i always figured that the transporter was ultimately just a scanner and the beaming in process is the same as being replicated, but the replication has to be done while the scanner is running because there’s simply too much data to actually store long-term unless you’re willing to use the whole ship/station/whatever as a buffer, like that one DS9 episode. and i guess the scan requires a level of detail it can only get from the source destructively which is why it isn’t a clone unless the beam gets reflected? or something? this is one of those things that makes less sense the more you try and figure it, and suddenly a literal matter stream somehow seems more feasible
maybe ships have Einstein Compensators or some shit allowing 1:1 matter energy conversion but it only works on transporters so you can’t make a perpetual energy machine? i need to lie down
Thanks for your contribution to this nonsensical discussion.
Pfft. Uh, hello reversed polarity?!
This one gets it.
The same way you killed Tuvix.
If I didn’t have need for Tuvok and Neelix, I’d have exchanged Tuvix for a sack of coffee and a cute little puppy.
Maybe just 2 sacks of coffee.
The transporter has a failsafe to replace missing atoms or molecules that didn’t make the trip by pulling from reserves. It got a lock, attempted transport, then got an error saying 7x10^27 atoms didn’t make it and replaced them, leaving the original Riker on the planet and constructing an entirely new Riker on the Potemkin’s transporter pad. Thomas is the original, Will is the clone.
PC LOAD MATTER? What the hell does that even mean?!
Anyone got a spare matter cartridge?
There’s not an ounce of Cyan in Riker’s body, but this thing still refuses to materialize without a new cartridge!
They’re both clones, as is the fate of anyone who uses a Star Trek transporter.
Found Bones.
Bones died that day. I’m just what you remember of him.
It’s the same way replicator technology works. They’re reassembling matter that’s been stored for that purpose. Two Rikers just means less matter is left in the storage buffer.
Just send a couple of Red Shirts on an away mission. There’s plenty more where they came from.
Recycling tragic accidents is just good policy, and necessary to preserve the ecosystem on visited planets.
If we happen to get a few cloned bridge officers out of the bargain…that’s just good fortune.
It took the mass from the replicator. Fewer tacos were served that day.
Is Admiral Vance referring to the cookie or Thomas Riker?
Can you imagine how much energy is stored in a transporter buffer?
I mean, they’re flying around in a big engine that bends the fabric of space, so maybe it’s not such a big deal a few hundred years in the future. I guess it’s like comparing a furnace and bellows with a nuclear reactor.
I imagine there’s all sorts of backup systems and contigencies in place. Just wanted to see what serious, creative, or silly answers I’d get.
Oh boy now I’m vaklempt
Ahem: a second transporter beam locked on to his signal. Since the transporter uses that beam to convert physical matter into an energy pattern there were in essence 2 matter converted energy patterns. The energy came from the transporter.
Proper answer.
Fine. The answer any time someone questions any aspect of the show is even simpler: Q did it.
But what about the matter stream?
E = MC2
Energy is matter with some speed of light fuckery.
Wasn’t there an energy fluctuation, so more energy could be entered into the system.
But also, Banach Tarski. On the subatomic level, maybe these types of shenanigans could manifest.
Edit: it turns out that copying a person requires a lot of energy, more than a heavy storm would have over years.
Possible, I suppose.
They cached 1 oz of 💩 from each of the previous 3000 transports.
So Thomas Riker is full of 💩?
Will Riker is. Thomas is the original.
