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3D Printing and the Replicator Economy
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.'"
Unless you can conceive of an economy run on simple plastic objects with no moving parts,
My main interest is making patterns to be sandcast in aluminum. It turns out that patternmaking is remarkably hard and painful when a pattern breaks or is lost. Of course when another is available by "press go" then its not so bad.
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.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
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.