Changes

== Transporters ==

== Transporters ==

Last of all, the ''Transporter'' presents the worst problem. How can one “transport” any object without setting off a nuclear explosion? What possible or even imaginable [[information system]] could remember all the myriad placements of trillions of [[cell]]s—and septillions of [[molecule]]s—that make up a human being? And does a person making a trip by transporter still carry his immortal [[soul]], or not? Is that person ''even the same person''? Novelist James Blish admitted: ''No, he isn’t.''<ref name="ftn25">Blish, James. ''Spock Must Die!'' New York: Bantam Books, 1970.</ref>

Last of all, the ''Transporter'' presents the worst problem. How can one “transport” any object without setting off a nuclear explosion? What possible or even imaginable [[computer|information system]] could remember all the myriad placements of trillions of [[cell]]s—and septillions of [[molecule]]s—that make up a human being? And does a person making a trip by transporter still carry his immortal [[soul]], or not? Is that person ''even the same person''? Novelist James Blish admitted: ''No, he isn’t.''<ref name="ftn25">Blish, James. ''Spock Must Die!'' New York: Bantam Books, 1970.</ref>

The only reason for the Transporter system was financial. Without it, the crew would land a space-borne [[rocket]] whaleboat on a planet every week, and take off again. That kind of special effect costs money. Gene Roddenberry could not or would not afford it. In this and other examples, ''drama informed the science''. And as long as the franchise continues, it still does.

The only reason for the Transporter system was financial. Without it, the crew would land a space-borne [[rocket]] whaleboat on a planet every week, and take off again. That kind of special effect costs money. Gene Roddenberry could not or would not afford it. In this and other examples, ''drama informed the science''. And as long as the franchise continues, it still does.