I think from their perspective Tuvok and Neelix weren’t “dead”, which was why they were more inclined to “correct” the situation at hand and save their crewmates while they still had the chance to do so.
Regardless, it’s a fucked up decision, I don’t envy it.
The episode did its job challenging viewers with the question, because people still argue about this today. But to me there’s an actual, unambiguous answer: 4.823 seconds after transport autosequence initiation, when the emitter array completed the materialization cycle.
I think from their perspective Tuvok and Neelix weren’t “dead”, which was why they were more inclined to “correct” the situation at hand and save their crewmates while they still had the chance to do so.
Regardless, it’s a fucked up decision, I don’t envy it.
There’s a line in the episode around that point:
But that’s the whole point of the episode - it’s a moral quandary with no real “right” answer. It’s Hugh of Borg all over again.
The episode did its job challenging viewers with the question, because people still argue about this today. But to me there’s an actual, unambiguous answer: 4.823 seconds after transport autosequence initiation, when the emitter array completed the materialization cycle.