3D Printers For Peace Contest 273
First time accepted submitter Bas_Wijnen writes "3D printing is being condemned in the media because of the potential for printing guns. Engineers at Michigan Tech believe there is far more potential for 3D printers to make our lives better rather than killing one another. To encourage thinking about constructive uses of 3D printing technology Michigan Tech Open Sustainability Technology (MOST) Lab and Type A Machines sponsor the first 3-D Printers for Peace Contest. Designers are encouraged to consider: If Mother Theresa of Ghandi had access to 3D printing what would they print? What kind of designs could help reduce military spending and conflict while making us all safer and more secure? Anyone in the United States may enter and there is no cost."
Armor? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Armor? (Score:5, Funny)
Ghandi's protests were just people sitting down or standing without any protection at all. Perhaps one could emulate such a thing?
I guess you could 3D print a diner and then just sit in it.....
Re:Easy answer (Score:5, Funny)
I was thinking brains. They are dead and would have to be brought back as zombies so it is just logical.
Teddy Bears (Score:5, Funny)
Guns are tools of the weak and afraid. They clutch them close to their chests to make them feel like they have some power in this crazy, cruel world.
But all we really want is love, approval, and security. Hence, teddy bears.
At least it's better than my first impulse to print a vagina.
Re:Armor? (Score:4, Funny)
You got it all wrong. We're discussing "Mother Theresa OF Ghandi" ... time to load up google maps and discover this harbinger of peace who can program 3D printers. :)
Re:Easy answer (Score:4, Funny)
Mother Theresa would no doubt have printed a medical tool for removing IUDs.
Which would have been totally useless since most of the countries and places she setup shop didn't have access to birth control to begin with. It'd be like me building a car in the middle of a desert. Okay, now I have a car. Cool. Now, what about the roads? Or fuel? Bread, on the other hand, is universal: No matter what your situation, bread is useful. Bread is life. Especially in places where she worked... nevermind the religious connotations of giving bread to the poor.
Guns do make life better (Score:2, Funny)
Engineers at Michigan Tech believe there is far more potential for 3D printers to make our lives better rather than killing one another.
Guns aren't for killing one another.
They are either for sport, or for keeping people from killing/harming you.
Guns have historically protected groups that might otherwise just have been removed altogether. Travel back in time, ask Martin Luther King and his followers how "bad" guns are.
It's nice that 3D printers can make our lives better in other ways too, but we should not exclude one of them through irrational fear.