# Would you use a Star Trek teleporter? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 29, 2009, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-star-trek-teleporter/522973 "2009-12-29T22:04:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-star-trek-teleporter/522973/21 "2009-12-30T01:30:00Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > If it really existed and could get people out of having to endure travel, everybody here would jump at the chance. I’d go first. I hate travel. Everybody hates travel. Even George Clooney in \*Up in the Air \*hates travel, no matter what he says. > > As for the philosophical aspects… I don’t believe in philosophy and I don’t believe anybody does. 🙂 > > BTW, if anyone didn’t recognize it, the scenario in the OP is from James Patrick Kelly’s great story, “Think Like a Dinosaur.” The equation must be balanced! Also a fantastic “Outer Limits” episode. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-star-trek-teleporter/522973/22 "2009-12-30T01:37:09Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Obligatory Hitchhiker’s Guide quote. > > \*Aldebaran’s great, okay, > Algol’s pretty neat, > Betelgeuse’s pretty girls > Will knock you off your feet. > They’ll do anything you like > Real fast and then real slow, > But if you have to take me apart to get me there > Then I don’t want to go. \* _I teleported home one night With Ron and Sid and Meg Ron stole meggies heart away And I got Sidney’s leg._ ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-star-trek-teleporter/522973/23 "2009-12-30T01:55:49Z")
I wouldn’t. I’ve seen Spaceballs. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-star-trek-teleporter/522973/24 "2009-12-30T02:24:45Z")
They’re called transporters, not teleporters. And I wouldn’t want to have my atoms scattered back and forth across space by those gadgets. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-star-trek-teleporter/522973/25 "2009-12-30T02:54:34Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > Transporter, maybe. > > Holodeck? No freakin’ way! Holodeck would be great. You’d just have to avoid any Sherlock Holmes scenarios. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-star-trek-teleporter/522973/26 "2009-12-30T03:09:02Z")
an attempt to infuse some science into this… Differences between a teleporter and a cloner: 1 - you can’t move inorganic material. 2 - cancer. multiplying cells has a nasty habit of causing mutations if a teleporter was ever on the market, i’d ride it multiple times a day. i would pee off my bed directly into the toilet. i’d \*69 my teleporter and shoot bb’s into random houses. i would do all of my shopping directly from my friends/parents’ fridge (mom. you should really be drinking more orange juice. with pulp. buy more orange juice. with pulp. and beef jerkey) a cloner? notsomuch. i wouldn’t be comfortable with getting cancer because i’m too cheap and lazy to get my own orange juice. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-star-trek-teleporter/522973/27 "2009-12-30T03:42:10Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Holodeck would be great. You’d just have to avoid any Sherlock Holmes scenarios. What about a holodeck that was simulating a scenario where you transporting a failing warp core? Talk about horror cubed!!! ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-star-trek-teleporter/522973/28 "2009-12-30T05:06:29Z")
I would jump at the opportunity. I’d even volunteer to be the first to try it. ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-star-trek-teleporter/522973/29 "2009-12-30T05:12:15Z")
After they send a rhesus monkey and a couple of hamsters first, right? ---
**Author:** ![Surbey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@Surbey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surbey)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-star-trek-teleporter/522973/30 "2009-12-30T05:17:18Z")
This is an exact explanation why teleportation will never sell. [Big Bang Theory](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eTUz61LNjo) I would be destroyed and my doppelganger would never know the difference. He’d be me and think that teleportation worked. However, when he went back home, he’d be completely destroyed and a second doppelganger would emerge. One of the worst problems about this is there would be no way to prove whether you did transfer a consciousness or simply duplicated a person. They wouldn’t know the difference. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-star-trek-teleporter/522973/31 "2009-12-30T05:29:41Z")
Man, for a board full of atheists, I’m surprised this is such a bad problem, If you have no soul, then what makes you you is the information stored in your brain. That information is transfered. so that means YOU were transfered. The problem shows up when you do believe in a soul. Because then, transferring the information doesn’t necessarily transfer you. If it doesn’t, then the person with the soul is killed. It seems that people do believe in a soul, even if they don’t call it that. (Or maybe there aren’t as many atheists on this board as I thought.) ---
