3D Printing and the Replicator Economy 322
An anonymous reader writes "'Tea. Earl Grey. Hot,' is a command familiar to every Trek fan as representing everyday use of replicator technology. While its use on the show is simply sci-fi wizardry, the beginnings of that technology is now making it into homes, and could spark an industrial revolution. 'New 3D printing and other so-called additive manufacturing technologies are based on methods that industries developed over the past quarter century to rapidly create prototypes of mechanical parts for testing. But as these methods become increasingly sophisticated, demand is rising to use them to manufacture finished products, not only in factories but also at a boutique, one-off level for individuals. ... Already, 3D printing has been used to make tools and artworks, custom-fitted prosthetics for amputees, components for aviation and medical instruments, solid medical models of bones and organs based on MRI scans, paper-based photovoltaic cells, and the body panels for a lightweight hybrid automobile.'"
Re:Replicator economy or peak employment? (Score:5, Insightful)
What's free about this stuff? Printers aren't free and the more complex ones that actually do something are likely to be even more expensive. The feedstocks aren't going to be free.
Unless you can conceive of an economy run on simple plastic objects with no moving parts, I don't see anything today that resembles the hallucination that is Star Trek. Or even The Diamond Age.
Because we're accustomed to cheap shit that breaks (Score:3, Insightful)
The natural progression of most products is towards disposable goods. The danger of this generation (and likely the next) of replication machines is that the materials will not have the kind of physical properties that make things durable. Luckily we've been weaned off durable, and now we expect to be able to break most items with moderate human force. And these items will fit the bill in that case.
Making components for system critical or life safety functions, except as en emergency "everyone will die if the part isn't here right now" condition, is a bad, bad idea. Of course, there are too many people in the world...maybe this is just another way to thin out the herd?
copyright stuff (Score:4, Insightful)
I think people who say 3D printers are "not going anywhere thanks to IP law" are missing the point. 3D printers are for people who want to design and build their own things and less about trying to save money by building your own version of a absurdly cheap Walmart available gizmo. A 3D printer will never compete with Lego as an affordable way to replace Lego's manufacturing capabilities. I have no doubt that these machines will be co-opted for nefarious goals on occasion, but mostly they will be cost additive rather than cost saving or even cost neutral compared to the mark up on a manufactured items.
I have a couple of things I've been wanting to build for quite sometime but I don't have rapid prototyping capabilities at home. Once I get to my local hackerspace and print out a a few prototypes and get the design worked out I'll be having them machined out of aluminum and sell the products. More money will move through the economy and maybe even a few jobs will be created. These may even bring about a renaissance in the small business. Here's to hoping anyway.
Stupid Computer (Score:5, Insightful)
WhyTF does Picard have to say "Tea. Earl Grey. Hot" every freakin' time?
A computer that is sophisticated enough to fly a warpdrive spaceship and replicate food should be able to understand user preferences, no?
Shouldn't he just say, "cuppa tea" or just, "the usual" and get a nice hot cup of Earl Grey?
Only explanation is it's MS Enterprise 5.7 and user preferences are the great new groundbreaking feature in MS Enterprise 6... expected any decade now.
Re:Replicator economy or peak employment? (Score:2, Insightful)
Also note that "simple plastic objects with no moving parts" represents probably 50% by weight or volume of the stuff at walmart and target. Entire aisles of laundry baskets, storage baskets, kitchen gadgets, housewares gadgets, all obsolete.
You won't be paying OEM prices for your chemical feedstocks.
Think mile-long unit trains. Fleets of container ships. Transcontinental pipelines.
Does it make sense for the high wage geek to spend hours or days at home fabricating plastic forks and spoons that sell for $1.39 a box at the dollar store?
Scavaging aluminum at 5 cents a can?
Do we ignore the problem of air, ground and water pollution when you bring an industrial process into the home?
Re:Replicator economy or peak employment? (Score:5, Insightful)
Are you kidding? Do you have any clue as to the actual number of people in America today who are out of work? [msn.com] Add to that the virtual collapse of available jobs in government and public services, well you get the picture.
Tell me that every advance in productivity, every application of robotics, every technological enhancement that makes it possible for business to make more, better, cheaper products hasn't resulted in higher wages for the Board of Directors and lower wages for the common worker in real currency. We now live in a global economy that sees human labor as a commodity, and all of it is to serve a self obsessed, self indulgent, corporate elite.
You want unwavering indicators, here are a few that might help you hone in on an answer:
What you will see is a mass migration into poverty and population control. We are being herded into oblivion. You honestly tell me if you had a billion dollars how eager you would be to help the masses vs feathering your own nest. We've built a society of bottomless appetites, with fewer and fewer souls who can feed that hunger. Can you see any way for the common man to make out in such a world?
Let me put it another way. The greater people are responsible for the future. Until the masses hold wisdom more highly than gratification, dignity above notoriety, justice above animal revenge and compassion above dominion, we can pretty much predict how it will all turn out. We have done a spectacular job of teaching our children to be fat, stupid and ready to dance to any tune their corporate masters may choose to play. What indicators are you looking at?