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Teleportation

Discussion in 'Chit Chat' started by Hexagon, Sep 30, 2014.

  1. Hexagon

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    If teleportation were possible, would it be ethical, and more specifically, would you still be the same person after the teleportation?

    To avoid confusion, I'll just describe the technology. A person is scanned, and the particles making up their body are noted. Then that body is reassembled elsewhere in precisely the same order from other particles in another location. The person's brain structure is precisely preserved, so they retain all their memories, personality, sense of self etc.

    And here is a comic illustrating the issue, plus a little extra, which you may enjoy.
     
  2. One Man Army

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    Sure, I don't see why it wouldn't be ethical.

    Would you be the same person after the teleportation? That's an interesting one. If the atoms that make up your body are unchanged, then I'd say yes, you are the same person. It's just like moving normally in time, but really really fast.

    Maybe this is too simplistic, I don't know.
     
  3. Ryujin

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    Considering that most cells in your body are replaced as you age, are you not you when you have entirely different cells? I don't think it's unethical. The previous incarnation of you doesn't exist and only the current one does, you voluntarily did it and you still have all your thoughts, feelings and desires. I have no problem with it.
     
  4. Nychthemeron

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    That was upsetting.
     
  5. HappyGirlLucky

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    I say it would be unethical. I would certainly never allow myself to be teleported, because I believe the reconstructed person would no longer be "me". It would be an exact functioning replica of me who experiences herself to be me, and believes she made it out alive, but it wouldn't be me.

    The reason I believe this is if the person coming out on the other side had all the memories of the previous person, they would obviously claim to be the same person; but would they be? If so, wouldn't copying the exact molecular structure of a person and "printing" two of them on the other end cause an exact duplicate of that person to exist? This would mean you would be in two places at once, but obviously you can't experience that, so they are just "clones" of you who both feel like the Real Slim Shady.
     
  6. resu

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    I think it would be okay, but I'm not sure the second person would be exactly same as "me". That would seem to break the Heisenberg uncertainty principle.
     
  7. Some Dude

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    Unethical, creating a clone of someone in a different place does not make it the same person, whether the atoms are the same or not.
     
  8. HuskyPup

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    It worked well enough on Start Trek, so I'm all for the idea.

    Each day, I waste 2 to 3 hours in horrendous traffic, commuting to a job that barely pays the bills because it's all I can find...and it is a soul-killing thing, after a few years of it. So if it was cheaper, yep, sign me up! It'd probably also be safer, as auto accidents are a huge cause of death/injuries. Or, we could develop better mass transit, but you'd have to get rid of the Republicans before that would ever happen, and get the $ that big oil and the auto industry have invested trying to block such things.

    Edit: The comic was odd...reminded me of those Bible pamphlets you find laying around, in ways.


    Oh, and if I could somehow even make clones with it...even better!
     
    #8 HuskyPup, Sep 30, 2014
    Last edited: Sep 30, 2014
  9. DeviantAttitude

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    You are not really the same person. You are just a copy. A perfect copy but it's really just creating someone else.

    Since there is no way to replicate it we can't really know what the real world repercussions would be.
     
  10. radicalmuffins

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    I don't think it's unethical but I think it's sad.

    I think it's also kind of impossible to just replicate what you are made of and assemble it in a different place especially for complex animals like us. The body is made up of more than just atoms. It has complex DNA structures that are unique to individuals. I don't know how they will reassemble that part.
     
  11. HappyGirlLucky

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    I too think the person wouldn't exactly be "you" because of something sort of related. As far as I know (I'm not a physicist, but I do know chemistry) an atom, at any given point in time, has a virtually unlimited amount of possible states. The electron isn't ever in any one place.

    Let's take a hydrogen atom for example, because it only has a single electron in its s1 shell so it's good for this example. That electron is never in any one place but rather all over that s1 shell all the time to a certain degree. They interact together as well, and cause each other to change the possibility of an electron being at a certain point. Because of this, it would be impossible not to disturb the atoms (unless you got them down to 0ºK) unless you transported the human fully intact. Reconstructing a human from "borrowed" atoms would obviously not work either in this case.

