this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2023
13 points (72.4% liked)

Showerthoughts

30012 readers
650 users here now

A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. A showerthought should offer a unique perspective on an ordinary part of life.

Rules

  1. All posts must be showerthoughts
  2. The entire showerthought must be in the title
  3. Avoid politics
    • 3.1) NEW RULE as of 5 Nov 2024, trying it out
    • 3.2) Political posts often end up being circle jerks (not offering unique perspective) or enflaming (too much work for mods).
    • 3.3) Try c/politicaldiscussion, volunteer as a mod here, or start your own community.
  4. Posts must be original/unique
  5. Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
quinten
vatlark
forkball
Thekingoflorda
13
Star Trek transporters (self.showerthoughts)
submitted 1 year ago by TheGiantKorean to c/showerthoughts
40 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Transporters work by de-assembling something (e.g. you) and re-assembling it somewhere else. What if, when you're dis-assembled, you die, and the re-assembled version of you is essentially a copy? Then every time someone steps onto a transporter, their final thought before death is that they'll end up beamed somewhere else. And the re-assembled version (copy) just thinks that everything went fine and continues on like nothing bad happened.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The determining question for whether or not it's the same is this: Are you the physical matter of your brain, or the electricity running through it? In the first case, sleep isn't death. In the second case, it is. I would argue that you're closer to the electricity than the brain matter, since an unpowered brain is how we define death.

But REALLY it ultimately doesn't matter, if you think about it. An exact clone of you created after any kind of destruction of consciousness is no different than the original you had the destruction never occurred. We just intuitively really do not like that idea.

[โ€“] daddyjones 1 points 1 year ago

Or, since we're getting philosophical anyway, are you some sort of spiritual entity inhabiting your body and experiencing the physical world through it?

BTW - if that's the case then the transporter in the original question is definitely a death machine.