CARROLL@USC-ISIB@sri-unix.UUCP (07/14/83)
It seems like the transporter could be used as an all-purpose repair, healing, rejuvenation, and resurrection device. If an object being transported had its "makeup" transformed into energy, wouldn't that info have to be recorded somewhere, at least temporarily? If that was kept after each beaming, and anything happened to the person or equipment, the damaged/injured mass in question could be run back through and reassembled in the old pattern. If it was a person, he would simply be briefed on the events since that last good beaming (specifically on what led to his wounding or demise). It would be just like restoring lost files from a dump! Also, old people could be run through, coming out X years younger. Indeed, duplicates could be made of anyone or anything, just by using an equal mass as the raw material. I don't remember for sure, but it seems like one of the animated episodes brought up a similar concept which would support this idea. What would be the result on society of such a capability? -------
aii@tropix.UUCP (07/19/83)
Actually, the idea of using transporters in this fashion was discussed in depth in several of the Venus Equilateral stories by George O. Smith. Impact on society was, as you image, devistating. I'm not sure which magazines these stories were originally printed in, but they are in "The Complete Venus Equilateral". My copy was $2.95. Alice Bentley ...rochester!ritcv!tropix!aii
student@nmtvax.UUCP (07/19/83)
To find out what some of the effects of using the transporter to bring Spock back from the dead I suggest reading from Larry Niven`s story "The Theory and Speculation of Teleportation" from his collection called "Convergent Series." This was originally given as a speech to MISFITS during the early seventies. Sincerely; Greg Hennessy ..ucbvax!unmvax!nmtvax!student P.S. Speaking of Niven is his oft partner Jerry Pournelle anywhere out there??? -- Greg Hennessy
john@hp-pcd.UUCP (John Eaton) (07/24/83)
#R:sri-arpa:-309900:hp-pcd:8200017:000:393 hp-pcd!john Jul 23 19:31:00 1983 Wasnt that the whole ideal behind the Genesis Project (TWOK). There you took matter, broke it down to its subatomic parts and then reassembled it in the more pleasing form of a living planet. Since the planet they created did not seem to have anything more complex than plants, then it might be that the amount of information required for higher forms of life was excessive. John Eaton
davidl@orca.UUCP (07/27/83)
Yes, the transporter was used in an animated episode (more than one, if memory serves) to restore old people to youth. An extremely dangerous concept, plotwise, which is just another flaw in Star Trek's believability. (In the live-action series, Rodenberry probably would have prohibited this gimmick for the same reason he made it impossible for characters to initiate a beam-up using their communicators from the surface: it made it all too easy for a character to thumb his nose at danger, and too easy to get out of it.) However, I have this habit of trying to explain bozo mistakes like this within the framework of the work of fiction (in this case, the Federation universe). Now, suppose that transporting someone is VERY expensive. (You may suggest that the frequency with which it was done implies that this is not the case. Read on.) Note that Starfleet is a military organization, and compare transporters with military jets in our own armed forces. High-performance fighter aircraft are among the fastest things flying today, and the Air Force uses them every day because they can accomplish tasks which nothing else could do. However, they are monstrously expensive to use and maintain. Now, there are several instances I can think of where fighter aircraft technology could have civilian uses. Transporting blood and drugs to hospitals, injured people likewise, Federal Express, who knows? Yet no private organization could afford to maintain these beasts, even assuming that this would not be construed as a violation of national secrity. Therefore fighter aircraft are used only by the armed forces, and only for specific kinds of duties. Exceptions are rare. Now apply this back to Star Trek. Transporters are used by Starfleet because they can accomplish the job as nothing else can. However, they are too expensive for the civilian uses the concept suggests, and they are in such heavy use (or have so much downtime: you remember how unreliable they are) that experiments such as bringing injured people back to health are performed only in the gravest, most immediately mission-threatening circumstances. However, I think that idea could be the basis of a fine story. See also "Theory and Practice of Teleportation" by Larry Niven (in the collection "Inconstant Moon," I think). - David D. Levine ...decvax!tektronix!tekecs!davidl