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Envisioning the Desktop Fabricator
mkl writes "Yesterday I fantasized about a generator of matter. Not a laser plotter for carving 3d objects, but a device that will assemble any given object from its base, out of atoms. I was thinking about a device that can find its place under the roofs of all the people working on PCs all over the world. So I fantasize about it at work and what do I see in the Wired News newsletter? 'Any product, any shape, any size -- manufactured on your desktop! The future is the fabricator.' Heh."
Yesterday I fantasized about a generator of matter ... a device that will assemble any given object from its base, out of atoms.
I also fantasized about a generator of matter, one that was able to generate Natalie Portman right in front of me complete with a handbag full of a strange gritty substance. Ooooh yeah.
Tea, Earl grey, Hot!
Matt Thompson - Actuality - Insert product here.
the first thing i'd fabricate would be another fabricator.
.... and you thought Lexmark ink was expensive!!
sigs, as if you care.
But did Roddenberry get a patent on the idea..... never mind, gotta run..... have to get down to the office first......
...Multipass!
It would be cool if it didn't suck.
Calvin: "If you could have anything in the world right now, what would it be?"
Hobbes: "Hmm..."
Calvin: "Anything at all! Whatever you want!"
Hobbes: "A sandwich."
Calvin: "A SANDWICH?!? WHAT KIND OF STUPID WISH IS THAT?!"
Calvin: "Talk about a failure of imagination! I'd ask for a trillion billion dollars, my own space shuttle, and a private continent!"
Hobbes: (eating sandwich) "I got MY wish."
It would be cool if it didn't suck.
For the most part your post was very interesting and informative, but at the end it just tailed off into inconsequence, as if you'd run out of ideas.
Clearly, you are indeed a scholar of Mr Stephenson's work.
Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.