Why do people die in Star Trek?

[Kor]

Apparently, replicator technology is not as precise as it may at first appear.

Otherwise, characters would not be able to distinguish between the taste of real food and beverage and the replicated version, as has been shown on various occasions.

Apparently all the positronic whatsis contained inside Lt. Cmdr. Data are simply impossible to accurately replicate based on external scans, for whatever reason. The whole point of Maddox wanting to disassemble data was that he needed to do so in order to be able to analyze him sufficiently in the first place to possibly duplicate the technology.

Kor

 

[Longinus]

No. Because my thoughts would still exist.

So you don't mind being killed as long as a copy of you exists? Do you realise that if you die, your subjective experience will cease, whether or not there are any copies?

 

[PhaserLightShow]

Apparently, replicator technology is not as precise as it may at first appear.

Otherwise, characters would not be able to distinguish between the taste of real food and beverage and the replicated version, as has been shown on various occasions.

Perhaps all the positronic whatsis contained inside Lt. Cmdr. Data are simply impossible to accurately replicate, for whatever reason.

Kor

Yes, but what about my first point? About Lt. Carey? What is your response to that?

@PhaserLightShow

 

[PhaserLightShow]

So you don't mind being killed as long as a copy of you exists? Do you realise that if you die, your subjective experience will cease, whether or not there are any copies?

I do realize that. My "wisdom"/experiences will carry on in someone else. No harm done. My life dreams would still be carried out (if they were possible to begin with).

@PhaserLightShow

 

[Kor]

Yes, but what about my first point? About Lt. Carey? What is your response to that?

@PhaserLightShow

Perhaps you could be more precise.

Also, I edited my post about Data.

Kor

 

[BillJ]

Considering the matter is probably taken apart on molecular level, I really don't see a problem with this. I am sure that here in the real world many of the carbon atoms and water molecules that comprised your breakfast today have been part of someone's faeces at some point during the five billion year history of Earth.

You're welcome.

I think degrees of separation would be at work psychologically...

 

[Longinus]

I do realize that. My "wisdom"/experiences will carry on in someone else. No harm done. My life dreams would still be carried out (if they were possible to begin with).

OK. People usually do not think like that. I mean what it matters if your dreams are carried out if you're not there to experience them? And you too might hesitate once Janeway points a phaser at you.

 

[PhaserLightShow]

Perhaps you could be more precise.

Also, I edited my post about Data.

Kor

Yes, external scans do not reveal everything, but with Starship sensors (such as those on the Galaxy class of starships), Data could easily be replicated.

@PhaserLightShow

 

[PhaserLightShow]

OK. People usually do net think like that. I mean what it matters if your dreams are carried out if you're not there to experience them? And you too might hesitate once Janeway points a phaser at you.

I don't care what people usually think. And what do you mean, to net think.

Janeway might hesitate once I point a point a phaser at her (and Chakotay or Tuvok might point a phaser too).

Commander @PhaserLightShow

 

[Longinus]

Yes, external scans do not reveal everything, but with Starship sensors (such as those on the Galaxy class of starships), Data could easily be replicated.

This is obviously not true.

 

[Kemaiku]

Yup, apparently positronic brains cannot be made by anyone but Dr. Soong, after he died the secret was lost.

 

[Kor]

^ Good point, Chemahkuu.

Yes, external scans do not reveal everything, but with Starship sensors (such as those on the Galaxy class of starships), Data could easily be replicated.

@PhaserLightShow

Not really. The point was that Data could not be easily replicated.

Maddox needed to dissect Data in the first place so that he could gain enough data to possibly be able to duplicate Data (ahem).

He said, "I believe I am very close to the breakthrough that will enable me to duplicate Doctor Soong's work and replicate this. But as a first step I must disassemble and study it."

Kor

 

[Tomalak]

Yes, if it were as simple as simply scanning Data and pressing a button on a replicator, there would be thousands of Datas. There aren't, ergo it is not possible.

Replicators can only replicate relatively simple things anyway. If they can't replicate entire machines they know how to make, such as Starships*, they can hardly be expected to replicate something that remains a mystery.

*Shipyards exist, and we know ships have to be physically constructed.

 

[Kemaiku]

Well, they can. As in the frame, hull plates, components all can be. They just have to be assembled in a lengthy process.

Data though, something about that brain is 'by hand' only.

 

[BillJ]

Yup, apparently positronic brains cannot be made by anyone but Dr. Soong, after he died the secret was lost.

This. They only touch on this fact about every other episode of TNG.

 

[PhaserLightShow]

Yes, if it were as simple as simply scanning Data and pressing a button on a replicator, there would be thousands of Datas. There aren't, ergo it is not possible.

Replicators can only replicate relatively simple things anyway. If they can't replicate entire machines they know how to make, such as Starships*, they can hardly be expected to replicate something that remains a mystery.

*Shipyards exist, and we know ships have to be physically constructed.

Replicators are not big enough to make ships but we don't know that the materials used to create ships are not replicated.

@PhaserLightShow

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I don't believe in a literal soul but I believe the exact state of molecules and electrical activity in the prefrontal cortex constitutes a 'soul'.

The transporter recreates that state exactly, so the soul is preserved. In the case of your duplicate though, a microsecond after the copy is created those states become different and you have two distinct souls. My duplicate and I would be distinct individuals.

 

[PhaserLightShow]

I don't believe in a literal soul but I believe the exact state of molecules and electrical activity in the prefrontal cortex constitutes a 'soul'.

The transporter recreates that state exactly, so the soul is preserved. In the case of your duplicate though, a microsecond after the copy is created those states become different and you have two distinct souls. My duplicate and I would be distinct individuals.

@PhaserLightShow is crying

 

[Tomalak]

Well, they can. As in the frame, hull plates, components all can be. They just have to be assembled in a lengthy process.

Data though, something about that brain is 'by hand' only.

I dunno, are there any examples of someone replicating a complex piece of technology, even something like a phaser or a tricorder? I remember Chakotay making a watch, but that's purely mechanical. Food, clothes, yes, but technology?

And I don't know if things like hull plates are easily replicated. You'd need a store of raw materials, even if it's just a big bag of elemental atoms. You'd still need to get your titanium atoms from somewhere, so you might as well mine the metal and forge the hull plates.

 

[Kemaiku]

Industrial replicators are mentioned being a thing. I meant the bare metal bar frames and outer metal plates. We see that in a Voyager episode set at the Utopia Planitia, large metal bars and plates are being flown around by the work bee's from somewhere.

Duranium is the metal used to make hulls, replicators or some atomic forging processing machines could pump out large pieces in hours compared to the primitive metal working we do now.