# 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:** 6\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2009, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-star-trek-teleporter/522973/61 "2009-12-31T22:16:27Z")
This discussion reminds me of The Prestige. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-star-trek-teleporter/522973/62 "2010-01-01T02:22:19Z")
> [@True Blue Jack](#): > > You mean similar to a full-body root canal operation with [twilight anesthesia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight_anesthesia)? > > No thank you. 🙂 Yeah… One of those life factoids you wished you had never heard about. Oh, I was thinking of that effect where you are put under, and the surgeons think you are under, but instead you are fully concious and feel all the pain, but you cant do anything about. Yeah, fun times for sure. ---
**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:** [January 1, 2010, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-star-trek-teleporter/522973/63 "2010-01-01T02:24:31Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Yeah… > > One of those life factoids you wished you had never heard about. What’s so weird about twilight anesthesia? I’ve had it for dental surgery a couple of times and it was fine. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-star-trek-teleporter/522973/64 "2010-01-01T02:49:09Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > What’s so weird about twilight anesthesia? I’ve had it for dental surgery a couple of times and it was fine. I was thinking twilight amnesia was what I referred to in the second part of my post. Where you are basically paralyzed but otherwise fully awake for something major, like say open heart surgery. Apparently this happens way too often. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-star-trek-teleporter/522973/65 "2010-01-01T16:45:35Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > No. You’re, in effect, faxing a human. The person on the other end is as much “me” as the faxes I receive at work are the original documents that my customers printed off in Colorado and sent to me in Tennessee. Just to pick a nit. A faxed document is not legally the same as a document with a live signature. It’s really easy to tell the difference. And, no, you can’t fax over your color swatches as part of your contractual submittals. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-star-trek-teleporter/522973/66 "2010-01-01T17:18:37Z")
> [@Stealth\_Potato](#): > > So, would you say that some sort of continuity is a necessary part of the definition of the identity of an object, in addition to its physical attributes? Personally, I’m not sure I can imagine a definition of that continuity that isn’t completely arbitrary. IMHO, a more practical way to define identity is that if there is no possible way to distinguish between two things, they are the same thing. No, they are not. If the teleporter in question relies on the fax/copy/destroy method, I would think a lot of historians and archeologists would agree with me, in regards to historical artifacts. (At least, those that we have place special value on.) You’re correct in that it’s difficult to define. There may be an emotional/subconsious aspect to all that. As illogical as it may seem, this aspect is still is something that shapes the reality to come. For whatever reason, the original Declaration of Independence still draws tourists, even though we can call up a copy on the internet. The original documents will seem special. If it was found out that the documents now resting in Washington DC is a copy (and the original-original is now missing), the perceived value of the copy goes down for many people (even if the meaning of the words written on it still have value). It may not make sense to you, but never-the-less, you will have to deal with the consequences of this phenomenon. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-use-a-star-trek-teleporter/522973.md?page=3)