    I make the assumption that the state of the electrons as well as the various quantum states of the nucleus matter when it comes to rebuilding the person. I think it does, otherwise the duplicate human would also be you just as much as the first one. Maybe we have a soul after all? I love thinking about this topic even if I don't know enough to actually do anything useful! :lol:

    Edit:

    DNA is made up of atoms.
     
    #11 HappyGirlLucky, Sep 30, 2014
    Last edited: Sep 30, 2014
  12. Jinkies

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    I think it depends on the person. For me, I wouldn't want to do it. It would basically be the end of my life, and the start of another person's, who now happens to look and think exactly like I do. I've said before here, it's my curiosity that keeps me alive. There's so much to do and see, and I honestly don't know if I'll be able to do and see it all, or as much as I want to. Dying any day would be dying too soon.

    However, I did talk with a friend about this. And he's totally fine with it. As long as somebody carries out himself and a legacy he wants to build, he's okay with it.
     
  13. radicalmuffins

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    Yeah, I know. I just meant that humans are more than just atoms in the sense that we are composed of very complex systems. We aren't like Hydrogen and Oxygen when you stick them up together they form different compounds. Humans have to be a certain way. Their atoms and molecules have to react in a way that can support life. One misplaced atom or molecule could spell disaster for the human system (aka mutations). DNA is made up of different atoms and it is a macromolecule. If you follow the concept that they will reconstruct the organism from the available particles within the area, there might be complications. Atoms don't just miraculously bond and form the human body. They react to form what composes the molecules and ultimately create man.

    It's like:

    atoms > DNA Molecules > cells > Tissues > organs > Organ systems > Organism

    If they don't get everything right at the atomic level, it's bound to fail. The composition of the DNA at the atomic level is complex enough as it is since it's made up of millions of base pairs composed of the 4 human genomes. The genomes are also made up nucleotides that are essentially carbon, nitrogen, and phosphate atoms.

    so before DNA molecule it would be:

    atoms > nucleotides > Human Genome > Base pairs > DNA molecule.

    and I'm rambling. lol

    Bottom line, I would not think it would be so easy (leaning towards impossible) to do Teleportation and most likely, it would be a different you. The idea I think is that "you" are only "you" because of your thoughts and memories. I think otherwise. Generally, I refuse man to be defined by science as only a "thinking rational being". Simply transferring your thoughts into another body that exactly looks like you doesn't mean that it still is you. There's a certain nuance to it. I don't think it's unethical still. Just, sad. Poignant.

    ---------------------
    I talk too much and I feel stupid now. =____=
     
    #13 radicalmuffins, Sep 30, 2014
    Last edited: Sep 30, 2014
  14. AKTodd

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    Sure, teleport away and make copies all day long. All of them are me. It's all just atoms in the right pattern, and as long as the pattern exists, I exist (in as many versions as desired). It's like making copies of Hamlet (or whatever story). Doesn't matter if the story is in one book or ten thousand copies, the story is still the same.

    There really isn't anything beyond the atoms, quantum effects, etc. and certainly nothing at all special about human beings.

    Ethics aren't really a consideration any more than morality is as far as I'm concerned. It's all just made up fairytales or convenient handles for exercising social control.

    Todd
     
  15. Webman777

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    It almost would seem as if you were being killed and an exact clone of you generated in another location. Though, with all the same memories and everything, you would have no idea that you had "died" or were a different person. It would just seem to you as if you had moved to a different place really fast.
     
  16. asdfghjk

    asdfghjk Guest

    make a think
     
  17. MisterTinkles

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    IF it were possible, it would be unethical only if the event caused damage, even if one strand of DNA was put back out of place or missing. That one strand could change you completely, or have very little impact on you. But you wouldn't know unless you went through the event.
     
  18. HuskyPup

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    It would probably also cut way down on carbon emissions, depending on how much energy it used compared to fossil fuels. That would be a HUGE plus, as one pictures also the emissions about to be belched forth from emerging economies such as China and India, along with what the US already belches.
     
  19. Hexagon

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    I suspect the energy needed to reassemble a human in perfect detail would exceed the energy needed to travel by airplane. We have a rather large number of atoms in us. However, that energy could be cleaner...
     
  20. imnotreallysure

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