this post was submitted on 25 Jul 2023
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You know those sci-fi teleporters like in Star Trek where you disappear from one location then instantaneously reappear in another location? Do you trust that they are safe to use?

To fully understand my question, you need to understand the safety concerns regarding teleporters as explained in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQHBAdShgYI

spoilerI wouldn't, because the person that reappears aint me, its a fucking clone. Teleporters are murder machines. Star Trek is a silent massacre!

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[โ€“] Coeus@coeus.sbs 4 points 1 year ago

As long as it us thoroughly tested and considered safe. I'm not going first.

[โ€“] Datas_Cat_Spot@startrek.website 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm with old Dr. McCoy from that one TNG episode on this one. Not a chance.

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[โ€“] DJKJuicy@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago (14 children)

Well, if the technology actually existed, it would solve that whole "soul" question.

We would know pretty quickly if we transported humans and they came out the other side as soulless aberrations because their original just got killed.

So yeah, I would 100% use it after it first proved once and for all that the sum of our consciousness really is all the synapses and signals and grey matter in our heads. Because if so then what does it matter if your original matter has been erased and then recreated. Your clone is just as much you as you are you at that point.

[โ€“] Anomander@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Absolutely this.

Someone else can be the guinea pig, but if it's been tested and everyone came out fine? Yeah. I'll absolutely take advantage.

[โ€“] olivier@lemmy.fait.ch 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Even if the clone is undistinguishable from your old self, that old self has died. "you" has died. You didn't teleport to Mars, you died on Earth.

[โ€“] Anomander@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago (24 children)

You're repeating what OP said.

Thing is, the idea that an "old you" has "died" is a modern soul conceit. If "me" is just the combination of meat, electricity, and memories - then for all intents and purposes I was simply taken apart in one place and reassembled in another. Continuity of all three is maintained when I am reassembled on Mars with my body and memories intact. There is no "old" and "new" me - because what you or OP think defines "me" isn't something that dies when the meat stops working briefly.

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[โ€“] lol3droflxp@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago

So youโ€™d commit suicide so that some clone of you with all your memories can have a fun time on Mars?

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[โ€“] saigot@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 year ago

Imagine you have a device that transmits your brain signals into another body so that you can control 2 bodies at once. Clearly you are one self that is controlling two bodies. Clearly destroying either one of these bodies wouldn't really kill you (so long as your brain is fine) you'd just continue existing in the other body.

Now let's say we copy your brain exactly and put it in the other body, and then a device that synchronizes your memories and experiences. body 1 would act exactly like body 2 in every circumstance. I don't see the difference between the first scenario and the second, you are one self, distributed across 2 brains and 2 bodies. If you killed one of the bodies, no one would die, it would be more akin to losing a limb.

Now let's remove the synchronizer, for the first instant it's identical to scenario 2, but over time the 2 selves would diverge and become separate people.

so as long as we kill off the old self immediately before or at the same time as the new body comes online then I don't see it as a murder machine like you describe.

however, if we have the tech to copy the body perfectly, who is to say we can't improve the body as teleport them, make the new body stronger or disease proof. And if we do that, who's to say we couldn't make small changes to the thoughts or memories, make you more docile or forget injustices. That seems pretty risky to me.

[โ€“] 100thCatMarch@kbin.cafe 3 points 1 year ago

I won't. I take public transportation with friends and teleportation doesn't really have that social aspect.

[โ€“] zerbey@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In ST canon they are considered the safest form of travel. So, yeah I'd use them if that was the standard.

[โ€“] bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Except they have malfunctions all the time and there are several characters who refuse to use transporters.

[โ€“] Buckshot@programming.dev 3 points 1 year ago

"How many Transporter accidents have there been in the last tens years, Reg? Two... three? What about the millions of people who transport every day without a problem" - Geordi - TNG Realm of Fear S6E2

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[โ€“] ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)
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[โ€“] PlutoniumAcid@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

I'm already a clone. Sure, why not.

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