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Tech from Star Trek - Would you rather have...

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Old Mar 28, 2005 | 06:52 AM
  #71  
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(Aside: I love how everyone has gotten right into the spirit of this thing. )
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Old Mar 28, 2005 | 06:53 AM
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Originally Posted by Chazmo,Mar 28 2005, 10:46 AM
That, of course, makes the whole idea of replication a little scary, doesn't it?

The deal with the transporter was that your "pattern" got put into some sort of enormous memory buffer that stored your entire body in some kind of electronic description. Then, you could be re-integrated, based on the pattern. Nobody ever discussed why this could or could not be used to clone humans or anything for that matter...

It makes you really think. Is a person just a bunch of cells in a specific organization? I'm an atheist, but it's hard to imagine that such a thing would actually be possible.
Scientists have transported a quark already with considerable energy input. Considering a single cell would contain thousands upon thousands of atoms (Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen mostly?), the requirements to move said cell would seemingly be astronomical.

The possibility of transporting a body intact seems pretty far fetched. But if our personality, memories, etc is just the sum of how our brains are wired, what would prevent it?
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Old Mar 28, 2005 | 06:56 AM
  #73  
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James is spearheading the sheep cloning program! I wholeheartedly support these efforts.
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Old Mar 28, 2005 | 07:01 AM
  #74  
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Originally Posted by Chazmo,Mar 28 2005, 07:46 AM
It makes you really think. Is a person just a bunch of cells in a specific organization? I'm an atheist, but it's hard to imagine that such a thing would actually be possible.
It would stand to reason that as an athiest you would have to conclude that a person is just a bunch of cells in a specific organization. Memories and feelings are chemicals and charges.

There can be no 'breath' of spirit... only the matter we are made of.
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Old Mar 28, 2005 | 07:08 AM
  #75  
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Originally Posted by WestSideBilly,Mar 28 2005, 10:53 AM
[ ... ] The possibility of transporting a body intact seems pretty far fetched. But if our personality, memories, etc is just the sum of how our brains are wired, what would prevent it?
I agree, Jeff. I don't have an answer to that. The underlying science of this is so inconceivable -- i.e., that an entire human body could be "scanned" and represented electronically -- that it's hard to even imagine what would or would not be possible. That said, yes... If a human being is just a "sum of its parts" then nothing should really prevent the possibility.

I can only say that I'd like to know!
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Old Mar 28, 2005 | 07:10 AM
  #76  
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Originally Posted by jedwards,Mar 28 2005, 11:01 AM
It would stand to reason that as an athiest you would have to conclude that a person is just a bunch of cells in a specific organization. Memories and feelings are chemicals and charges.

There can be no 'breath' of spirit... only the matter we are made of.
Jeddy, let's not forget the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle...

OK, sure, a person might just be the sum of the parts. However, in order to actually "image" the entire human body into some sort of buffer, the subatomic structures might not be replicable.
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Old Mar 28, 2005 | 07:19 AM
  #77  
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Might not be replicable now. Of course 100 years ago many though the human body would not withstand speeds in excess of 60 mph.
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Old Mar 28, 2005 | 07:35 AM
  #78  
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You mean, it can?
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Old Mar 28, 2005 | 07:54 AM
  #79  
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Well... theoretically but I'm not actually going to try it. I'll take the word of those scientists.
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Old Mar 28, 2005 | 08:04 AM
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I think I'm going to buy a very big hard disk to store a back up of myself.
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