Mishkin@YALE.ARPA@sri-unix.UUCP (08/13/83)
From: Nathaniel Mishkin <Mishkin@YALE.ARPA>
For any of you interested in pursuing the matter of transportation
(pun intended), I recommend: "Rogue Moon" by Algis Budrys (I don't
have the book anymore so I may have forgotten the exact title). It
starts from the premise that there is a matter transporter and then
deals with some of the ramifications of such a device.
On a less serious note: it was once pointed out to me that if matter
transporters were to be invented and got into widespread public use,
the logical place to locate the devices would be at International House
of Pancakes restaurants. Then, users of the transporters could wear
little buttons saying:
I Hop from IHoP to IHoP.
Sorry.
-- Nat
-------davidl@orca.UUCP (David Levine) (08/15/83)
Two responses:
1) Algis Budrys' novel "Rogue Moon" dealt with a transporter which
created a COPY of the person transported at a remote location. Since
the copy was identical in every detail to the original, the two of them
had telepathic contact for a short while after transmission. The main
plot of the novel concerned the use of this device to explore an
incredibly hostile alien base on the Moon. Anyone who went into it
died horribly, and somebody had the bright idea of sending in a copy of
an explorer to report telepathically until he died. Unfortunately,
this invariably drove the original insane. Until an explorer was found
who had no fear of death... This book is hard to find but worthwhile
reading.
2) Anyone going from one IHoP to another by transporter would never
notice that s/he had moved... those places are all absolutely
identical!
-- David D. Levine (...decvax!tektronix!tekecs!davidl) [UUCP]
(...tekecs!davidl.tektronix@rand-relay) [ARPA]