Latinum cannot be replicated via a replicator because < hand waving >. Replicators and transporters are based on the same underlying technology. Therefore, it seems reasonable that latinum also cannot be transported for the same reason. Does it ever get beamed in the shows/movies?
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It doesn't require much handwaving to have unreplicatible substances if you assume the same raw materials have go in the replicator as come out. Latinum in, latinum out.– Kyle JonesCommented Jan 4, 2013 at 18:49
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If you have to create latinum with nuclear fusion, then that's another matter altogether. Assume latinum is a stable transuranic element way down the nuclear packing curve, then you need a supernova to create it. Then the value of latinum is naturally tied to the cost of controllable stellar flux energy at one end, and the cost of locating and extracting latinum from supernova remnants at the other. Whatever the value, no replicator is ever going to be able to create such a substance like a glass of root beer.– Kyle JonesCommented Jan 4, 2013 at 18:53
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I'm fairly certain there's got to be a few DS9/VOY episodes where this has been done. At the very least, I do recall some characters having favorite pieces of jewelry that had latinum - those must have been beamed at least once or twice. Don't have time to dig through it all to see for sure, though.– IsziCommented Jan 4, 2013 at 19:11
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7People can't be replicated, but they're transported all the time.– MarthaCommented Jan 4, 2013 at 19:20
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5@Martha Ah, but people can be replicated - using transporters, no less!– IsziCommented Jan 4, 2013 at 20:54
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3 Answers
I can't say for certain, but it's in fandom it's commonly said that transporters work on the quantum level, while replicators only work on the molecular level. This could lead to slight errors in replicated material, as with the replicated DNA in the TNG episode Data's Day.
The fact that latinum can't be replicated, or at least isn't economical to replicate, suggests that it can't be produced from the raw material used in common replicators (or perhaps that raw material would have to be more valuable than the latinum itself). However, it may still be possible to store it in a transporter pattern.
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4However, transporters have pattern buffers, so one could replicate bars of latinum simply by reusing the pattern buffer contents. This seems to be simply an inconsistency which one is expected not to examine too closely.– user11683Commented Jan 4, 2013 at 19:23
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1I believe the general idea is something along the lines that you can't scan the pattern without destroying it (which sounds sort of like a sci-fi approximation of quantum mechanics), which is also why you can't use it to make duplicates of people (except in extraordinary cases such as TNG: Second Chances, so arguably that's a technological problem rather than a theoretical one).– loghaDCommented Jan 4, 2013 at 22:38
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1@loghaD This is basically correct AFAIK, and I think it's actually a dual problem in replicator-land. Storing people at the quantum level was shown to take so much memory that it's extremely impractical (and was only done in a panic at the time). Storing the patterns for everything a person would want to replicate at the quantum level would be similarly infeasible, if they could even be scanned, which sort of further explains the latinum-replicator side, but not the transporter side.– IzkataCommented Jan 5, 2013 at 0:49
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1@Iszi That was a hack that essentially had Scotty in an infinite transporter loop, and as shown in that same episode it resulted in the effective death of the other person the method was used on.– JABCommented Jan 30, 2018 at 18:22
Yes.
In the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Ferengi Love Songs" FCA agent Brunt beams into Quark's closet on the Ferengi homeworld. On a chain attached to his collar, Brunt wears a bar of gold-pressed latinum.
There is other, circumstantial evidence.
It seems unlikely that ultra-capitalist Quark travels without any currency on him, yet he was beamed down to a planet in "The Siege of AR-558."
Morn, we learned, carried an enormous fortune in pure latinum in one of his stomachs. If latinum could not be transported then Morn would lose it all should a transporter ever be used on him. Given that transporters are the preferred method of evacuation in some circumstances, Morn would be taking a tremendous risk engaging in any sort of space travel.
answered Jan 9, 2013 at 2:50
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3majQa'! {Well done!} Wish I could write that in Ferengi, but Klingon will have to do for now :)– loghaDCommented Jan 12, 2013 at 21:22
While replicators and transporters are based on the same technology (Matter Reconstruction), there is a clear separation in their operation.
A transporter takes an existing entity (organic/non organic), breaks it down into its molecular form, transports it, and reconstructs it on the receiving end, like a jigsaw puzzle, and then the pieces fit back together. The final product is the exact same product it started as.
Replicators take an existing entity (waste recyc), breaks it down into its molecular form, and then reconstructs into something else. This is how they cured the pollution/hunger problem in the STU, by recycling everything into new food, clothes, tools etc, using the replicators.
Latinum itself can not be artificially constructed at a molecular level. Due to its unique crystalline structure, it is impossible replicate in the way a replicator constructs entities.
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2You could improve this answer by editing it to include relevant citations from official sources to corroborate the things you've said here. Commented Jul 23, 2023 at 22:09
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Only the final sentence here is in any way relevant to the question being asked.– ValorumCommented Jul 23, 2023 at 22:18