Does the Star Trek transporter problem apply to the concept of souls as well?

Question

For those who need a quick run down of the problem, it's a question of identity. The oversimplified version asks, if you step into the transporter, are dismantled particle by particle and then reassembled perfectly in a different location so that what comes out is the same as you in every way anyone can ever perceive, is it really you or did you die when you were disassembled?

Now, I'm not really interested in answering the problem itself here, but I'm curious if the same question would apply to a soul. Your physical body is destroyed. But, this soul that identifies as you persists. Weirder still, let's say you had Alzheimer's. I'm told that the soul version of you would not have any of the effects of the disease. So, this soul would have all your memories, all the cognitive faculties you once had, and in essence, be very different from the version of you that had died. Doesn't that raise questions of it's identity even more than the transporter problem would?

Answer 1

Despite being taken apart molecule by molecule, your living body is converted into a living transporter pattern. So even in a disassembled state, you're still alive. And you're still alive when you're reassembled.



I'm not talking soul transference, but rather what makes you alive is still in the pattern you've been converted into.

Answer 2

actually, if you listen to John Leer, he says there is a computer on the moon that DOES transport spirits, and hence he claims a malfunction does sent male and female spirits to the wrong gender bodies. idk if its true, but thats what he said

Answer 3

Another way to look at the same problem is with cryogenics. If you were frozen completely, which may well be possible and soon, and thawed out later. Would you have been dead for the frozen time?

I say, with the transporter version, that you did not die. You were simply temporarily digitized then converted back to analog. When I convert my VHS videos to DVD they do not cease to exist during the process.



Imagine burning in hell for centuries while being frozen on earth, then getting sucked back into your body and thinking it's over, only to discover that a cannibal had gotten hold of your frozen TV dinner body and you were in his oven.



Almost forgot to answer the question.

I like the answer they gave Bart Simpson in Sunday school. Bart,"If a pirate loses his leg, gets a peg leg, and keeps living for years before going to heaven. Does his leg go to heaven first and wait on him?"

Answer; Yes.

Answer 4

Actually, no, what you would call a soul does not, in fact, persist after death. Without your brain as a structure for that energy, it just becomes regular electric energy. Even if it does find another brain, it won't be you anymore. This is why changes to the brain's structure can have such drastic effects on personality. If souls existed, and were separate of the body, this wouldn't happen.



Also, I'm pretty sure Star Trek transporters work on an imprint system. They freeze a copy of you as you are, perfectly, then disassemble it, and reassemble it somewhere else. No death.



I know there was an episode that had someone come back from death because of that. Also pretty sure they used it to cure some disease.

Answer 5

The Fly or Jumanji also had these things but didn't really explain the body/soul concept. They just accepted it as fact within the fiction. The corrupted body of the amalgamation of the fly with Seth was just good horror. (In the book there is a little entity that flies around with Seth's head and is eventually trapped and eaten by a spider.)



In "reality" your body and soul are inseparable until death.

Some neardeath/actualdeath experiences where the person comes back from the dead, they are aware of their body and their soul as different things....the body being described as "heavy" and something they were loathe to re-enter. However, at the time of parting, the soul recognizes the beauty of their own body and wondered why they didn't like some of the features.



I think the transporter in The Fly is a better example because the two places where the transport takes place is actually in the same room. In Star Trek, the transporter can be hundreds of miles away.



I think the soul in its disembodied form can actually travel faster than thought and the particles of the body are travelling as light, there should be no problem with a transport. That would make a cool episode.

Answer 6

Star Trek addressed such matters.

There is existence - and on occasion even consciousness - while being transported.

The transported person does not experience death, merely "transmogrification" or (if you prefer) "translation" or "transmutation".

Answer 7

Yeah that's a totally different than The Ship of Theseus

Answer 8

No because in star trek there is no god figure, therefore no soul.

Answer 9

It's a tv show.

Answer 10

I think the concept of souls breaks down completely when you consider mental impairments like Alzheimers and you just raise another interesting point.

Answer 11

Souls aren't real, but neither are transporters, so hypothetically: souls are meant to be eternal. The first time you went through a transporter, you'd lose your soul, because yes, they kill you and recreate you. Souls are supposed to be non-material so a transporter couldn't recreate one could it? Someone should include a religious cult that refuses to use transporters in a sci fi story. Could make a good story.