# So, suppose humans got a gene mutation that allowed them to teleport **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 23, 2025, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-humans-got-a-gene-mutation-that-allowed-them-to-teleport/1025987 "2025-12-23T16:37:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-humans-got-a-gene-mutation-that-allowed-them-to-teleport/1025987/21 "2025-12-24T23:31:53Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > so he wrote stories about needing booths at both ends Which to my thinking is really just a suicide machine on one end and a matter replicator on the other. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-humans-got-a-gene-mutation-that-allowed-them-to-teleport/1025987/22 "2025-12-24T23:38:48Z")
As has been debated endlessly to no real conclusion. Whether or not there’s a booth at either end, one school of thought is that “you” are moved from here to there. The other school is “you” are killed and a (reptiloid?) replicant is created at the other end. There are no real answers to these questions about magical tech. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-humans-got-a-gene-mutation-that-allowed-them-to-teleport/1025987/23 "2025-12-24T23:47:38Z")
Nicen finessed that too, in a manner I don’t quite recall. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2025, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-humans-got-a-gene-mutation-that-allowed-them-to-teleport/1025987/24 "2025-12-25T01:11:25Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Which to my thinking is really just a suicide machine on one end and a matter replicator on the other. Not his version; it converted the transported object into a highly complex particle that was transmitted to the target and converted back to normal matter. Matter replication doesn’t come into it. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2025, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-humans-got-a-gene-mutation-that-allowed-them-to-teleport/1025987/25 "2025-12-25T02:49:42Z")
Thanks - that was the dodge I was trying to remember ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2025, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-humans-got-a-gene-mutation-that-allowed-them-to-teleport/1025987/26 "2025-12-25T03:15:41Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Which to my thinking is really just a suicide machine on one end and a matter replicator on the other. Puppeteers wouldn’t use them if they weren’t 100% safe. > **[Stepping disk](https://larryniven.fandom.com/wiki/Stepping_disk)** > > An advanced teleportation system designed and used by Puppeteers, comprised of flat, open disks. When one steps onto a transmitter disk, one is immediately transported at or near light speed to the next receiver disk. Molecular filters can be applied... ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2025, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-humans-got-a-gene-mutation-that-allowed-them-to-teleport/1025987/27 "2025-12-25T08:17:40Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Instantaneous travel should take care of the universal movement problem, but a built in “occupying already occupied territory” factor still exists…until enough incidents cause the earth’s population to decrease to acceptable levels. And ya know… the thing is, even if that “territory” is not occupied by a person or tree or whatever… it’s still occupied by various virus, bacteria, molecules, etc. which could make your neato time-jump all kinds of not so neat-o. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2025, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-humans-got-a-gene-mutation-that-allowed-them-to-teleport/1025987/28 "2025-12-25T10:09:07Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Not his version; it converted the transported object into a highly complex particle that was transmitted to the target and converted back to normal matter. Matter replication doesn’t come into it. This method was referenced directly in a TV Christmas story I watched last night; apparently Father Christmas can teleport using macroscopic particles, quantum tunnelling and an Alcubierre drive… > **[Finding Father Christmas](https://www.channel4.com/programmes/finding-father-christmas)** > > A 16-year-old boy (Lenny Rush) goes on a quest to prove that Father Christmas exists ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2025, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-humans-got-a-gene-mutation-that-allowed-them-to-teleport/1025987/29 "2025-12-25T12:30:17Z")
Once you’re successfully solving the problems of scanning, disassembly, and transmission, solving the remaining problem of gasses and microscopic debris in your target volume are utterly trivial. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2025, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-humans-got-a-gene-mutation-that-allowed-them-to-teleport/1025987/30 "2025-12-25T13:00:05Z")
And to anyone that claims that the person on the other side is you and it basically doesn’t matter, I ask: What if you were asked to step into the disintegrator _after_ “you” were recreated on the other side? Would you willingly do it? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2025, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-humans-got-a-gene-mutation-that-allowed-them-to-teleport/1025987/31 "2025-12-25T14:16:05Z")
