audio; backdated to the 20th

[candothat]

[The recording starts mid-conversation (caused, perhaps, by excited gesticulating). Chekov's voice is loud and clear; any number of other voices can be in the background, along with the occasional clink of glass on glass and the roar of laughter. The words of whoever he's talking to can't be made out.]

--method of teleportation that you are talking about does not lead to the destruction of the individual. I think that you misunderstand how the process works.

[A pause. More background noise.]

No, no no no. Our identity depends upon how the constituent molecules that we are made of are arranged, not upon which molecules have been arranged. There is no difference between one carbon atom and another, do you understand? And so if the position of everything that makes us up is copied perfectly and this information is transmitted and we are annihilated and reassembled, we will, in the end, be the same person as we were at the start.

[His conversational partner apparently has something to say to that.]

No one is killed. I cannot be more specific about the process, but I understand your concern about personal identity and the destruction of the individual being teleported.

[A much longer pause.]

Now you are making the assumption that there is something more than the physical arrangement of constituent particles that leads to this thing called the individual. Unless you are telling me that there is an immaterial soul to be concerned with, what is the concern? From the perspective of the individual being teleported, the process is nearly instantaneous and they experience no cessation of existence or consciousness. As I said, arrangement is what matters.

[Short pause.]

Of course duplication would be possible, that is why any technology capable of copying individuals down to the quantum level would necessitate a number of safety precautions. Responsible engineering can prevent paradoxes like the one you pose.

[Another long pause.]

No, I have not. What is the Ship of Theseus?


[OOC: Open to action at the Wolf's Den. Sorry for backdating, but yesterday's curse was perfect and I missed it and everything was sadness. That said, I don't think Chekov's probably the best of philosophers...]

Comments

[unflagging]

You don't know about the Ship of Theseus?

[He will learn you a thing.]

[candothat]

Not yet, but, as I have three people willing to explain it, I believe I will soon.

[unflagging]

I'll get you here, then.

Okay, so this guy named Theseus had a ship--and this is in ancient Greece, so imagine an ancient Greek ship. One night, a thief comes and steals a little part of the ship--a board or some nails or some rope or something. No big deal. He takes it away. Theseus comes back the next day and sees what's happened and goes, "Damn! Some asshole stole three boards, ten feet of rope, and nineteen nails!" But what can he do about it, right? So he mends the ship with new stuff.

And then the thief comes back, and takes more stuff. And Theseus mends his ship again. And this goes on and on--for years, even.

Meanwhile, the thief is using all these pieces to build his own ship.

Finally, at the end of it all, Theseus has had to replace his entire ship. And the thief has a complete ship made out of all the parts of Theseus's ship.

So here's the question: which ship is really the Ship of Theseus?

[candothat]

Theseus was an idiot to allow such a thing to happen.

The ship of Theseus would be the one that belongs to him, although he should not be entrusted with a ship if he cannot control theft to some degree.

Audio

[recognize_an_opportunity]

Interesting questions you're raising here. The Ship of Theseus is a famous philosophical paradox, by the way.

Audio

[candothat]

Ah, a philosophical paradox. I am a physicist [navigator, engineer, whatever], not a philosopher.

Re: Audio

[recognize_an_opportunity]

Sure, and I'm a businessman [gambler, drug dealer, mobster], not a philosopher, but knowing some of that stuff can't hurt, can it? Makes for good conversation, at least.

[deadmanbusiness]

Remind me to introduce you to my friend's teleporting cat.

[candothat]

It teleports without the aid of any technology?

[deadmanbusiness]

She does. And her kittens.

