8 Sci-Fi Inventions Ruined By Science
2. Teleportation
Speaking of copied. Just how many times did Scotty kill Kirk?
A lot.
In fact, every time he beamed him up. This why Bones never wanted to use the damn thing.
To be fair, Scotty did duplicate Kirk each time, but in representing another philosophical dilemma, how much of Kirk was still Kirk? Think of Theseus’ paradox in which parts of a ship are replaced to such an extent that one could argue it is no longer the same ship, but actually a new one.
How much of the essence remains intact?
We’ve been teleporting photons the better part of a decade, with the last record set in 2012, but we’re talking about a single photon at a time, not trillions upon trillions of atoms – at the light speed, no less, lest we forget about the need for infinite energy and all.
Thanks again, Einstein.