Reply #53: Sorry Tex, no help for your theories here.

[SOteric]

The transporter described in Star Trek has the potential for creating a copy of an individual, even with the memories and belief of itself as the original. That presents a religious ethic not entirely distinct from the issues of human cloning and the soul. It adds the interesting dynamic of the soul versus an immortal soul, and wrecks havoc on the Catholic philosophies regarding the voluntary sparking/termination of a life.