[There are a few other species at home that can also teleport but the cats are the most immediate and annoying ones.]

private;

[mortemscintilla]

[ Off the top of his head, Hei knows a couple of things. He knows how to disarm a dangerous set of opponents with a simple one-two of sharp elbows and pitched weight. He knows the cartography of weak-points on a human body like the scars of old fights on the backs of his hands. He knows how to assemble and chamber an AK-47 with the raw components of wood, metal, sandblaster and phosphoric acid solution, in the time it takes most people to settle on a single weapon in a catalogue. Most importantly: he knows that everyone lives by a philosophy, whether they're aware of it or not. Even Contractors, who are pragmatically devoted to a specific goal, not ideals or principles. ]

[ The trick is not getting wrapped up in them. At the end of the day, they're just mental gymnastics -- either true or false. ]

Not to interrupt the discussion -- [ Except he's already done so, with an unapologetic matter-of-factness. ] But there's something I need from you.

[ Please. Excuse me. Could you do me a favor? One day Hei will learn to pepper these phrases in his vocabulary. And mean them. But not today. ]

private;

[candothat]

[Pavel excuses himself from his present company and heads home before replying. He never knows what to expect when Hei needs something. It's best to be out and about and prepared to go to a specified place when Hei has requests, he has found.]

There is no longer a discussion to interrupt. What is it that you need?

[Chekov doesn't expect things like pleasantries from Hei. It's fine.]

private;

[mortemscintilla]

[ Even miles away, Hei can tell the boy's alone. Certain things give it away; the difference in the background white-noise, for one. The pitch of Pavel's voice, for another -- those nuances of public versus private tone, the subtle shift in syllables. It almost makes him smile, and nobody's there to see the expression so there it stays. Pavel is hardly the epitome of pure stealth. But he's not careless when it comes to critical matters, either. He may be a weak spot in Hei's armor. But his promptness is interminably useful. It's almost funny. Hei's good at a lot of things, but not sincerity, and that's all the boy keeps trying to give him. ]

[ There's no version of this that ends well, not like this. ]

[ Brushing it off, he gets right to the point, ] Equipment. Something similar to a portable CCD camera. [ A beat, not hesitant so much as considering, before he adds, ] It's for Korra.

[ So strange. Hei is selfish by nature; he doesn't think of people in his periphery at all, save for their uses in attaining his objectives. This ... whatever it is ... is something new. (Probably something that'll descend into carnage and catastrophe. But he'll deal with that once it happens.) ]

audio.

[directives]

Ensign.

audio.

[candothat]

[Uh oh. Chekov was being so careful not to say anything specific to their technology (in spite of his general disregard for Directives that don't matter in a place that induces amnesia once left)! What if Janeway is angry? Worse, what if she's disappointed in his conduct?]

Aye, sir?

audio.

[directives]

Your device is active. [ though he undoubtedly knows this already. ] You just voiced this to City at large.

voice;

[anatural]

...who are you talking to? [And what on earth are you talking about?]

voice;

[candothat]

I have not asked.

[muffled:] What is your name? Thank you.

I am talking to Alex. It's an interesting conversation.

[anatural]

An interesting conversation. About...disintegrating people? [Yeah, Korra didn't get any of that.]

voice;

[hexuality]

So... that's what Jim meant when he called my Apparating "beaming down"?

voice;

[candothat]

Apparating?

Maybe. "Beaming" is another way to say that something is being teleported from one place to another.

voice;

[hexuality]

You've never seen me Apparate? When I disappear from one spot and turn up in another? I still prefer flying but in a rush, that's what I'll do.

action; a bit later on <3

[defies_reason]

[Isaak sits down beside Chekov without warning, which really makes perfect sense as they are more or less family and also Isaak is usually in this bar if anyone is.]

Busy night, hmn?

[Busy for the chatty Ensign, that is.]

<(^^<)

[candothat]

[Chekov is pleased to see him. He turns away from his current conversational partner.]

Yes, very! You have a remarkably intelligent clientele.

[Generous, too, but Pavel does actually realize what their agenda typically is. He doesn't accept drinks and he knows that Isaak has his back, so it's all good.]

[defies_reason]

My patrons have a great many good qualities.

[That might be accompanied by a quick wink over the lad's shoulder. He doesn't feel badly about interrupting, but it's good for business.]

You're in good spirits, I see.