Mass-Energy Conversion

Now we're into the realms of Star Trek. Lets assume for a moment that Matter Transporters are a reality: that a living being may be safely transformed into an energy pattern for transmission or storage, then recreated as the same being ("soul intact") at a later time. This would require formidable computing and storage capabilities. However, given these, a physical form could be manipulated whilst only a data pattern and reformed in the new shape. The advantages are much the same as producing a document using a word-processor as opposed to a type-writer: all manipulation is done in the computer, thus avoiding any actual physical transformation. The finished result is simply materialised at the end of the process. If mass-conservation presents a problem, a hopper of convenient matter (earth? sea-water?) could easily make up the difference. Matter transmission of a structure has not yet been achieved, although some success has been met with on a particle level.

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