Beam me up?

[PSGarak]

I think I just found an even cooler way to get around. Forget that morning commute. Who needs to "Energize" when you can have water slides?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyIU-MzaXlg

On a more serious note, I've often thought about how transporter use is depicted in Trek, and it seems to me that it's mostly utilized for utilitarian purposes or in emergency situations when the speed and convenience can literally save lives. Do you think there was also recreational transporter use, or do you think people would still mostly enjoy traveling the more conventional way from surface to surface, such as taking shuttle crafts, etc.? I know for me part of the fun of a trip is the getting there. How about you? Would you rather beam or travel?

 

[kes7]

I'd much rather do the shuttlecraft thing. Beaming takes the fun out of it and transporter accidents are even less fun than shuttle crashes.

 

[USS Triumphant]

Recreational transporter use? Hmmm.... like beaming up to several thousand feet, and then beaming back just before impact? (Or, doing this to someone else unexpectedly. )

Or you just mean travel? 'cause mostly, that would be utilitarian. Whether I'd want to use transporters or fly to get to a vacation destination would depend on what kind of vacation it is supposed to be. I'm sure there would still be cruises, both stellar and ocean-going, and train rides (mag-lev?), and those can be nice, but if I'm going to visit family, which is what we usually do on vacation, I'd much rather beam there than drive the 15-18 hours both ways.

The thing (I have to admit) that I have wondered on occasion is what sort of household uses transporters are put to. Do people use transporters to clean their homes by beaming out debris and such? To restock their cupboards? To beam out personal biowaste during the World Cup to avoid missing anything?...

 

[PSGarak]

The thing (I have to admit) that I have wondered on occasion is what sort of household uses transporters are put to. Do people use transporters to clean their homes by beaming out debris and such? To restock their cupboards? To beam out personal biowaste during the World Cup to avoid missing anything?...

That's a good question. I suppose it would depend on how expensive the technology was and who was in control of it. Also, how much energy is required to power a transporter? I would think that huge cities where every home had a personal transporter would be a major drain on the grid, even with supposedly plentiful alternative energy sources.

 

[Forbin]

It's possible that the transporter is used by official organizations only, and not cleared for civilian use. After all, the possible malicious uses of such a thing are myriad, and possibley disasterous!

 

[PSGarak]

It's possible that the transporter is used by official organizations only, and not cleared for civilian use. After all, the possible malicious uses of such a thing are myriad, and possibley disasterous!

True. I can think of some very nasty things people could do to other people with a targeted transport of just...some of the person.

 

[kes7]

Not to mention those things break. I doubt most people would want to go into transporter repair as their job, but they'd need tons of those to keep up with the maintenance needs of a transporter in every home ...

 

[Yeoman Randi]

Beam me there. In a heartbeat!

 

[SilentP]

Not to mention those things break. I doubt most people would want to go into transporter repair as their job, but they'd need tons of those to keep up with the maintenance needs of a transporter in every home ...

Maybe transporter technicicans and repairmen are the 23rd/24th Century equivalent of plumbers? Always needed, so a good stable career choice.

 

[PSGarak]

Not to mention those things break. I doubt most people would want to go into transporter repair as their job, but they'd need tons of those to keep up with the maintenance needs of a transporter in every home ...

Maybe transporter technicicans and repairmen are the 23rd/24th Century equivalent of plumbers? Always needed, so a good stable career choice.

And they can charge you a ridiculous fee simply because you need what they can fix.

 

[Forbin]

I figure it'd be public transportation, not private. There'd be public transporter stations, just like bus and subway stations now.

 

[barnaclelapse]

I can't imagine having something like that and not using it for evil.

 

[black_dranzer]

I can't imagine having something like that and not using it for evil.

Ahh, but this is the 24th century, where people have a more evolved sensibility

But yeah, I always saw them as having public transporter stations and the like, and that's what they seem to have in the recent relaunch books (and several other ones, lol). Maybe with Starfleet, or a civilian company, having the monopoly on controlling them or having them patented (if such a thing still exists in the 24th century...)

 

[Forbin]

I'd SO prefer beaming to work than 1/2 hour drive on NJ's highways.

 

[Falcor5]

Ya I can picture public terminals like the subway system now run by professionals but I think the technology would be just to dangerous to have in the home. If something went wrong during transport you would need a professional to try and fix the problem or you could wind up dead!

 

[PSGarak]

Ya I can picture public terminals like the subway system now run by professionals but I think the technology would be just to dangerous to have in the home. If something went wrong during transport you would need a professional to try and fix the problem or you could wind up dead!

The risk really isn't worth that extra quick trip to the loo so you don't miss any of the game, is it?

 

[Elder Knight]

I don't want my damn molecules scrambled, that's for sure.

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

Like most things in Trek I don't think we ever found out if civilians had access to transporters. Sisko mentioned that when he was in the academy he used transporter credits to visit home in New Orleans so clearly military personnel can use them for non-military purposes.

 

[Elder Knight]

If indeed transporters were routinely used all over the earth, they'd change life as we know if profoundly. one good reason that *Trek* rarely describes the social scene back home.

 

[FlapJoy]

I think transporters could be used recreationally as an extreme sport: you could jump of a building or tall cliff, or even an airplane, and be beamed back just before you hit the ground... like a molecule scramblin' bungy cord or parachute