In Star Trek, the transporter moves you from one spot to another, saving on shuttle fuel and special effects budgets.

In Universe, it's the safest way to travel.

Yes, sometimes two guys die horrible mutilated deaths under rare circumstances, but trillions of individuals transport to work every morning without a hiccup.

But what if the transporter isn't as safe as claimed?

What if the death rate isn't point almost nothing percent, but 100% if the transporter isn't as safe as claimed? What if the death rate isn't

point almost nothing percent but 100% because the transporter is a suicide box?

First, how does the transporter work? There are technical manuals with pages and pages of

hilariously over specific details that yet say so little. Star Trek is nothing if not consistently

inconsistent, but taking the most common elements, first the transporter

scans you down to the quark, takes apart your atoms, and sends the pieces of you to

the destination for reassembly. But is it you on the other end or a copy that thinks

it's you? Well, who is you? That's a hell of a big question, but let's

try to be good scientists about it. We don't assume there's a magic part of you that can't be

measured. After all, if it can't be measured, that means by definition it can't affect anything.

So, Occam's razor it away and we take you as you seem to be, a collection of atoms arranged

to think they're you.

And because the arrangement of atoms in post-transport you is exactly the same as pre-transport,

you must be you. Case closed.

But, you might still have this nagging feeling that your experience of stepping into the transporter

will be a funny sound, a bright light, than nothingness eternal.

While down on the planet, a brand new life, complete with all your memories, up to the moment

before your death, popped into existence and assumed it's you.

...