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Do you think we will be able to teleport humans in the future

billbill
edited December 2010 in Buddhism Today
Won't the teleporation of humans prove that the spirit doesn't exist.
thanks everyone for your thoughts

Comments

  • ChrysalidChrysalid Veteran
    edited October 2010
    I thought about this a lot when I was younger (being a huge trek fan). In the typical method of teleportation in scifi, and in theoretical physics, an object would be deconstructed and in the process the position of every particle that makes them up would be recorded, this "blueprint" would be transmitted to another place where they would be reconstructed using fresh particles.
    It suggests to me that, if this ever become possible, a human being wouldn't require anything intangible to exist, just the particles physics is already aware of.
  • GuyCGuyC Veteran
    edited October 2010
    bill wrote: »
    Won't the teleporation of humans prove that the spirit doesn't exist.

    No.
  • ShiftPlusOneShiftPlusOne Veteran
    edited October 2010
    Why would they have to disprove something that hasn't been proven?
  • ZaylZayl Veteran
    edited October 2010
    Only one way to find out...
  • username_5username_5
    edited October 2010
    If we start with the presupposition that "spirit" is an external thing that flows through us and it has some means of locating humans in order to flow through them (or is perhaps everpresent) then teleportation would not be expected to reform the person without the spirit still present. The spirit would be where ever the person was. It was probably already there before the person even arrived.

    Of course, that is if one accepts the presupposition.
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    edited October 2010
    Make it so. ;)
  • EngyoEngyo
    edited October 2010
    Energize.
  • LesCLesC Bermuda Veteran
    edited October 2010
    Beam me up Scottie!
  • drussell4801drussell4801
    edited October 2010
    I'm a trekkie too.

    I've often wondered about teleportation.

    Someone said earlier that deconstructing the person and reconstructing them is all that is happening. If thats true, couldnt we we reconstruct any number of copies? And then if we do that, does that mean they would share the same soul? hehe..
  • EngyoEngyo
    edited October 2010
    drussell4801 wrote: »
    I'm a trekkie too.

    I've often wondered about teleportation.

    Someone said earlier that deconstructing the person and reconstructing them is all that is happening. If thats true, couldnt we we reconstruct any number of copies? And then if we do that, does that mean they would share the same soul? hehe..
    There are several very interesting treatises on this subject disguised as science fiction novels.
  • RichardHRichardH Veteran
    edited October 2010
    bill wrote: »
    Won't the teleporation of humans prove that the spirit doesn't exist.
    thanks everyone for your thoughts
    Didn't you see David Cronenbergs version of "The Fly"?..... No way man, those teleporters are bad news.
  • B5CB5C Veteran
    edited October 2010
    I go with Bones:
    <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/am-5DMBXz8s?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/am-5DMBXz8s?fs=1&hl=en_US&quot; type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
  • ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
    edited October 2010
    Didn't you see David Cronenbergs version of "The Fly"?..... No way man, those teleporters are bad news.

    lol, haha. Bad juju man!
  • DaltheJigsawDaltheJigsaw Mountain View Veteran
    edited October 2010
    I think they can already do it:)
    Conspiracies I tell you:)
  • conradcookconradcook Veteran
    edited November 2010
    If you're interested in this theme, go rent a movie called The Prestige. I won't say the exact relation; just watch it.

    Buddha bless,

    Conrad.
  • TheDoctorDonnaTheDoctorDonna
    edited November 2010
    "Dammit Jim...Im a Buddist not an Engineer !"
  • The_Fruit_Punch_WizaThe_Fruit_Punch_Wiza Veteran
    edited November 2010
    The Doctor Donna wrote: »
    "Dammit Jim...Im a Buddist not an Engineer !"

    Oh Dr. McCoy!
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    edited November 2010
    I'm more interested in having a holodeck first.
  • IronRabbitIronRabbit Veteran
    edited November 2010
    Teleportation as in beaming one's atoms - No. Hence, no proof of spirit's non existence either. Teleportation and spirit are equally nebulous terms open to endless speculation. If so, why not consider acceleration to speeds beyond that of light as with cosmic strings or wormholes. Granted, there is probably several thousands of years required to sort that out. Once sorted though, that suggests time travel would be possible. Forget about having one's atoms jumbled and re-assembled - hit the worm-hole, travel faster than the speed of light back to 550 BCE to Bhodgaya and find the dude sitting beneath the banyan tree. Of course that trip would have been preceded by another in which you learned the Magadhi language (Pali) which would prepare you to receive teachings from Shakyamuni in person. Or conversely, as in the movie Groundhog Day, one could live the same day over and over learning the lessons of ultimate truth until enlightenment was realized. In that scenario time travel would be shorter yet would require repeated accelerations of indeterminate number until enlightenment was realized. Fundamentally, we are all teleporting forward in time with each passing moment - changing as cells replicate and die - forming new ideas and abandoning others. Disassembling our atoms suggests dissolution of the entity we recognize as self, conventionally - including the consciousness that is dependent on a certain set of parameters of stasis - at least temporarily. Reassembling atoms at a distance of space or time presupposes that consciousness will resume when all atoms are in alignment at the predetermined destination. Consciousness does not consist of atoms - therefore death would occur and there would be a rebirth of a new consciousness. Whether memories and identity could be reconnected in a reassembled atomic structure of a human again presupposes that our "selves" can follow our atoms around. If spirit is referred to as that which is immutable (no-self. anatta) then neither jumbling atoms nor acceleration beyond the speed of light can have any effect on "spirit" - but that is entirely different than our "selves".
  • BrandonBrandon
    edited December 2010
    not enough time to figure it out considering 2012 is right around the corner ;)
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