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The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > The Teleportation Problem - Self, Consciousness, Duplicates and Death
 
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Cicero
Dec 17, 2003

Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.
The plot of SOMA (by Frictional Games, makes of Amnesia: The Dark Descent) is relevant to this, as it involves being able to digitally replicate/transmit consciousness. Example:

quote:

Catherine then suggests that they take an elevator down to the Abyss, but in order to survive the crushing depths, they need to find Simon a tougher suit. In Omicron, they are able to locate a Power Suit with the headless body of Ralleigh Herber inside, and Catherine proposes they scan Simon's consciousness into a new Cortex Chip to be placed with the body repeating the process that originated the current Simon. With no other clear path forward, Simon reluctantly agrees. They find another brain scan device and successfully "teleport" Simon's consciousness into the new Powered Suit. However, Simon is enraged to find his old body still alive and unconscious in the scanning chair. Catherine explains there is no way to move a scan from one body to another, you can only copy it. Simon is then given the choice of whether to kill his old self or leave him to wake up in a few hours.
http://soma.wikia.com/wiki/SOMA

* # ¿ Apr 6, 2016 00:09
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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 08:22
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Cicero
Dec 17, 2003

Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

Oh dear me posted:

I think this is just a restatement of the premiss. I obviously know the original brain has ceased to function, because it has been disassembled. I'm arguing that if a new, completely identical copy has been created, nothing of any importance will have been lost.

This is obviously not true if there is something immaterial, like a soul, which would not inhere in the second body. It's also not true if mere historical continuity of body/mental function is intrinsically wonderful in some way. I just have no idea what that way could be.
This would make for a pretty interesting short story or novella, I think. Two factions at war: one who believes that some fundamental part of identity is lost when teleporting, one who doesn't, with the latter group having a huge tactical advantage since they can just move all over the place anytime, while the former group is stuck with conventional methods of transportation.

I mean you'd have to stretch the bounds of believability to have a society that has teleportation but not robots doing all the fighting, but could still be compelling.

* # ¿ Apr 6, 2016 00:16
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The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > The Teleportation Problem - Self, Consciousness, Duplicates and Death