New efforts!

[JanessaVR]

If regulations required you to fly at a non-lethal altitude and at a non-lethal speed, you'd basically be operating a bicycle whose wheels happened to not quite touch the ground, only slower.

A hoverbike?  Cool, I'll take one.  ;)

[duane]

https://images.weserv.nl/?url=www.rankopedia.com%2FCandidatePix%2F133804.gif

[Sinistar]

Ah yes, South Park. The pinnacle of not using hyperbole.

I firmly believe that if immortality technology were feasible, the vast majority of people who could afford it would get it.

I just realized... the hugely practical nature of transporters would clearly override any objections to them. McCoy was a weirdo for disliking them, and that's a pretty reasonable vision of how real people would react too.

I can see transporters used for cargo transport but not people transport.

Immortality technology? Yeah I'd look into it, just hope it is low maintenance.

[JanessaVR]

https://images.weserv.nl/?url=www.rankopedia.com%2FCandidatePix%2F133804.gif

If only this were true.  He will be missed.

[Codewalker]

I just realized... the hugely practical nature of transporters would clearly override any objections to them. McCoy was a weirdo for disliking them, and that's a pretty reasonable vision of how real people would react too.

Could be worse.

Had to link to the summary of the Outer Limits episode based on it rather than the original short story, because while you can find a PDF of the short story, I'm pretty sure it's still in anthologies being sold and I don't want to encourage copyright infringement.

[Noyjitat]

I'd certainly be all over it :P

If you can get in touch with the soulless minions of Orthodoxy, the Cellular Regeneration and Entertainment Chamber is just the machine you're looking for!

https://images.weserv.nl/?url=vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net%2Fmemoryalpha%2Fimages%2Ff%2Ff6%2FCellular_entertainment.jpg%2Frevision%2Flatest%3Fcb%3D20060602060640%26amp%3Bpath-prefix%3Den

[Twisted Toon]

No, it doesn't. The Wiimote "sensor bar" is just a few infrared LEDs that the Wiimode uses to get a rough estimate of where the TV is located. The fine positioning is handled by an internal accelerometer similar to what many smartphones have to determine their orientation (see also: iPhone 'tilt' games).

The Wiimote doesn't know or care what is being displayed on the TV unlike a traditional CRT light gun that needs to flash the screen in order to get an accurate position. It is not at all pixel accurate and its position will vary based on the size of the screen you're using.

It's also been extensively hacked, and there is plenty of documentation about exactly how it works, as well as drivers to be able to use it with a PC and get access to the raw data from it.

I have played some archery on the Wii Resort. I could fire the arrow while pointed 90 degrees relative to the T.V. The Wii-mote is not even pointed near the screen and I could still hit the bulls-eye. Not your typical CRT scanning pointer device.

[Twisted Toon]

I think immortality may not be the best idea. 

To quote Kosh, "You are not ready for immortality."

[LaughingAlex]

Could be worse.

Had to link to the summary of the Outer Limits episode based on it rather than the original short story, because while you can find a PDF of the short story, I'm pretty sure it's still in anthologies being sold and I don't want to encourage copyright infringement.

I was watching, I think it was "The universe" and it provoked the whole question of "if we are departicalizing and reparticalizing people in the process of teleporting, are we really killing the original and making a duplicate or is it actually teleporting the person?".  I thought about it multiple times with regards to teleportation.  It's honestly why I'd rather dimensional portals for long distances over teleportation.

[LaughingAlex]

To quote Kosh, "You are not ready for immortality."

Nah, more like not wanting to see a guy turn into a genocidal, cold, emotionless monster cause he has infinite funds and an unlimited lifespan and has gotten bored and wanted to kill a bunch of humans for shits and giggles.  :)'

Edit: I suppose we could go with an example with ourselves.  How many of us here have gone on a rampage in some pc game?  Specifically, how many of you played a game like skyrim or deus ex and decided to kill every npc for the heck of it?  Or fallout 3 or new vegas?  Like this guy;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWqE8Qyz6Zw&list=PLwH1xJhcXG0eO7X0ibAb03F8U91KDdCLO

Imagine if a person died and then suddenly just came back?  Well, so much for sense of consequence eh?

[JanessaVR]

To quote Kosh, "You are not ready for immortality."

To quote me: "You are welcome to embrace mortality all you like - just don't speak for me."

[Cailyn Alaynn]

To quote Kosh, "You are not ready for immortality."

To quote me: "You are welcome to embrace mortality all you like - just don't speak for me."

To quote William T. Riker: "Speak for yourself, sir. I plan to live forever."

[JanessaVR]

To quote William T. Riker: "Speak for yourself, sir. I plan to live forever."

I loved that line.  It was the perfect counterpoint to Picard's father-knows-best platitudes of "we're all only mortal."

[Ohioknight]

I was watching, I think it was "The universe" and it provoked the whole question of "if we are departicalizing and reparticalizing people in the process of teleporting, are we really killing the original and making a duplicate or is it actually teleporting the person?".  I thought about it multiple times with regards to teleportation.  It's honestly why I'd rather dimensional portals for long distances over teleportation.

I think the point is that we are patterns and the teleporter thought experiment forces one to recognize it. 

If yesterday while you slept, your body was sent through a teleporter that disassembled every particle and sent the signal to reassemble other particles (energy states, whatever) in the same pattern, that would be you.

