Wouldn't Earth Teleportation Be Too Disruptive?

[polyharmonic]

With the invention of teleportation, clearly it would be the preferred method of getting from place to place throughout Earth. But wouldn't it be extremely disruptive and ruin outdoor recreation and such?

I mean say you are going on some kind of remote camping trip. But if you can just teleport from your living room and back, it's just like going to your backyard. Even if you refrained from using it, the knowledge that you can just teleport to get supplies or whatever would ruin any sense of remoteness or being out in nature. Also someone else can just teleport right to your location at any time!

 

[sojourner]

Welcome to a "post privacy" civilization.

 

[Kevman7987]

Why not just take a transporter inhibitor with you to avoid "guests?"

 

[Gary 11's]

I certainly think inhibitors would be needed for security reasons. One in every home!

 

[Christopher]

With the invention of teleportation, clearly it would be the preferred method of getting from place to place throughout Earth. But wouldn't it be extremely disruptive and ruin outdoor recreation and such?

People always think that new technologies will "ruin" the way things have always been done. But it's not ruin, it's just change. Society has been adapting to new technologies and ways of doing things for thousands of years, and it's sure not going to stop adapting in the future. Just because our generation is used to doing something a certain way, that doesn't mean future generations will be deprived if they have a different experience. If anything, they'll probably feel that we were deprived because we lacked the ability to experience the wonders of their world.

I mean, think of the plus side of teleportation. If you're off hiking in the woods and you fall down a ravine or get attacked by a bear, you can just tap your communicator and request beam-out to a hospital, rather than bleeding and/or starving to death because you're lost in some remote place where nobody can find you. If you'd rather risk your life than give up some nebulous sense of independence, then just charter a ship to some frontier planet somewhere. Personally, I'd feel much safer knowing I could call for help at any time.


If you're interested in the idea of how ubiquitous teleportation would affect future society, I recommend reading Alfred Bester's classic novel The Stars My Destination, or the teleportation stories of Larry Niven.

 

[General_Phoenix]

It seems that shuttling is still a preferred mode of transportation in ST on Earth. Robert asks Jean-Luc if he shuttled in from the villiage. Plus they probably have dedicated transporter sites, so people can't just beam in anywhere, unless an emergency.

 

[sbk1234]

I always felt that teleportation technology would not be something that the average person had easy access to in the world of Star Trek. There could be transporter stations at different locations where you could transport from one to another, but not have the freedom to just beam into any place you wanted. I would also think it would have to be regulated if there were so many transporter beams going all over the place, there could be a lot of interferance that could cause problems.
Just my take on it.

 

[sojourner]

I don't remember the name of the TNG episode, the one where Crusher is kidnapped by terrorists, but the crew seemed surprised by the abundant use of personal transporter technology in use by nearly everyone on the planet they were visiting.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

In Beyond, Yorktown has public transporters and monorails, so whether you need/want to be somewhere in a flash or prefer the slow (romantic?) scenic route, there's something for everyone. I could see transporter "networks" akin to bus lines/taxi services in their ability to handle mass usership and like Internet companies in that you have a membership. With unlimited data, of course. Who wants to get held up in the transporter because you ran out of gigs (or whatever units transported matter is measured in)?

 

[Jedman67]

I don't remember the name of the TNG episode, the one where Crusher is kidnapped by terrorists, but the crew seemed surprised by the abundant use of personal transporter technology in use by nearly everyone on the planet they were visiting.

The High Ground, IIRC. What surprised the crew was the near-invisibility of the terrorists teleporter and it's ability to penetrate the ships shields without a trace.

 

[Ithekro]

There is no sense that anyone has a house transporter even in the 24th century. Things still seem to be more akin to subway stations or perhaps bus stops, depending on what so considered appropriate distances between transporter locations verses other means of transportation. Transporters also seem to be pad to pad for most civilian applications. There might be other methods, but that seems the most logical as one also needs to be sure they can transport back later.

 

[m.lp.ql.m]

I recall seeing in a couple DS9 eps establishing shots that take place on Earth, in one examle, outside of Sisko's father's restaurant, a horse-drawn carriage. Not a DS9 expert, but it almost seems that in that series, Earth transportation was primarily non-transporter.

 

[Christopher]

I recall seeing in a couple DS9 eps establishing shots that take place on Earth, in one examle, outside of Sisko's father's restaurant, a horse-drawn carriage.

That was supposed to be a historical district, IIRC. And there are plenty of cities that have horse-drawn carriage rides as a tourist attraction, including New York City and downtown here in Cincinnati. It certainly doesn't mean that more modern forms of transportation aren't in use.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

It really depends on what your purpose and urgency is.

 

[Mudd]

If people were accustomed in daily life to teleporting using the equivalent of a smartphone app there wouldn't be a job aboard starships called "transporter operator."

 

[Greg Cox]

With the invention of teleportation, clearly it would be the preferred method of getting from place to place throughout Earth. But wouldn't it be extremely disruptive and ruin outdoor recreation and such?

I mean say you are going on some kind of remote camping trip. But if you can just teleport from your living room and back, it's just like going to your backyard. Even if you refrained from using it, the knowledge that you can just teleport to get supplies or whatever would ruin any sense of remoteness or being out in nature. Also someone else can just teleport right to your location at any time!

On the other hand, you would get to spend more time on your retreat or vacation if you didn't have to factor in lots of travel time. That's more time to commune with Nature that isn't lost on the six-hour trip to and from your destination.

And the trees and mountains and sparkling streams would still be there to enjoy and appreciate. So what if they're not as "remote" and inconvenient to get as they used to be?

Then again, I'm not much into camping, so what do I know?

But, in general, I would love to able to visit London or Seattle or Singapore without having to deal with planes, trains, and automobiles.

 

[m.lp.ql.m]

...That's more time to commune with Nature that isn't lost on the six-hour trip to and from your destination...

Who would need to travel anywhere to commune with Nature if one has a holodeck?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ Because there's no substitute for the real thing.

There is no sense that anyone has a house transporter even in the 24th century.

Sisko once mentioned something about a new girl moving into his neighborhood and he asked her out before her parents had even finished beaming in the furniture.

I suppose it could have been the moving company that was doing the beaming, though.

 

[Kor]

If transporting was officially limited to a sanctioned network, I would bootleg a gray-market personal transporter into my basement.

Kor

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ And you'd trust your life to something like that?

Put it another way: remember what we just discussed about privacy. Wouldn't you rather have transporting be limited to an approved network, rather than anyone being able to beam into your house any time they wanted?

Transporting is not essential, but privacy is.