Cypress (05-05-2021), Doc Dutch (05-06-2021), ThatOwlWoman (05-06-2021)
Food for thought for you.
There are two episodes on this. What happens when the teleportor malfunctions and you remand behind and there's a copy of you on a planet. So who is this copy? It certainly isn't you.
So the standard teleportation scene in sci-fi goes something like this: You step into the teleportation chamber here on Earth, the technician presses a few buttons, a beam sweeps over you, and moments later you materialize in a teleportation chamber on Venus (a lovely vacation destination; bring your sunscreen).
Of course, sci-fi is not science, so it can gloss over the finer points of how this might work. Philosophers (bless them) parading as scientists have given us a couple of options regarding these finer points. (Scientists have stayed away from the issue because of it being “impossible” or some-such. Such negative nancys.)
Option 1: Each particle of you is converted to energy and actually beamed through space to be reconstituted into matter on Venus.
Option 2: Each particle of you is scanned, and the teleportation chamber on Venus pulls particles from a pile of carbon and constitutes them one by one to match the original you on Earth.
https://www.welovephilosophy.com/201...tation-debate/
One of the coolest technologies depicted on Star Trek is the transporter, which can be used to send a person tens of thousands of miles in just a few seconds. But as any good Star Trek fan knows, transporters are far from perfect. Over the years, we have seen that transporter malfunctions come in many shapes and sizes — literally. In one episode, a transporter error transforms several crewmembers into children. More broadly, transporter malfunctions have split crewmen into multiple people, combined multiple people into one person, separated crewmen’s minds from their bodies, transported people to wonky mirror dimensions, and, in the most mundane scenario of all, sent crewmen to the wrong destination. These regular malfunctions raise a bevy of legal questions about transporters, liability, and personhood.
https://www.escapistmagazine.com/v2/...aw-philosophy/
This goes back to the philosophy of Ship of Theseus.
So who are we? And do we really survive over time? I remember the claim that every atom in your body is replaced every 7 years.
Cypress (05-05-2021), Doc Dutch (05-06-2021), ThatOwlWoman (05-06-2021)
The mind-body problem, eh?
If you can tell me what consciousness is, and how or if consciousness is separate from the brain, I am going to nominate you for a Nobel Prize.
AProudLefty (05-05-2021), ThatOwlWoman (05-06-2021)
Cypress (05-06-2021)
AProudLefty (05-06-2021), ThatOwlWoman (05-06-2021)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus
Basically if a ship has every part replaced, is it still the same ship?
Cypress (05-06-2021)
The question is, is who we are just the accumulation of experiences which have been imprinted on our minds/neurons, period, full stop? I believe that is what John Locke asserted.
Or are experiences something our independent consciousness owns, like clothes are to a human?
That is the 64 thousand dollar question.
AProudLefty (05-06-2021)
AProudLefty (05-06-2021), ThatOwlWoman (05-06-2021)
There's no reason to force objectivity into pure subjctivity so suddenly.
Besides that, what constitutes something living? First you have to prove what this is and you cant. Our minds are simply separate from the real world. You cant prove they exist since they do not. You cannot prove life without being able to reach into that other place and understand it.
This is the real world where we can be wrong. In your own mindscape you cant be wrong unless you will it.
Besides that, the haveto teleport vigorously in federation academy. They'd be long dead before the first episode before the first edge of your context.
Not a real treky either hmm?
"Men are not potatoes!"
If people are no more than living machines, yes. Same "ship".
If people have souls or some link to another dimension/supernatural existence, will the soul be released upon the first dematerialization? What happens to the person on the other end?
This is given that the tech is even feasible. Roddenberry came up with the transporter to avoid having to constantly show shuttle departures, landings, returns,etc.
There's a lot of Star Trek Tech in existence: automatic doors, sensor beds, communicators/tricorders (thanks Apple!), etc but transporters may never be developed due to the energy and tech requirements.
"Hatred is a failure of imagination" - Graham Greene, "The Power and the Glory"
AProudLefty (05-06-2021), Cypress (05-06-2021), ThatOwlWoman (05-06-2021)
Doc Dutch (05-06-2021)
AProudLefty (05-06-2021)
Doc Dutch (05-06-2021)
"Hatred is a failure of imagination" - Graham Greene, "The Power and the Glory"
AProudLefty (05-06-2021)
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