You said "There is nothing pointless about pondering the ramifications of another physical structure that has the exact same molecular content as another." Isn't this what we call cloning?
No.
Riiiiight, but some magical teleportation device does?
Dude, before you go on, figure out why cloning is not what you think it is.
I know why cloning doesn't fit your scenario. Because by itself it's not enough to complete your scenario. It lacks the "memories" of a life. But what I'm asking is surely if you're going to deal in hypotheticals, where you're imagining a scenario just to ponder it's hypothetical ramifications, shouldn't it be a lot more fruitful if you chose a scenario that starts with reality and adds something that we know how to do but is only extremely hard such as cloning an individual and then having the clone have the same exact memories and not something we don't know how to do such as teleporting life?
In answer to your question as to it being more fruitful, the answer is no. Plain and simple.
Care to elaborate?
The purpose of thought experiments is to illustrate the conundrums that exist within a particular domain of study, and by doing so, those who become familiar with said thought experiments can then see the domain of study in a new light, which might allow them to think about the problem differently, and to better understand it.
Generally, the purpose of a thought experiment is not to find a way to build the gadgets in the thought experiment.
Equally important with regard to this particular matter, cloning is irrelevant, and will yield nothing. Clones not only don't have the same molecular structure and memories over time, they never have the same molecular structure from the start, as their growth is a function of the molecules they assimilate, which is different for each individual.
Right, cloning and memories alone aren't enough, you'd have to also feed the clone exactly the same molecules, grow it in exactly the same environment ect.. basically replicate the exact path of growth of the original, which is still a lot more likely doable unlike teleporting which doesn't exist.
But that's besides the point because you apparently believe there's something to be learned by observing a fantasy instead of the reality. Tell me what can you learn from my original example?:
Isn't this a pointless scenario since we don't have a such a machine and we do not know if matter can even be manipulated in such a way?
Absolutely not. There is nothing pointless about pondering the ramifications of another physical structure that has the exact same molecular content as another. It's an absolutely necessary thing to consider if you wish to understand the ramifications of nature. It's very much worth considering as a mental exercise.
Both my super man example and your teleporting example are fiction, they don't exist, so please explain to me what we can learn about reality through examining fiction?
