important_. Nowadays I’m not 100% if my future self is technically the same person, once all the atoms in my body have been replaced via cell death, etc, but there’s really no sense in worrying about that one. Actually, does anyone want to weigh in on it? I think it’s relevant to the discussion here. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-test-of-faith-in-science-would-you-use-a-teleporter/542660/14 "2010-06-10T16:49:21Z")
This is the kind of situation where faith is exactly the _wrong_ thing to use. You need skepticism, observation, suspicion, inspection of test logs, all those hard-edged attitudes that really underpin science. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-test-of-faith-in-science-would-you-use-a-teleporter/542660/15 "2010-06-10T16:52:43Z")
Meh I got no place to go in a hurry. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-test-of-faith-in-science-would-you-use-a-teleporter/542660/16 "2010-06-10T16:52:48Z")
> [@JohnnyMac](#): > > Actually, does anyone want to weigh in on it? I think it’s relevant to the discussion here. My thoughts on that is that I am not my cells, I am my thoughts. If new, synthesized cells assemble themselves in Maui, and those cells have my thoughts, then those cells are me. The whole teleporter thing brings up interesting questions, just from a practical standpoint. They’d most likely be regulated, and only available in major cities, as they’d probably hugely expensive. The cost to use one would be astronomical. And can you imagine how busy they’d be during the holidays? I wonder if you’d be allowed to bring a gun through one. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-test-of-faith-in-science-would-you-use-a-teleporter/542660/17 "2010-06-10T17:02:06Z")
What in the hell does this have to do with “faith in science”? Science can give you all kinds of reasons not to go. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-test-of-faith-in-science-would-you-use-a-teleporter/542660/18 "2010-06-10T17:09:22Z")
> [@Rushgeekgirl](#): > > Meh I got no place to go in a hurry. There are certain places I go that I’d like to skip the travel and just be there. But some place – Martha’s Vineyard, for instance – where the trip is part of the experience. When the ferry rounds the corner of West Chop and I see VH, that’s just about the best minute of my year. As to having faith in science – I think what you’d really need faith in is the teleporter operator and maintenance crew. ---
**Author:** ![Umbriel2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/4af34b/32.png) [@Umbriel2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Umbriel2)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-test-of-faith-in-science-would-you-use-a-teleporter/542660/19 "2010-06-10T17:15:29Z")
This is only a “faith in science” question if you accept the fundamental premise of the technology and are chiefly concerned about it failing. As I (and **Picard Kills Kirk** and others above) see it, if everything _does_ work correctly, you’re still killing yourself and replacing you with an exact duplicate. Possessing no [overriding obsession to motivate me](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0482571/), I’m not willing to sacrifice my life just to give my “successor” a shorter commute. ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-test-of-faith-in-science-would-you-use-a-teleporter/542660/20 "2010-06-10T17:20:38Z")
> [@Rushgeekgirl](#): > > Meh I got no place to go in a hurry. Winner! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-test-of-faith-in-science-would-you-use-a-teleporter/542660.md?page=2)