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In the Star Trek Fictional Universe , transporters are Teleportation machines. The devices convert a person or object into an energy pattern (called ''dematerialization''), then "beam" them to a target, where it is reconverted into matter (''rematerialization''). The target can either be another transporter or a virtually arbitrary specified site. PURPOSE ''Star Trek'' creator Gene Roddenberry 's original plan did not include transporters, instead it called for the characters to land the starship itself. This quickly proved to be both unfeasible and unaffordable for the tightly-budgeted series, however in later series it did occur (see Star Trek Voyager ). Transporters were thus devised by the creators of ''Star Trek'' to avoid having to build expensive shuttle sets and film model shots. They were first seen in the pilot episode " The Cage ". They are commonly used. CAPABILITIES A transporter transports objects in real time, accurate to the quantum level. Heisenberg Compensator s remove uncertainty from the subatomic measurements, making transporter travel feasible. Further technology involved in transportation include a computer pattern buffer to enable a degree of leeway in the process. The Heisenberg compensators are the result of a great deal of artistic licence; when asked how it worked, the show's technical adviser, Michael Okuda , said "Very well, thank you." The latest "Mark" for transporters, as revealed in '''', is the "Mark VII", which is capable of handling unstable biomatter. Additional enhancements to some transporters include a device which can (at the operator's command) detect, and then disable or destroy, an active weapon, and a bio-filter to remove contagious microbes or viruses from an individual in transport. The transporter can also have tactical applications; under certain circumstances it may be possible to transport weapons such as '' episode "Dark Frontier". In '''', Captain Kirk and Lt. Saavik carry on a conversation during the course of a beamout, suggesting that the transporter is also capable of teleporting moving Sound Wave s. LIMITATIONS Limitations include range up to 40,000 kilometers from the TOS-era onward (although transporters based on Subspace radio do not have this limitation, as of the TNG era they are experimental and cause Brain Damage in higher lifeforms) and the inability to transport through Shield s (unless it is needed for the plot, in which case a method of "penetrating" the shields is discovered). We sometimes see transporters allowing people to move during the transport (indeed, this is the plot of " Realm Of Fear "), but other times they seem to freeze people. In " Bloodlines ", it appears a transporter altered a person's position in transit to stop them from falling over. NOTABLE INCIDENTS The transporter was invented in the early ). It is implied, however, that the devices were widely used for the purpose of shipping cargo before they were ever "approved" for human use. Further experiments in 2139 led to Erickson's son, Quinn Erickson, being transformed into an "energy being" that was suspended in space until he was recovered by his father on board the starship ''Enterprise'' (NX-01) in 2154 , although Quinn did not survive the recovery process. Notable transporter malfunctions/abuses include
's transporter room]] Despite these episodes, transporters are generally considered safe, and the transporterphobia of characters like Dr Leonard McCoy , Lt Reginald Barclay , and Dr Katherine Pulaski is not understood. Presumably shuttle crashes occur more often than transporter accidents, but are just less interesting in plot terms. A ''transporter accident'' is caused when a person using a transporter is somehow not reassembled correctly. This can be caused by human error, but safeguards in the system make this very unlikely. Computer malfunctions are also highly unlikely in the more advanced systems, and are only caused by extremely unusual conditions. On '''', the crew mainly use the ship's shuttlepods; the transporter is used very rarely, as it is new and not quite trusted. Nevertheless, the transporter of the NX-01 has been used for actions such as intra-ship beaming and beaming of an object/person in motion, which would not be perfected for another century. PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTIONS The discontinuity of the transported object causes theoretical problems in the Metaphysical field of Identity . This is akin to the Ship Of Theseus problem. If Captain Kirk , for example, is beamed to a planet from the Enterprise, he is dissassembled, and later molecules are reassembled to create a 'new' Captain Kirk. Is this new 'copy' the real Captain or merely a copy? And, if so, what happens to the real Kirk? Also, related to identity, is the issue brought up in " The Enemy Within ", is if these two Kirks are qualitatively identical (simply the same Kirk copied, somewhat like one is a clone of the other), or '''quantitatively identical''' (the two Kirks are the exact same thing, a person taking 'stock' of the universe's contents would count these as ''one'' thing). These seem like meaningless questions to many, and in fact has been spoofed at least once on '''', but they are very important to the metaphysician as it has many uses in Analogous Argumentation . SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS |
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