**Author:** ![Surbey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@Surbey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surbey)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-star-trek-teleporter/522973/32 "2009-12-30T05:35:15Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Man, for a board full of atheists, I’m surprised this is such a bad problem, If you have no soul, then what makes you you is the information stored in your brain. That information is transfered. so that means YOU were transfered. > > The problem shows up when you do believe in a soul. Because then, transferring the information doesn’t necessarily transfer you. If it doesn’t, then the person with the soul is killed. > > It seems that people do believe in a soul, even if they don’t call it that. (Or maybe there aren’t as many atheists on this board as I thought.) WRONG! We aren’t talking about a soul. If you copy me, duplicate me on the other end, and destroy me, I won’t wake up on the other side. my duplicate will. I’m not sure how I feel about exploding all my atoms into a transportable state, then move them, and finally reassemble them. I guess if they’re the same atoms, I’d be ok with that. I believe I’d wake up. I’m not sure how Star Trek works exactly. Is that a matter duplicator or a matter mover? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-star-trek-teleporter/522973/33 "2009-12-30T07:59:12Z")
> [@Surbey](#): > > WRONG! We aren’t talking about a soul. If you copy me, duplicate me on the other end, and destroy me, I won’t wake up on the other side. my duplicate will. > I’m not sure how I feel about exploding all my atoms into a transportable state, then move them, and finally reassemble them. I guess if they’re the same atoms, I’d be ok with that. I believe I’d wake up. I’m not sure how Star Trek works exactly. Is that a matter duplicator or a matter mover? The transporter in Star Trek is a matter mover. In other words, a person’s molecules are converted to energy, beamed to their destination, and reassembled on the other end. In fact, Star Trek has depicted the transportee as staying conscious through the whole procedure. That was one thing about the transportation process that had Reg Barclay spooked. ---
**Author:** ![Scruff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Scruff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruff)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-star-trek-teleporter/522973/34 "2009-12-30T08:24:40Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > In fact, Star Trek has depicted the transportee as staying conscious through the whole procedure. Yea, but in the TNG episode _Relics_, Mr. Scott had been in the transporter for 75 years and had not figured out that time had passed. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-star-trek-teleporter/522973/35 "2009-12-30T13:22:36Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I read a story a little while ago about this kind of technology being used to send people out into outer space, except they didn’t kill the old versions. It was an interesting study of how bitter some of them became, because they were sent out far away from everyone, all the while knowing that one version of them stayed home comfortably with all their loved ones. > > The OP - yes, I would use it. Well, I wouldn’t be one of the _first_ to use it, but once the technology was proven as safe as can be expected, I would. Would that be _Rogue Moon_ by Algis Budrys? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-star-trek-teleporter/522973/36 "2009-12-30T13:25:16Z")
> [@Surbey](#): > > WRONG! We aren’t talking about a soul. If you copy me, duplicate me on the other end, and destroy me, I won’t wake up on the other side. my duplicate will. Your physical and mental forms are copied exactly. Unless there’s something else that makes you you, then both the original and the copy are still you. Traditionally, this difference is called a soul. So it seems to me that humans intrinsically know there is something other than our physical and mental form. Or, at least, the hypothetical requires it to be so. BTW, I’m fine if you think I’m wrong. But give me something else besides begging the question\* if you want to prove it to me. \*You’re response was basically “If I’m duplicated and the original is destroyed, is the copy me? No, because the original is destroyed.” ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-star-trek-teleporter/522973/37 "2009-12-30T13:30:34Z")
Grrr. You’re == Your ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-star-trek-teleporter/522973/38 "2009-12-30T14:36:25Z")
> [@Scruff](#): > > Yea, but in the TNG episode _Relics_, Mr. Scott had been in the transporter for 75 years and had not figured out that time had passed. > :dubious: Well, he does drink a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-star-trek-teleporter/522973/39 "2009-12-30T14:41:52Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Man, for a board full of atheists, I’m surprised this is such a bad problem, If you have no soul, then what makes you you is the information stored in your brain. That information is transfered. so that means YOU were transfered. > > The problem shows up when you do believe in a soul. Because then, transferring the information doesn’t necessarily transfer you. If it doesn’t, then the person with the soul is killed. > > It seems that people do believe in a soul, even if they don’t call it that. (Or maybe there aren’t as many atheists on this board as I thought.) Well. I may be an atheist, but do I really want to put it to the test? I’m going to go on the safe side a la Pascal and NOT go in the transporter 'cause hey…you never know. ---
**Author:** ![Slappy\_the\_Clown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@Slappy\_the\_Clown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slappy_the_Clown)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-star-trek-teleporter/522973/40 "2009-12-30T14:51:51Z")
No. Two words. Transporter psychosis. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-star-trek-teleporter/522973.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-star-trek-teleporter/522973.md?page=3)