Chekov, Pavel Andreievich (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
candothat) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
poly_chromatic2013-11-21 08:14 pm
candothat) wrote in poly_chromatic2013-11-21 08:14 pm
Entry tags:
audio; backdated to the 20th
[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...]
--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...]
private;
[ 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.) ]
private;
A CCD camera for Korra? [The technology is familiar to him and he's not a simpleton who needs things repeated, but the request is strange.] May I ask what you are attempting to accomplish?
private;
[ It's a moment before he speaks. Not, in all fairness, a silence that runs parallel to nervousness -- (that's one phenomenon, like fear, paralysis, self-flagellation, that Hei's learnt to uproot years ago) -- but because this is encroaching personal territory. Why would BK201 do something without an agenda, after all? ]
You're familiar with biophoton emissions, [ is what he says eventually, businesslike. ] It's very R.E.M. Shiny Happy People. But emissions -- light -- from human beings have long since been proven where I'm from. [ A few beats. Hei is a fighter, not a scientist, but in his world, the line between killing and biophysics is a slim one, no matter how you slice it. ] Contractors call it bioluminescence. They give it off when using their abilities. The white coats are still quibbling about semantics on how we acquired them. But in Korra's case, it seems to be an energy that people tap into intuitively. It's how they 'bend.'
[ Of course, those in Korra's world would argue that it's not biophotons. It's qi. But the similarities are too unnerving for Hei to dismiss it as a frivolity. ]
The CCD is to measure Korra's light emissions. Get periodic rhythms established. If they're irregular, there could be a link to why her bending's been ... shut away.
[ Shut away. Not Stolen. That implies a victimization Hei doesn't associate with her. ]
private;
[He needs to know if this is one of those slang things, just in case it's important.]
No, yes, I understand what you are saying. We are familiar with bioluminescence in alien species in my time, but not in humans, and bioluminescence is a term that we reserve for beings with more complex luciferase systems. But biophotons--we know about biophotons, of course, and the role they play in cellular communication and repair.
[Now give him a moment to reconcile his knowledge of biophoton emission with what he knows of the energy manipulation in Korra's world.]
It would not be hard to create very small CCDs that could be worn discretely and monitored remotely. [The possibility is there. Possibility is never the only hurdle when it comes to science that involves living beings.] I would guess that you have not discussed this with Korra?
private;
[ He doesn't explain further. He gets bored sometimes, sharing tidbits of random info he's acquired from X cover or Y assignment; bits and pieces of knowledge that never fit into a cohesive whole. Never fit into the shape of a seamless, complete human being. (Maybe that's why he's doing this for Korra? It's easier to look out rather than in, to focus on other people. Because at his core, he doesn't particularly feel at ease with himself, all those jagged bits rattling hollowly instead of fitting. Maybe he's not even certain who that person is, in the end.) ]
[ His eyes shutter thoughtfully as he absorbs the remark on the 'alien species.' At some point, he'll press Pavel for details. But not now. He's aware of the difficulties in slotting science with the spiritualism of Korra's world. But at the end of the day, facts beg to be proven wrong, beg to be explored. He doesn't want to negate or write off the principles of bending -- tempting as it is. Nor does he want to disprove anything. But from all the things he's seen, bending is a kind of energy. A different kind of radiation with its own methods of manipulation. What's needed is just the right Geiger counter. Bending may be unique to itself -- with own properties and laws. But research can codify and correlate them into a cohesive, formulaic body. It's science because everything is science. ]
[ At the question, he blinks once, impassive, before saying, ]
I haven't. [ Korra is a bright kid. But discussing science with her is immensely, dismally, like whispering quantum theory into a hole in the ground. ] But if you're in on the experiment, she'll be more inclined to go along with it.
private;
Pavel is all for science and exploring the spiritual from a scientific point of view (carefully, and with sensitivity to any spiritually-inclined persons involved), but using a friend to better understand something is... morally questionable.]
I will agree to the experiment if Korra does not feel pressured to participate.
private;
[ It's funny. He's never been particularly inclined to waste his precious time on anyone. He doesn't really believe in that whole mythos of 'self-sacrifice.' That's Amber's thing. Or -- surprisingly -- Pai's thing. His thing is being too self-absorbed and running either too hot or too cold, and forfeiting the chance to be with his sister -- with everyone who mattered to him -- just so the miserable population of Tokyo stayed alive. (Why? Because apparently he's more self-sacrificing than he thinks.) ]
She won't feel pressured.
[ As if he's already sure. Hei may run short on patience, but confidence -- arrogance, anyone less indoctrinated might call it -- is something he has endless supplies of. ]
private;
Okay. When do you anticipate beginning?
private;
Next week will be good.
[ Enough time to get the last of his notes ready, and to convince Korra to go along with the test. He's curious of the outcome, yes, but that doesn't mean it and Korra's well-being are mutually exclusive. He wouldn't have bothered enlisting Pavel's assistance otherwise. He'd have forcibly hooked Korra to an uncomfortable contraption in his safehouse, and gathered the data himself. ]
private;
private;
[ A moment's silence, before his expression flickers, uncharacteristically, into something that verges on self-consciousness, like this is risky territory that even BK201 doesn't know how to encroach. Then -- ]
Thank you.
[ Terse, almost mechanically rusty, like a cyborg who hasn't received the programming to emulate human warmth. But it's a sincere attempt, all the same. ]
private;
Of course.
private;
[ A nod, and he hangs up, very terse and abrupt. Then again, that's typically Hei. ]
[ Some things never change. ]