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To: Zon
The way I see it, and I'll use a complex object as example is that, what does it matter to a person that wants to "travel" to a civilization at the other side of the Milky Way if the information of himself is instantaneously recreated via quantum entanglement on that distant civilization?

The problem IMHO is that all this ignores the essence of what it is to be human, ie. a spirit. How can a physical process, no matter how sophisticated, act on that which is not subject to physical law? At this point, science and philosophy will have to be reconciled (in other words, it is still a long way off).

39 posted on 12/20/2001 6:49:45 AM PST by lafroste
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To: lafroste
The problem IMHO is that all this ignores the essence of what it is to be human, ie. a spirit.

You have summarized it exactly, lafroste. In teleporting and reassembling all of the quanta which constitute a living human being, what happens to the animating spirit - the soul, which dwells within the bodily vessel ? One might ask the same question concerning a more technologically imminent development, a human clone. Is the soul somehow partitioned betweed the two ( or more ) bodies ? Do we somehow even more gravely usurp the Creator's role by claiming to create both body and soul of such new beings ?

47 posted on 12/20/2001 7:07:31 AM PST by Dukie
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To: lafroste
The problem IMHO is that all this ignores the essence of what it is to be human, ie. a spirit. How can a physical process, no matter how sophisticated, act on that which is not subject to physical law? At this point, science and philosophy will have to be reconciled (in other words, it is still a long way off).

This was written in response to biologic immortality and also has application to teleportation. -- A very important aspect of achieving immortality is being able to store a persons "I-ness" (sense of self-awareness) and all aspects of the mind off site (some sort of specialized database) so that if an accident kills the person not only can the body be brought back to life but the mind will be restored as well.

As for it being "still a long way off", consider this: One hundred years ago it didn't seem that any one could conceive of the Internet, but here it is. With the always ascending technology curve, time to meaningful technology advancements shrinks.

Nanotechnology should arrive in fifteen to twenty years. In thirty years it will be in nearly every industry plus industries not yet known. 

54 posted on 12/20/2001 7:17:00 AM PST by Zon
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To: lafroste
At this point, science and philosophy will have to be reconciled

First they have to be addressing the same subject...then they have to define the terms the same way...then we can begin. :)

148 posted on 12/20/2001 6:20:56 PM PST by lepton
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