If it instead DIDN'T disassemble every particle, but just recorded the signal and reassembled the pattern, that would ALSO be you (from the perspective of you last week, though not from your perspective now) and there would be two of you.  Like a tree branch, you have one ancestral timeline, but an infinite number of future timelines -- every copy made tomorrow is equally "you" in comparison to the "original".

A copy of you in your exact pattern as it will exist next week that was created 200 years ago is living in your future and you will experience becoming that copy (in 1815) as a future event -- the illusion of temporal continuity is only that... an illusion.

[Arcana]

the illusion of temporal continuity is only that... an illusion.

The more you think about it, the more noodle-baking it gets.  For example, when I first encountered the notion of alternate futures, it occurred to me that they opened the door to alternate pasts.  In other words, quantum mechanics says that given the current state of the universe, there are a number of different possible futures that could happen, given the probabilistic nature of quantum mechanics.  The direct extrapolation is that there are a number of different possible past states of the universe that all could lead to this one.  In other words, two different past histories could generate this present.

If we think of alternate futures as alternate timelines that split from this one, it begs the question of whether there is any meaning to the idea that multiple past realities could merge into a single one.  If we have two different future versions of ourself that are both equally "us" is it possible there were two different versions of us that merged into a single one, in a sense "destroying" one of them.

Continuity of existence quickly begs questions of what existence even is, continuous or otherwise.

[Biz]

This was also my first freemium game, a free game with item shop, and it got me hard.

I'm sorry, I couldn't resist

[darkgob]

If you can get in touch with the soulless minions of Orthodoxy, the Cellular Regeneration and Entertainment Chamber is just the machine you're looking for!

https://images.weserv.nl/?url=vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net%2Fmemoryalpha%2Fimages%2Ff%2Ff6%2FCellular_entertainment.jpg%2Frevision%2Flatest%3Fcb%3D20060602060640%26amp%3Bpath-prefix%3Den

They were the ones who allegedly wanted to shut it down, actually.

[Mentalshock]

To quote William T. Riker: "Speak for yourself, sir. I plan to live forever."

I don't recall - Did Q ever take the power bestowed on Riker back?  I think so, at the end of the episode...

[Twisted Toon]

The more you think about it, the more noodle-baking it gets.  For example, when I first encountered the notion of alternate futures, it occurred to me that they opened the door to alternate pasts.  In other words, quantum mechanics says that given the current state of the universe, there are a number of different possible futures that could happen, given the probabilistic nature of quantum mechanics.  The direct extrapolation is that there are a number of different possible past states of the universe that all could lead to this one.  In other words, two different past histories could generate this present.

If we think of alternate futures as alternate timelines that split from this one, it begs the question of whether there is any meaning to the idea that multiple past realities could merge into a single one.  If we have two different future versions of ourself that are both equally "us" is it possible there were two different versions of us that merged into a single one, in a sense "destroying" one of them.

Continuity of existence quickly begs questions of what existence even is, continuous or otherwise.

It does stand to reason that if the future hasn't been written yet, then the past can be rewritten. Why I say that is because 100 years in our future is the past for 200 year in our future. If we can change our 100 year future, then we are changing our 200 year future's past. So, if we went 100 years into our past and changed something, we'd be changing the future of 200 years in our past. Which leads to Time being more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly... time-y wimey... stuff.

Or, time travel could be where if you were travel back 100 years, then you were always "destined" to travel back 100 years because you were there 100 years ago. Which would lead to the future actually being being pre-written, and nothing you do would ever change your "destiny". Because it had already happened in your future's future's past.

Time travel philosophy can really bake one's noodle if taken to extremes. I know people who fall into both of those categories of thought. I also know someone that doesn't believe that time travel will ever be possible because the universe would implode the instant someone tried to travel in time. But, the universe has safeguards in place to keep implosions from that source from happening. So, the time traveling just would fail to happen.

Personally, I'm more of a Back to the Future person. Alternate timelines and all that.

[LaughingAlex]

I think the point is that we are patterns and the teleporter thought experiment forces one to recognize it. 

If yesterday while you slept, your body was sent through a teleporter that disassembled every particle and sent the signal to reassemble other particles (energy states, whatever) in the same pattern, that would be you.

If it instead DIDN'T disassemble every particle, but just recorded the signal and reassembled the pattern, that would ALSO be you (from the perspective of you last week, though not from your perspective now) and there would be two of you.  Like a tree branch, you have one ancestral timeline, but an infinite number of future timelines -- every copy made tomorrow is equally "you" in comparison to the "original".

A copy of you in your exact pattern as it will exist next week that was created 200 years ago is living in your future and you will experience becoming that copy (in 1815) as a future event -- the illusion of temporal continuity is only that... an illusion.

My thought, is that what happens to your perception?  What if, reality is is that your perception comes to a permanent end, "death" as it were, when you teleport.  It's death, in that case.  If truely your perception was as if say you fell unconcious and came out with your original perspective, then that wouldn't be death.  But then how could anyone know that but the person being teleported?  Again, it makes me think of that episode I kind of skimmed through today that Arcana brought up.

The more you think about alot of science fiction technologies, yes, the more noodle-baking it gets, especially when you start going into quantum physics.