peter@graffiti.UUCP (Peter da Silva) (08/31/85)
> Interesting question! I have a little thought experiment which > might amuse anyone who's interested in the answer to it. Let's pretend > that someone has invented a "matter transmitter", a device whereby a > person can step in a transmitter in, say San Francisco, and step out > of a receiver in London a fraction of a second later, having been transmitted > from one to the other. However, it's not *really* a matter transmitter; > physically sending the atoms that make up your body half-way round the > world would not be economical. Instead, it simply sends all the *information* > required to duplicate your body at the other end, using materials closer > to hand. The result, nevertheless, is an exact duplicate down to the > molecular level, with both the "mind" and the body not detectably altered. [followed by some discussion about whether it's really the same person, and describing a couple of possible accidents that could lead to duplicates] This has been bandied about by SF writers for years, with various variants. But let me throw in a couple more... The machine knocks you out & chops you up like a side of beef at a butcher's shop. At the other end an autodoc (ala niven) puts you back together. Would you travel this way? Comment: It's probably a lot more reliable than the matter transmitter described above. The machine breaks you down to individual cells and proceeds as above. The machine takes a brain recording and a cell sample & plays you back into a clone. The machine takes a scan but doesn't destroy the original. My own conclusion: I'd want to be damn certain that the process would be reliable before trusting my information to it. Last thought: What would this do to manufacturing processes? To farming? To Friends of the Earth or the Audubon Society (don't worry about the whooping cranes, they're all on file). Postultimate thought: if you put yourself on file could you ever truly die?