BARNES%TARTAN@CMU-CS-C.ARPA@sri-unix.UUCP (08/16/83)
If transporters are some kind of photonic device for causing someone to be moved from one focal point to another that nicely explains how this sort of thing can be done without the destruction/recreation of matter. That greatly simplifies the energy and complexity problems. All you need is a spatial 'catalyst' and photonics gives you that, very nice. Also, with photonic waves, if all you have to do is to 'reverse polarity' to change where the person ends up then you could bottle someone up in the transporter by just repeatedly repolarizing before rematerialization. This is especially handy for Klingons if each person being transported comes up on a separate beam. You don't have to store anything, just keep the beam bouncing back and forth. Now, about those poor folks who got scrambled in the movie. If the transporter was not working properly and it 'nudged' the received beam and changed a few interference patterns then the received persons could easily be damaged. Perhaps even turned into mewing blobs. The idea of merely acting as a means of transportation (ala the car mentioned by one reader) allows for arbitrary movement without allowing for duplication or transformation, eg. creating gold or dilithium crystals. And, if the car gets damaged, it is not surprising that the contents do also. A closer analogy might be a fiber optics pipe, small amounts of damage may leave the signal clean enough but larger amounts cause scattering and other nasty effects. The transporter is acting as some kind of focal agent and if not properly focused then things do not happen properly. All of this may also explain how phasers work on 'kill'. Has anyone ever wondered what happens to things which are destroyed by phasers? If they are converted to energy then presumably the entity firing the phaser would either be suitable for dinner (cooked) or they would never parent children. If victims are 'disintegrated' then their remains should either form a puddle of 'dust' or their gaseous remains should blast everyone off of their feet. However, if they are converted to photonic waves which have no ending focal point and which merely dissipate then it all sort of works. Gary -------