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Ten_forward@startrek.website ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

I figured I’d throw my opinion in the mix. “Star Trek: Voyager” might have missed an opportunity to address the Tuvix dilemma by not considering a solution presented in “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” Specifically, given the transporter’s ability to duplicate individuals as seen in Second Chances" where the incident produced two Rikers. Captain Janeway could have potentially cloned Tuvix (with his knowledge and consent of course) and then reversed the merging process on one of them. This would allow both Tuvix and the separated Tuvok and Neelix to coexist.

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Stamets@startrek.website ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
That Riker example you’re using wasn’t something they could easily duplicate though. It was an accident involving too many variables for Voyager to re-create. But let’s say that they do manage to create two Tuvixs.

Which one do you kill? The new one? The old one? By what criteria? Both don’t want to die. You’ve cloned them, sure, but now you’re still sentencing a sentient being to death. The only thing you’ve done is make the decision twice as hard. Before it was just “Tuvix or Tuvok/Neelix?” Now it’s “Tuvix and Tuvix? Or Tuvix and Tuvok/Neelix? Or Tuvok/Neelix and Tuvix?”

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- instamat@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Exactly, the transporter beam bounced back off the atmosphere and made a copy of Riker if I remember correctly. It was a unique trait of that particular planet.
  
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  - Stamets@startrek.website ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Basically, yeah. There was a disruptive distortion field around the planet. Transporter chief used two confinement beams to try and grab Riker but only one was needed so he shut the second down. The second beam had the same ‘phase differential’ as the distortion field so it reflected inside the atmosphere and ‘beamed’ Riker back to the ground, creating a split.
    
    Voyager would have had to find a planet with this type of distortion field and adjust their confinement beam to match that of the planet. Good luck.
    
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- Ten_forward@startrek.website ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  The Riker example was just one of many wasn’t it? The “transporter clone” trope has been around since StarTrek: The Original Series when Captain Kirk was replicated by accident. As well as recent trek canon when Boimler was replicated on StarTrek: Lower Decks.
  
  From an in-universe perspective, given the numerous transporter accidents throughout Starfleet’s history, it would seem logical that Starfleet would invest resources into understanding these anomalies to prevent unintended duplications or other mishaps. Transporter technology is complex and interacts with a myriad of environmental conditions, which might explain why these accidents, while rare in the context of all transport operations, still happen occasionally.
  
  Voyager could have taken the next steps and introduced a new level of control over the technology by relying on Starfleet, had it thoroughly investigated and understood these incidents. I don’t see why they might not have developed protocols or technologies to recreate such anomalies intentionally. This could have provided Captain Janeway with an additional solution to the Tuvix dilemma.
  
  Also as for which to kill, that would of course be up to Tuvix - which without his consent this would be moot. The logical one I suppose would be the original Tuvix only to lower the number of possible variables in the “separation.”
  
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  - Stamets@startrek.website ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    
    The Riker example was just one of many wasn’t it? The “transporter clone” trope has been around since StarTrek: The Original Series when Captain Kirk was replicated by accident. As well as recent trek canon when Boimler was replicated on StarTrek: Lower Decks.
    
    Kirk wasn’t cloned, he was split into two different versions of himself that contained different parts of his personality/ego. A clone needs to be a copy, not a lower resolution version of the character. Also Boimler was re-created through the same fashion that Riker was. It also happened 20ish years after Voyager left for the Delta Quadrant.
    
    From an in-universe perspective, given the numerous transporter accidents throughout Starfleet’s history, it would seem logical that Starfleet would invest resources into understanding these anomalies to prevent unintended duplications or other mishaps. Transporter technology is complex and interacts with a myriad of environmental conditions, which might explain why these accidents, while rare in the context of all transport operations, still happen occasionally.
    
    They do. Starfleets whole thing is exploration and study. During the episodes where there have been clones you see a vast amount of information that’s uncovered. Testing is done to see what happened and how to prevent it from happening again in the future.
    
