this post was submitted on 25 Jul 2023
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You know those sci-fi teleporters like in Star Trek where you disappear from one location then instantaneously reappear in another location? Do you trust that they are safe to use?

To fully understand my question, you need to understand the safety concerns regarding teleporters as explained in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQHBAdShgYI

spoilerI wouldn't, because the person that reappears aint me, its a fucking clone. Teleporters are murder machines. Star Trek is a silent massacre!

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[โ€“] Barbacamanitu@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What if the original wasn't destroyed? Wouldn't it be a clone then? Which one would feel like it was really you?

[โ€“] Trekman10@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Both of us would be me. Then, as our experiences diverged from the point of duplication, we'd become different people (See: Thomas, the duplicate of William Riker in Star Trek. The only reason Thomas and not Will is considered the copy is because of audience perspective, but empathizing with each of them makes one see how both are Will Riker at the start of the episode). This all of course, assumes we don't discover something like the popular conception of souls during the early trials. But I don't believe there's anything about a "soul" that can't be tied to the sum of one's lived experience, which would be copied too.

I would consider a clone to be more expansive of who it could include besides copies of myself as I am now - it would also be someone grown from the literal same embryo as me who'd lived a completely different life with even a different name.

[โ€“] Barbacamanitu@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

I think I pretty much agree. I think they would both be me just like me from yesterday and me from a week ago are the same me. They aren't exactly the same, but they are both versions of me that my current self grew from.