I have a dilemma which I hope a Trekkie can solve for me. In the act of transporting, one's body is transformed into an energy pattern (dematerialization), sent to a target, and then changed back into matter (rematerialization). Does this process not mean that an individual is, in essence, annihilated and then reformed? And if this is the case, is the individual not therefore killed by the act of dematerialization and a new individual, identical to the first, created on the other end?
Just wondering . . .
I'm not a Trekkie/Trekker but I took physics in university and we talked about this. You are correct. The transportee would be destroyed and reformed. So I think I was wondering the same thing - would the essence (or soul) still be contained in the "new" you. I say no, unless it could somehow transport souls as well. So what you'd have is a souless doppleganger walking around... walking and acting the part, but not really you.
ReplyDeletepart of the problem may be semantics. for example, what is "killed"? i thought spock was dead after "the wrath of khan". what is "essence"? although metaphysics is always vague in the star trek universe, according to advance beings such as ocampa or the traveller, "matter, energy, and thought" are related and interchangeable. so when a somebody is converted to a matter/energy stream, is that person really dead? and strangely enough, lieutenant barclay seemed to remain conscious during transport.
ReplyDeletehttp://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Realm_of_Fear_(episode)
some more transporter weirdness for you...
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Thomas_Riker
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/The_Enemy_Within_(episode)