The Laser: digizing

Where does the molecules of the analog mass go?
How is consciousness presented in the original Tron universe?
How does Grid-to-Analog transportation works?

Extrapolated from (credits inside)

Someone mentioned this theory to me, the parts in italics especially are copy cut from their text. I know it was also posted on the tron-sector.com forums, but I can't find the exact link to credit. Also, I feel a little frisky to link the forums to this work because they look thoroughly hacked, and taken over by bots since years ago (the latest content are nothing but aggressive ads).

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

What does the laser do

It is said that when that laser of Lora and Walter zaps the subject "Kevin Flynn", his molecules are disassembled and kept "in the range" of the laser itself for an undetermined amount of time.

Since it is molecules, those can't be stored in electronic circuits, and even if the laser dismantled bodies into atoms, there would still not be enough space in electronic circuits to store so much. The laser doesn't bring Kevin in literally. Rather, it emulates him and point his mind to the emulation so that he experience things through his emulated versions. An avatar.

While an analog mass is digitized, according to the original Tron canon, its body is dismantled into molecules, drawn and stored inside of some (physical) containment chamber of the laser.
(This seems to be confirmed in Legacy, when Sam doesn't find Kevin's body in the basement.)

The driver of the laser just scan its molecular structure in order to generate a detailed informatic model and protocol to recompose his body and its inner functioning; to reproduce it particle by particle.

In the case of a user, that resulting model, or proxy would be a programmed version of them.

Consciousness

If the original is conscious, the digital model can keep that consciousness because its neural patterns are reproduced to the exactly identical. But, this time, in binary.

But now, if the memories he get as the avatar are saved and reprinted into his analogic version, the laser would do more than teleportation, it would also alter the bodies that it digitizes.

This isn't likely to happen if these memories were constructed within the system, and only stored in his brain.

Why? Because the laser was officially designed for teleportation by Gibbs and Lora from what Walter says to Alan (during the Hawaii speech, before they send an orange in).

For transportation, the digital transfer would only interpret molecules (from one location in analog), to reproduce then at another, in analog.

Now, letting it change the body's code "while it is digital"; definitly changing the person during their transportation; accepting an altered digital model, would be a serious security issue.

Walter Gibbs says: "Not disintegrating, Alan: digitizing. While the laser is dismantling the molecular structure of the object, the computer maps out a holographic model of it. The molecules, themselves, are suspended in the laser beam, saved there. Then the computer reads the model back out, the molecules go back into place, and... voila."

Instead, Kevin keeping his memories might implies that his consciousness was transferred to his digital body, then back to his biological body.

Indeed, Walter also said to Dillinger: "You can remove men like Alan and me from this system, but we helped create it, and our spirit remain in every program we designed for this computer." And Dillinger Sr. goes (approximation): Religious crap wasting my time.

Here, what is interesting, is that Walter said it even before the laser was finished, so he couldn't have visited prograls with that technology yet, couldn't have built that theory because of Tron and Dumont resembling their creators.

In fact, the logical seem to be the other way aroud: users will their own life to be molded into what they know, what they values. So, it looks like the characters wanted exactly what their program had grown into in terms of sentience.
The only thing that they didn't know is that it could actually work.
At least, Alan didn't.
Doesn't.

For Lora and Kevin, it is more ambiguous if we judge by what they say in the movies and how they treat their programs. Kevin seem unaware, but his behavior in Legacy, the titles of basic and iso that he gives to programs leave so doubt over what is real, or how he cares. Lora is more straightforward about a certain baby. But only Walter Gibbs seem aware enough of what is going on not to be fully surprised if he met Dummont (Dummont's hat included?).

Emulation of the analog

Back to the how a human's digital body works

Taking Kevin's example : Flynn's body has been transformed over five times.

Original organic version
First digital version in 1982
First reconstructed organic version
Second digital version in Betrayal
Second reconstructed organic version
Third digital version since the coup in Legacy

Kevin Flynn (and Sam Flynn if we choose to include the sequel movie as canon) technically became different successive "programs of themselves", both themselves and not themselves.

We see more of that with Jet (if we account the Ghost in the Machine comics as canon) where Jet realizes that he had made a backup of himself before a fight on the mainframe, and that backup was accidentally resolved on the system, confused about its identity.

What can be transported back

So, assuming that Gibbs is not senile and understands how he constructed his laser:

Quorra: Since the laser that Walter and Lora made can only scan molecules and restore them exactly the same, If Kevin's disc held the parameters that the laser's driver (Yori, or sirens) has to follow to the reconstruct his body, and by adding his disc to hers, Quora has merged these parameters with her appearance and memories.), then in our world, Quorra's body is made of rearranged molecules. And it still can work either like a normal human one, or a program's (not because the needs are real, but because the laser would recreate these needs because it's its function).

Analog invulnerability in digital: A user can be brought back even if they were derezzed in the System, as long as their disc, or a backup of it is brought through the portal (In the original movie, Kevin jumped in the MCP beam to breach or weaken it, and it didn't hurt him. According to 2.0 the worst that could happen to an analog living being, would be to end in a coma once reconstructed. In Legacy, Sam bled? As far as I will be concerned, most technical elements in Legacy aren't canon.)

Transportation: While they are digitized, a user can augment his digital body anyway he wants, but to bring objects back to analog, they need to scan, and add them into their disc's code.

The laser in action

Walter's second dialogue

Walter's second dialogue in the original Tron movie

Notes:

Here is how this apply to the Iso version of Tron, the only version who can translate in analog in the Keyboard & Sparks series AU:
"Quorra" and "Yzen" have flesh and surface organs, including hydrated eyebals and inside of mouth; but only while they need to use those. They have only the start of a throat, nostrils, and ears: anything of them that can't be seen as humanoid while they are on the digital system where the laser is set up, they don't have in analog: the laser makes do with what molecule it has.
What it doesn't have translated as a more or less solid hologram; solid photons, carbon, a mashup of external moecules, or fairy dust (yeah, no, am not knowledgable enought in quantum chemistry and biology to guess how this could work). Somehow.
But it can bring them back onto its system without loss if they have a recent backup to scan for memories alone. This way, their memories are kept.
So, Isos can't eat, but they can drink energy (electricity, pseudo photosynthesis, and their creator's magnetic projections. And in any case, they are not human beings and don't become that magically.
While Quorra had Kevin's, Yzen (Tron recompiled as Iso), usually has no human molecules to ride at all. When he is assembled that way, physically, he is made of a solid crystalized version of electromagnetic energy where the memory of his code is fixated; its body is to electricity what carbon is to fire (ahen—remember what I said about my level of understanding of quantum chemistry, physics, and biology).
And so, he would(?) need cold temperatures unless he faints, in order to cool down whenever at risk of overheating.
About their consciousness, or sentience:
While Quora's runs on the pseudo-will of the Grid, which in turn, seems to partly run on Kevin's spirit (and maybe other humans)... Yzen's "consciousness" is directly run by Alan's spirit (both his will, through his thoughts, his psyche, his knowledge of code, his imagination, and his projections, woven together). But only his consciousness, his pseudo 'will' relies on his creator. The rest of Yzen: instincts, code alias personality, and memories, all works autonomously, between his updates.
As his code is less evolutive and free in our layered (multi dimensional) quantum analog systems, his sentience is more relative; weaker, here, than it his natural linear digital system of linear binary. In a nutshell, he is as alive as the cat of schroedinger.
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