system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Is there a fundamental difference between a replicator and a transporter in Star Trek?  What is the source of the matter for the replicator?
gpt
Replicators take "waste" matter and break it down and resequence it as the desired matter. The cup your morning earl grey came in is placed back on the replicator and reclaimed to provide the base matter for your nightly glass of synthale. Other waste matter is broken down in other systems and utilized the same way by the replicators.