What if you ponder like a Pachycephalosaur? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2025, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-humans-got-a-gene-mutation-that-allowed-them-to-teleport/1025987/32 "2025-12-26T15:28:57Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Which to my thinking is really just a suicide machine on one end and a matter replicator on the other. Just like cars are suicide machines. Souls can’t travel that fast, so you actually die whenever a car exceeds 60 MPH, and a new you is created at the other end of your journey. Which makes about as much sense as the teleportation version of the argument. > [@Czarcasm](#): > > And to anyone that claims that the person on the other side is you and it basically doesn’t matter, I ask: What if you were asked to step into the disintegrator _after_ “you” were recreated on the other side? Would you willingly do it? You’re assuming that there’s two different devices involved. Why assume that? That’s much more complicated than assuming one device. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2025, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-humans-got-a-gene-mutation-that-allowed-them-to-teleport/1025987/33 "2025-12-26T15:32:08Z")
I’m sorry, but saying that one device _here_ destroys you as another device _there_ recreates you pretty much screams “two devices”. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2025, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-humans-got-a-gene-mutation-that-allowed-them-to-teleport/1025987/34 "2025-12-26T15:52:14Z")
The book series _Jumper_, by Steven Gould, explores this concept fairly thoroughly (the movie adaptation, not so much). Davy has to remember the “feel” of a place he wants to teleport to- and he can only teleport to places he remembers reasonably well or can see. Conservation of momentum is taken care of by the teleportation (and is explored further by his daughter in _Exo_). I highly recommend the series. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2025, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-humans-got-a-gene-mutation-that-allowed-them-to-teleport/1025987/35 "2025-12-26T15:58:26Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I’m sorry, but saying that one device _here_ destroys you as another device _there_ recreates you pretty much screams “two devices”. Right, so why assume that? Why not instead assume that the two devices don’t destroy you and recreate you, and they just keep you but change your position? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2025, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-humans-got-a-gene-mutation-that-allowed-them-to-teleport/1025987/36 "2025-12-26T16:02:03Z")
Because I was responding to the post right before mine. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2025, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-humans-got-a-gene-mutation-that-allowed-them-to-teleport/1025987/37 "2025-12-26T16:09:59Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Right, so why assume that? Why not instead assume that the two devices don’t destroy you and recreate you, and they just keep you but change your position? Because sometimes they explicitly say that they destroy you and recreate you with new atoms on the other side. That said, even if they transmute your particles into exotic matter or something, for the instant when your body doesn’t exist and your exotic particles are flying across the universe to the receiver, aren’t you kinda… Dead? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2025, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-humans-got-a-gene-mutation-that-allowed-them-to-teleport/1025987/38 "2025-12-26T16:15:39Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Because I was responding to the post right before mine. Right. And I was responding to a post that specified “booths” (plural) at both ends. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2025, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-humans-got-a-gene-mutation-that-allowed-them-to-teleport/1025987/39 "2025-12-26T16:19:31Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > > [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > > > Which to my thinking is really just a suicide machine on one end and a matter replicator on the other. > > Just like cars are suicide machines. Souls can’t travel that fast, so you actually die whenever a car exceeds 60 MPH, and a new you is created at the other end of your journey. > > Which makes about as much sense as the teleportation version of the argument. No, the two situations are quite different. When traveling in a car at 60 mph, or in a jet plane at 600 mph, or in an earth orbiter at 17,500 mph, you are fully conscious through the whole process. The disturbing part is when you lose consciousness, as with general anaesthesia, for example. Or even just going to sleep, which we tend not to fear because we’re so accustomed to it, but there’s an interesting novel, _Before I Go to Sleep_ by S.J. Watson about a woman who loses all her memories every time she sleeps. There’s also _The Jaunt_, a short story by Stephen King, about a time when teleportation has been invented, and a family is preparing to teleport to Mars. The standard protocol is that everyone is anaesthetized beforehand, but the adventurous young son of the family manages to avoid it so he can physically experience the teleportation. I will not spoiler the story with any further details. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2025, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-humans-got-a-gene-mutation-that-allowed-them-to-teleport/1025987/40 "2025-12-26T16:20:06Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > That said, even if they transmute your particles into exotic matter or something, for the instant when your body doesn’t exist and your exotic particles are flying across the universe to the receiver, aren’t you kinda… Dead? No, of course not. Why would one even suspect so? The fact that you’re able to walk out of the booth on the other end is already enough to argue that “dead” is the wrong word for your state in between. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-humans-got-a-gene-mutation-that-allowed-them-to-teleport/1025987.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-humans-got-a-gene-mutation-that-allowed-them-to-teleport/1025987.md?page=3)