Time Travel question...

Can replicators create old items? Do antiques even have any value at all?

 

See that's an interesting point... They would have zero value if you can have a replicator make them for you. Like that old 80s computer Kirk had in his apartment, I mean we don't know if it was a hand me down or replicated.

 

Every doppelganger of Marty also goes back in time and overwrites Marty who just got back to the future.

We saw a 2nd delorian chased by Libyans in Lone Pine Mall go back to 1955, at the end of the first movie, observed by original Marty.

Two Marties. No integration.

 

Actually, that was the plot to James vs His Future Self. His future self travels back in time to tell his younger self not to go ahead with the time travel experiments because they messed up his life.

 

That wasn't the "original Marty". That was the Marty whose dad was the published author. He must have been really PO'd to come back and find his dad was now a loser working for the guy who used to wash their cars.

 

OBSERVED by original Marty.

Watching.

Original Marty was watching new Marty from a distance as shit unfolded.

Who got there late and saw another version of Doc get shot and his other similar but different self run off into the past.

The comics had an issue where original Marty was mapping all the differences between his old life in his original timeline and the new life he stole.

You get the feeling that new Marty had a much higher GPA than original Marty and that original Marty was going to tank new Marty's life?

 

One of my favorite movies that deals with time travel duplicates is Timecrimes.

 

INT. KIRK'S APARTMENT, TERRA - NIGHT 11

Kirk reads the novel, trying to focus. His flat befits
an Admiral and a loner with few possessions, except
a collection of antiques.

WE HEAR A SOFT BONG.

Startled, Kirk lowers the book and pushes a button.

KIRK
Come.

The door slides open and Bones enters. He carries two
packages, one of them wrapped in brown paper.

KIRK
(continuing)
Bless me, doctor; and what beams
you into this neck of the woods?

BONES
'Beware Romulans bearing gifts.'
Happy Birthday...

With a flourish, he pulls out a bottle of blue
liquid.

KIRK
Romulan Ale! Bones, you know
this stuff is illegal --

BONES
(broad)
I only use it for medicinal
purposes. Don't be a pring...

KIRK
(reading the label
with difficulty)
Twenty-two, eighty-three...

BONES
Takes the stuff a while to
ferment. Gimme.

He takes the bottle and pours; continues talking.

BONES
(continuing)
Now open the other one.

Kirk starts to obey.

KIRK
I'm almost afraid to. What did
you bring me, contraband Klingon --

BONES
More antiques for your collection
-- Cheers!

They drink. The package is opened: a pair of gold
"Ben Franklin" half-glasses. (N.B.: Romulan Ale is
an INSTANT DRUNK: both men react.)

KIRK
Cheers. Bones, these are... charming.

BONES
Four hundred years old. You don't
find many with the lens still
intact.

KIRK
Uh -- what are they?

BONES
For your eyes. For most patients
of your age, I generally administer
Retlax Five to restore flexibility
of the lens.

KIRK
But I'm allergic to Retlax.

BONES
Exactly. Happy birthday.


The scene is in the director's cut and the ABC television broadcast version.

The glasses are 400 years old and had the lenses intact, which is a rarity for 400 year old antique glasses.

If they are replicated, then McCoy is gaslighting Kirk.

 

The 23rd Century had Matter Synthesizers.
The 24th Century had Replicators.

Both machines take human poo, and sculpt that poo into something functional with utility that does not look like or smell like poo.

Everything new is made from poo.

Old things have value from not once have been being poo.

 

But can you tell which is which? Say I take the Mona Lisa, scan it precisely, then create a replicated copy. If I then shuffle both of them around behind my back, can anyone tell which is made by da Vinci and which is made of poo?

 

Does it have "this is a fake" written under the last payer of paint in marker pen?

I gather the point is that you can't tell with your 6 senses, however not only would a tricorder figure it out easily, to avoid fraud, replicated items would have to be tagged or numbered, if the replicator is made by the government, or regulated by the government, who is annoyed by crime.

Further more considering that replicators decompile and reuse replicated matter, such as cups plates, and food waste (half eaten sandwhiches, not even more poo, but yes even more poo too.) actually counting how many time specific unique potions of poo has been used and reused may be a good thing to keep track of, if replicative fading is an issue.

 

Yeah wouldn't any replicated items contain some kind of ID tag to tell others the items are in fact replicated copies?

 

Thinking about nutrician and malnutrician too, because cheap alien replicators might produce food that would put a human in the hospital.

Ps.

Every species should be restricted to poo from their own kind until after medical has given them a once over.

Remember how aids got into the international blood bank blood supply in the 80s, because no one Knew how to test for it?

 

This

and this

are perfect examples of the dangers of “overthinking the minutiae”. Do it often enough and things go to shit.

 

I've barely started thinking.

 

That’s what I’m afraid of.

 

The moment we found out that you can't replicate chocolate, the whole idea should have been thrown in the sea.

 

Replicated chocolate tastes like chicken. Because the Matrix couldn't figure out what chicken tasted like, so it made chicken taste like everything.

 

A less advanced space faring race who cannot replicate tritanium, but can scan the composition of an unknown alien vessel, will deduce quickly that they are confronting a well armed massive interstellar turd in space.

This is why the Federation prefers to make first contact planet-side to avoid terrible first impressions as galactic skid marks.

 

TNG The Price.

I believe that you need sufficient rank to order the replicator to produce unhealthy things like Sugar, alcohol and phasers.