Palad1 said:DISCLAIMER I'm an atheist, although I worship Descartes
What happens during teleportation? Some atoms are moved from point A to point B in a defined timespan. An object X which, at a time T was at the point A, is translated to point B, at T+Delta
Let's assume all the atoms are located at the right place, all the quarks are where they should be, every spin is intact and the energy levels are unchanged between X@(T) and X@(T+Duration).
So, the question is, what happens during the Delta timespan? Are your atoms transmitted serially, 8 at a time, in other words, what is the bandwitdth of this thing?
If the bandwidth is not infinite, Delta will be > 0 then that means that between T and T+Delta, X will not be coherent, instead we will have parts of X at point A, and parts of X at point B.
The religious types will ask: Between T and T+Duration, where is your soul? What happens to it after T+Duration?
The pragmatic types will ask: If your atoms are moving at the speed of light, what will happen while your brain gets transported? Do you stop thinking? What happens to the thoughts you have during transportation? Are you still the same person?
Of course, the gamers will say that all the answers are already known, but they are a loony bunch.
My response to QuarterSwede was because he/she seemed so certain that life cannot withstand teleportation, regardless of whether or not a body has a soul. He/she also offered no solid explanation of why he/she believes that. You, on the other hand, did a great job of integrating mathematics into everyday English
I see exactly what you're saying, and I agree with your conclusion that we just don't know enough about it to say what will or will not happen.
Any sort of time-lag between different parts of the brain or body being transported would obviously create some sort of hiccup in the system. If the time-lag is within certain tolerances, I'm pretty sure living things could handle it without too many ill-effects.
