# Purpose of the levers controlling a Trek Transporter? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 13, 2010, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-the-levers-controlling-a-trek-transporter/539331 "2010-05-13T18:51:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-the-levers-controlling-a-trek-transporter/539331/41 "2010-05-14T20:22:37Z")
I found this site: [REC.ARTS.STARTREK.TECH FAQ: Transporters, Replicators and Phasing](http://www.calormen.com/Star_Trek/FAQs/transport-faq.htm) It has some interesting info of transporters, but not what the three levers do. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-the-levers-controlling-a-trek-transporter/539331/42 "2010-05-14T20:36:55Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > That’s the beauty of it. They don’t do _anything_! They can be anything we want! -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Corner\_Case](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/corner_case/32/234_2.png) [@Corner\_Case](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corner_Case)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-the-levers-controlling-a-trek-transporter/539331/43 "2010-05-14T20:57:46Z")
The Id, Ego, and Super-Ego. That’s why messing with them splits people into Good and Evil of varying degrees. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-the-levers-controlling-a-trek-transporter/539331/44 "2010-05-14T21:15:02Z")
> [@Corner\_Case](#): > > The Id, Ego, and Super-Ego. That’s why messing with them splits people into Good and Evil of varying degrees. But Kirk’s Ego is too big for one measily lever. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-the-levers-controlling-a-trek-transporter/539331/45 "2010-05-14T22:02:13Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Just be careful, lest someone arrive inside out. Farewell Mr Sonak ☹ > [@simster](#): > > They do nothing at all, except to give the dude running them some feeling of control at the time, especially when something is going wrong. Pretty much. There’s a line along those lines in one of Iain Banks’ Culture novels, someone is issuing orders for the construction of a ship, the protagonist asks why bother, the reply is similar to the above. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-the-levers-controlling-a-trek-transporter/539331/46 "2010-05-15T03:43:19Z")
> [@](#): > > pixelization is not something you want to happen to living beings. Oh, I used to think that, but then I met this girl in a bar: _“Oh, I’m not really **bad** – I just look that way at 72 pixels per inch…”_ Now I’m from a “Press Quality” 200-line screen kinda family, and I’d only talked to high-resolution girls before, but whoa… Found out too late she wasn’t even anti-aliased. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-the-levers-controlling-a-trek-transporter/539331/47 "2010-05-15T04:51:28Z")
> [@The\_Controvert](#): > > What is the purpose of the 3 levers? Why not a single lever, or even just a single button? You mean on the original series? When Kirk said “energize” and Scotty used both hands to move all the levers to operate the transporter? I thought there were six levers. I’ve looked for a video on Youtube but can’t find any showing the levers. Anyway, there’s six pads on the transporter. I thought it was one lever per pad. So if they were beaming two people down, they’d only use two levers. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-the-levers-controlling-a-trek-transporter/539331/48 "2010-05-15T04:58:07Z")
Just make sure the engineer in charge of your Digital Conveyer is fully-versed in the latest Conveyance technologies… “But the animal is inside-out [And it exploded…](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPND-I2_1dk)” ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-the-levers-controlling-a-trek-transporter/539331/49 "2010-05-15T05:53:46Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > There are. FOUR! levers! 😃 ETA: I made a similar reference in the [New Sharp Television](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=12422999) thread but no one seemed to notice (or care). So thought to acknowledge the humor. Mrs. Devil and I can’t have a dispute over numbers without making the reference. It can get quite ugly if the number five is involved, what with the Python/Trek clash. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-the-levers-controlling-a-trek-transporter/539331/50 "2010-05-18T04:59:48Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > You beam colors separately! Not since the brave Klingon warrioress r’Osa Par’Ks stood up for equality you don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-the-levers-controlling-a-trek-transporter/539331/51 "2010-05-18T14:31:30Z")
Lather, Rinse, Repeat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-the-levers-controlling-a-trek-transporter/539331.md?page=2)