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Transporter technology is cool, but I wish they'd work on the food replicators first.

They are, in effect, the same thing.

As far as I can see, whether it's Star Trek or Cal Tech, the only difference between 'Beam me up!' and 'Tea, Earl Grey, hot', is in the first place the original item is destroyed as it's copied, and the second, the item is copied from a pattern previously saved.

Lots of questions to be asked and settled if this is truly real. It's the the effect of preverbal perpetual motion machine, even if the physics works. If you can copy the atoms of an object, then you can have unlimited objects. Unlimited Oil, unlimited gold, unlimited food. The entire economic base falls flat on it's face as everything valuable becomes worth only as much as the energy needed to copy it. Star Trek indeed!

That's before you consider the actual questions of teleportation by making a copy on the other end. If you were to step in, and they fail to complete the transfer, there really could be two of you! What if some judge is having a snarky day and rules that your wife is now a widow because your original body was physically destroyed in the move? How could you ever be sure it was really 'you' that stepped out, and not a saved copy days later to be manipulated into some nefarious act or experiment?

Paranoia comes easy when the possibilities are real. ;)

As a kid, I always wondered what it was like to have been born with barely a working telephone available, and see atomic power and computers and the internet... Not any more.

"It's the the effect of preverbal perpetual motion machine, even if the physics works. If you can copy the atoms of an object, then you can have unlimited objects. Unlimited Oil, unlimited gold, unlimited food."

The cost of everything in that situation is energy. Your tea costs the device power on the order of e=mc^2 plus some amount for inefficiency and such. The number of objects you can "create" is limited by the amount of power you have available. Probably the most interesting aspect is that you can toss your old socks in there, have them converted into energy, and have them reformed as a slice of delicious cheesecake.

"That's before you consider the actual questions of teleportation by making a copy on the other end. If you were to step in, and they fail to complete the transfer, there really could be two of you!"

There's no copy being made - the original is converted to energy, the energy is transferred to a new location, and that energy is reformed into you. Although one episode of ST:TNG did indeed have a transporter accident create a copy of someone, it was a break in the continuity of the understanding put forth about the technology. It was a single incident in which the writers apparently partied a bit too hard the previous night and came up with a bad story (and one which defied the limits placed upon the technology) in between Advils. (I just made that up, but watching that episode, as a fan, makes you wonder)

"How could you ever be sure it was really 'you' that stepped out, and not a saved copy days later to be manipulated into some nefarious act or experiment?"

The transporter technology in Star Trek was quite limited in what it could do. Making apple pie was pretty easy, and copies could be put out in droves. In order to make anything as complex as a person, though, it had to have the original within its buffer. In other words, multiple copies was impossible, as was using old transporter data to make a new you. Even weapons were beyond the abilities of the transporter and replicator systems. No complex, moving parts systems were reproducable.

The entire economic base falls flat on it's face as everything valuable becomes worth only as much as the energy needed to copy it. Star Trek indeed!

Only the material economy. The economy would transform, to be one of Energy Generation, Intellectual Property, Entertainment, Health Care, Excercise and Weight Loss facilities.

We are already making the transition to the "Dream Society". This would just speed it up. The economic dislocations would be great, but the great thing about this, is since food could be printed by the government, it would reduce the cost of social programs. Who cares how much is given away if it's only costing you a few cents of energy as opposed to 20-30% of your salary.