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Post by johnofgwent on Mar 13, 2023 21:42:52 GMT
I have an outlandish notion i would like to share. Imagine if a perfect physical (working) copy of your brain could be constructed. I know this is infeasible (to say the least) but bear with me because I'm only proposing this as a thought experiment to get to a point. Are YOU now conscious in two places at once? If the two brains (your original brain and the copy) are moved a large distance apart, are you now telepathic? This is of course a fundamental focus of a science fiction play i heard a good few years ago on Radio 4’s afternoon play. Suppose for a moment there was a transporter system akin to that in Star Trek. Your entire being is broken down into energy and reconstituted as matter at a different location The play focussed on a woman who signed up for a transporter package holiday. Except … something went wrong. She walked into the transmission chamber, was dematerialised, but at the far end a problem occurred. An emergency procedure cut in, and the woman rematerialised in the departure chamber Except the transfer had been successful and the rematerialised CLONE (for want of a better word) was now on holiday in her dream island paradise. The problem being the contract transferred all legal rights to the rematerialised individual And the rest of the play focussed on the state’s ‘enforcers’ and their attempt to restore the contractual balance by killing the person who should of course have been vapourised in the transmitter. Yes its a variation on Capricorn One. The Star Trek Universe had a happier end for Riker’s double in the TNG episode. I can readily see the banking system enforcing the play’s version ! Be careful what you sign ! About a year after i heard that play i picked up on IBM’s research dept mucking about with some sort of quantum experiment that had paired two atoms. Whether this is a real world start to that scenario i leave to your imagination !! |
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Post by Orac on Mar 14, 2023 19:11:08 GMT
John, I can't claim credit for the paradox - i think it's an sci-fi oldie. The Transporter question - If someone explained to you that a transporter technology would read your body (including mental processes) into an information stream, then transmit it to at a remote location so your body could be recreated, but the reading process would destroy (vaporise) your original body, would you step in the transporter confident of finding yourself magically transported? If your identity is your physical brain processes, then it's hard to say why you would not. Of course, no-one would ever know, or be able to find out, if this technology were killing people and creating completely convincing copies or transporting people. A person's first use of the technology was seen in some cultures as an entry to adulthood - facing death square on and taking that step forward.  |
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Post by jonksy on Mar 14, 2023 19:49:04 GMT
John, I can't claim credit for the paradox - i think it's an sci-fi oldie. The Transporter question - If someone explained to you that a transporter technology would read your body (including mental processes) into an information stream, then transmit it to at a remote location so your body could be recreated, but the reading process would destroy (vaporise) your original body, would you step in the transporter confident of finding yourself magically transported? If your identity is your physical brain processes, then it's hard to say why you would not. Of course, no-one would ever know, or be able to find out, if this technology were killing people and creating completely convincing copies or transporting people. A person's first use of the technology was seen in some cultures as an entry to adulthood - facing death square on and taking that step forward. There was that movie many years ago called the 'Fly' where a scientist was experimenting with transporting technology. He was in the process of neing transponded and a fly flew into the chamber and it caused a mutation... |
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Post by Orac on Mar 14, 2023 20:24:55 GMT
John, I can't claim credit for the paradox - i think it's an sci-fi oldie. The Transporter question - If someone explained to you that a transporter technology would read your body (including mental processes) into an information stream, then transmit it to at a remote location so your body could be recreated, but the reading process would destroy (vaporise) your original body, would you step in the transporter confident of finding yourself magically transported? If your identity is your physical brain processes, then it's hard to say why you would not. Of course, no-one would ever know, or be able to find out, if this technology were killing people and creating completely convincing copies or transporting people. A person's first use of the technology was seen in some cultures as an entry to adulthood - facing death square on and taking that step forward. There was that movie many years ago called the 'Fly' where a scientist was experimenting with transporting technology. He was in the process of neing transponded and a fly flew into the chamber and it caused a mutation... Yes - the same idea exactly. Though this story doesn't explore the self paradox I very much enjoyed that film - a golden oldie from when mainstream Sci-fi film was still both challenging and fun. |
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Post by Einhorn on Mar 15, 2023 13:43:54 GMT
John, I can't claim credit for the paradox - i think it's an sci-fi oldie. The Transporter question - If someone explained to you that a transporter technology would read your body (including mental processes) into an information stream, then transmit it to at a remote location so your body could be recreated, but the reading process would destroy (vaporise) your original body, would you step in the transporter confident of finding yourself magically transported? If your identity is your physical brain processes, then it's hard to say why you would not. It is widely believed that the body completely replicates itself every 7 years, that nobody is the same person they were 7 years ago because the body's cells will have been completely replaced. This isn't entirely true. But, if it were, wouldn't that be exactly the same principle? I think most people who believe that their cellular make-up has entirely changed from what it was 7 years ago* would claim to be still the same person they were 10 years ago. I say that the principle is the same because both the fantastical sci-fi scenario and the more mundane situation introduced here involve the replication/replacement of the original 'thing'. *And there are many who believe this. |
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Post by johnofgwent on Mar 16, 2023 10:13:04 GMT
John, I can't claim credit for the paradox - i think it's an sci-fi oldie. The Transporter question - If someone explained to you that a transporter technology would read your body (including mental processes) into an information stream, then transmit it to at a remote location so your body could be recreated, but the reading process would destroy (vaporise) your original body, would you step in the transporter confident of finding yourself magically transported? If your identity is your physical brain processes, then it's hard to say why you would not. Of course, no-one would ever know, or be able to find out, if this technology were killing people and creating completely convincing copies or transporting people. A person's first use of the technology was seen in some cultures as an entry to adulthood - facing death square on and taking that step forward. I agree In the Star Trek franchise Mc’Coy was famously less than pleased with them, and of course in ‘Galaxy Quest’ …. Fortunately the only practical development of this technology is here, and restricted to ensuring inanimate objects are not copied endlessly amp.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jan/23/german-scientists-teleporter-transporter-3d-printing-star-trekWhat does worry me are repirts IBM is funding moving molecules! Sadly i can’t currently find the link, i’ll see if i can dig it up. |
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