What if you could save the info of every atom in your body and its place on a computer memory card?

That would probably require more memory capacity than the sum of all computers on earth today. But the really interesting question is if you did this, would the reconstructed product be alive? That's not at all clear.

For a practical, real-world example of compactness of information representation, look at your DNA. All of the information needed to specify most of the physical characteristics of your body, including all of the information needed to synthesize itself from raw materials, was contained in a single DNA molecule in your original zygote. That's real and much more impressive.

I have been writing a story where this is done, and I have had some trouble with it because re-assembly is very hard to imagine. The "beaming" process as in Star Trek is just magic, pure and simple. It is scientifically invalid. Even if you had some way to accumulate all the information which makes a person up, it seems that it would be far beyond our current technology to re-build than person, and I don't think it would ever be possible to just "beam" it somewhere and have it assemble out of thin air.

Then there is the problem of catching all the *energy* as it was. You wouldn't want the person to be a vegetable. How do you store the person's memory, emotions, etc?

I am usually conservative on matters of technological possibility but I won't go so far as to say this will always be impossible. It will just take a technology that we can't even imagine. And when you think about it, it is really only the brain which determines who a person is. I don't think most people would want their old bodies back. If you could create a complete human, you could make the body something more healthy and physically desirable than the original. But then there is always that problem of how to make the brain become a particular person. I can't imagine how that would be possible but I won't say it's never going to be.

This isn't youtube: you can't delete answers.

ah, the "star trek" holodeck question. this is a fun one.

though i don't have anywhere near the particle physics expertise to truly answer this question (and probably neither do 99% of the folks on Y! Answers), i will throw my $.02 out there.

obviously we would need a way to individually manipulate atoms at least at the atomic (and more realistically sub-atomic) level in order to create all of the right compounds. i would assume that a machine that could do this would start at the bottom and build its way up:

1. start with subatomic particles to build the right elemental atoms

2. arrange the elemental atoms into the right molecules to form the needed compounds

3. arrange the compounds into the right mixtures and structures to create the fluids, cells, and tissues.

4. arrange the fluids, cells, and tissues to create organs, systems, and ultimately the organism.

5. ??? no one knows this one. what is step 5? we will never know unless first we are able to complete steps 1 - 4.

neat question; thanks for asking! =D

in case you got a prebuilt device,(Hp, dell.and so on) you will discover out the advice on the internet website. If no longer, often you could open up the pc and discover out! you could seem on the memory and it will supply you a style like pc 3200 DDR or 800 DDR2. some thing comparable on the easily memory sticks. For the video card, if its a quite new pc, it is going to maximum possibly have a PCI-show slot. once you open your pc, maximum video card slots are the 1st one. If that slot is shade brown, it skill that's an AGP slot. in spite of if that's black, that's a PCI-show slot. those are the uncomplicated colors for those slots. So in case you have a PCI-show slot, you will desire to purchase any form of PCI-show card and it will paintings on your pc. Now in case you get a actual extreme end video card, you will would desire to additionally get a sparkling capacity grant to house for the recent video card.

I you could do this, then you would no longer be an individual. Because someone could then duplicate you if they had the chip with all of your information.

On the other hand, if you believe that conscientiousness consists of a body and mind, where mind is the essence of the soul or spirit, then you would always be unique, just like identical twins are unique.

I would like to be able to replace a body part with that information. Say, get a new tooth, if I needed one. Or allow someone to grow a new heart, liver, kidney if they needed one. Actually replacing your own body part with one that your body wouldn't reject.

Prevention of problems is always preferable to trying to fix it later, but in human nature, we seldom seem to follow this path.

If they do come up with beaming, it will probably only be used for the exponentially rich anyway. Probably for them to take vacations and other unnecessary trips, fact finding missions to exotic places, bribes for lobbyists, and other selfish pay-offs....like bonuses for executives. (Sorry, my disgust over the bailout money is showing. Forgive me.)

you would need to have a really big computer and i guess you can kinda call this hologram or cloning but in a diff. way.