Transporter, Food Replicator or Holodeck?
September 21, 2006 9:06 AM 
Subscribe
Transporter, Food Replicator or Holodeck?
The Setup: You can have one of following three technologies from Star Trek: Holodeck, Transporter or Food Replicator. You are the only person in the world that has it. Which one do you choose and how would you use it?
More Details (Please read carefully):
Transporter
The Transporter comes with Chief O'Brien (or Scotty, if you prefer) to operate it, and you will be equipped a Star Trek-esque communicator to have him beam you places. You must feed, clothe and house him, and figure out where to place the Transporter. Keep in mind that this is the most visible of the technologies (you'll be appearing places) and if people find out about it, they may try steal it from you. (This goes for all three, but like I said, this one will be the most visible.) Also keep in mind that the way the transporter works, it basically kills you every time you use it. Your molecules are dispersed, and an exact molecular copy of you is placed where you want to be. (Some people we've discussed this with had a problem with that.)
Food Replicator
The Food Replicator is equipped with all foods through 24th century. The food is synthesized out of a nutritionally perfect composite, so you can pretty much eat whatever you want and it will be healthy. It replicates only food and the container the food is in.
Holodeck
Any room in your house can easily be converted into a Holodeck. The main problem with the Holodeck is that your 21st century mind may overload, and you run the risk of no longer being able distinguish fantasy from reality. Anything the Holodeck makes is intangible once it is turned off, meaning you can't make holographic food and eat it. (I mean, you *could*, but you would gain no sustinence.) You CAN, however, bring tangible items into the holodeck, and have them manipulated by the holograms. But before you ask, you can NOT have a hologram of Geordi LaForge give you a list of materials to bring into the holodeck so he can construct a teleporter or replicator for you. The technical components DO NOT EXIST in the 21st century, and nothing we have currently can be converted to do the job.
Even more details:
The transporter comes with someone to operate it, but the Food Replicator and Holodeck are voice activated. You can just say "lasagna made by my mom" or "fried chicken, KFC, 2 piece white meat, biscuit, mashed potatoes with gravy" or "Alec Baldwin dressed in leather with a goat and Diane Sawyer" and it would give you whatever you want.
No matter which one you choose, you also get Geordi LaForge, who will arrive every now and then for repairs and perodic maintenance. He does NOT hang out at your place. He teleports in fixes what he needs to and teleports out. Whatever you pick also has its own self-sustaining power-source, which Geordi can repair or replace if anything happens, so you don't need to worry about the power bills in your place of residence.
A Word Of Advice: Too often people make this question more complicated than it is. Focus more on what convenience you want (free healthy food, instant transportation or your own fantasy world), and less on how you'd use whatever technology you choose to somehow scam your way into receiving all three.
posted by emptybowl to grab bag (48 comments total)
This post was deleted for the following reason: don't post chatty hypotheticals here. it's not what the site is for
posted by anonaccount at 9:08 AM on September 21, 2006