    Voyager could have taken the next steps and introduced a new level of control over the technology by relying on Starfleet, had it thoroughly investigated and understood these incidents. I don’t see why they might not have developed protocols or technologies to recreate such anomalies intentionally. This could have provided Captain Janeway with an additional solution to the Tuvix dilemma.
    
    This doesn’t make sense. You’re asking Voyager, who is tens of thousands of lightyears from known space, to somehow recreate an anomaly. They do not have the level of study of each planet that would be required to find a suitable testbed. They also do not have the time. They’re looking for ways to get home. The anomalies they’ve stopped and encountered along the way (without being pushed into investigating by aliens) have been overwhelmingly to either further the goal of getting home faster or to supply the ship with necessities for the trip. Moreover, there’s the fact that the transporter cloning incidents were pure anomalies. Just because Starfleet studied them and knows what happens does not mean that they’re able to recreate it. We’ve seen numerous times that Starfleet can understand a phenomena but can’t replicate it. You’re asking way too much of a small science vessel stranded in the Delta Quadrant.
    
    Also as for which to kill, that would of course be up to Tuvix - which without his consent this would be moot.
    
    That’s the pint I am trying to make. You will not get his consent. Ever. He doesn’t want to die. Just because you clone someone doesn’t mean that logically they’re going to go “Oh, well I guess, I can die if it means that another version of me lives.” He was acting on a survival instinct. He’s not going to override that just because there’s a clone. Which means you must still make the decision that Janeway made. You STILL MUST decide whether to kill Tuvix or let him live. Your cloning idea might be a nice idea but that’s all it is. An idea. When put into practice it immediately falls apart because you’re back to the same argument that was made at the start. Do you have the right to execute one man to save the lives of two others? The issue of the episode isn’t “Tuvix is a unique lifeform and then must be saved”. It’s “Do you have the right to kill someone in order to save others?” If you add a transporter clone into that mix the question doesn’t change.
    
    The transporter clone option is a nice idea but that’s all it is. An idea. There is no situation in which you can put it into practice and have it be a solution to the problem.
    
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    Ten_forward@startrek.website ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    No, I’m saying by the time of Voyager this teleporter clone technology could very well have been figured out. It seems a wasted opportunity to not take advantage of that storyline and open up anyone more ethical dilemmas.
    
    There is no situation in which you can put it into practice and have it be a solution to the problem.
    
    I see absolutely no reason why not.
    
    You will not get his consent. Ever. He doesn’t want to die.
    
    I can’t imagine why he wouldn’t be in favor of the plan, especially since he is half Vulcan. It’s a very logical solution to the issue.
    
    Just because you clone someone doesn’t mean that logically they’re going to go “Oh, well I guess, I can die if it means that another version of me lives.”
    
    Again I see absolutely no reason not to.
    
    He was acting on a survival instinct. He’s not going to override that just because there’s a clone.
    
    There’s no reason he’d have to…
    
    Which means you must still make the decision that Janeway made. You STILL MUST decide whether to kill Tuvix or let him live.
    
    Of course, but this way they can all coexist. I see it as an absolute win win for everyone.
    
    apart because you’re back to the same argument that was made at the start.
    
    I definitely disagree. The argument is the cost of Tuvix, my solution preserves Tuvix. I’m not sure you understand what I’m proposing or are just not accepting that in this case there is no real death of anyone.
    
    Do you have the right to execute one man to save the lives of two others?
    
    When you can simultaneously preserve the life, absolutely!
    
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axont@hexbear.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Thomas Riker was created through a complete freak accident involving a distortion field that reflected a transporter beam in the exact right way to duplicate Will Riker.

Now cloning and memory implantation are completely possible as well, like that one TNG episode where they make a clone of Kahless or that one very dumb ENT episode where there’s a clone of Trip. I’m not sure, but cloning is probably illegal by the time of Voyager, since genetic augmentation is completely illegal throughout the Federation.

But the main problem is that nothing other than killing Tuvix would have satiated Janeway’s bloodlust. For real, she’s like the most evil person in that entire show.

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