If You Could Pay to Teleport Home, How Often Would You Do It?

startrekbeyondposterI saw Star Trek Beyond on Friday. One of my favorite aspects of Star Trek is the teleportation technology. It’s similar to one of the core technologies in the Hyperion series of books.

As my friends and I waited for the movie to start, I posed a question to them: “If you could teleport home and back for $100, would you do it?”

By “home,” I mean your parents’ house. The reason I’m adding that twist is if you’re anything like me, your family means a lot to you, but they can also get on your nerves in large doses.

I’m in St. Louis, and my parents and sister (along with brother-in-law, niece, and nephew) are all in Virginia. I was thinking how great it would be to simply teleport home on a whim for dinner every now and then.

Of course, teleportation wouldn’t be free. The sheer computing power and energy required for teleportation would be immense. $100 is a steal, but it’s still a hefty amount to pay for a family dinner. I probably wouldn’t be able to do that on a whim very often.

What about you? How often would you pay to use this technology, and how long would your visit last?

6 thoughts on “If You Could Pay to Teleport Home, How Often Would You Do It?”

  1. I love Star Trek but I would not use a teleporter. IMO the machine kills you and replaces you with a perfect copy.

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  2. My family and I go home to visit my mom on the east coast every summer for two weeks. It’s ~16 hours driving each way from our home near Louisville, KY.

    I would ABSOLUTELY pay $100 per person to be able to teleport. It would also allow quick weekend trips as well (or, as you said, on a whim for dinner), and not have to be a massive two-week adventure every time we go.

    (This is all assuming that it’s truly a teleporter and not a suicide box that creates a perfect copy, as Falko mentioned. But then again, even if it IS a suicide box that creates a perfect copy… Does it really matter?????????)

    Reply
    • I guess you could always argue that it’s not much different from falling asleep and waking up again. Isn’t your conciousness “dead” while sleeping?
      I wonder … if the technology really existed, what would prevail: convenience or philosophical concerns? Would there be some kind of peer pressure? I am not sure what I would eventually do if it were widely available.

      Reply

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