There is a huge difference in scale. A biologically dangerous asbestos fibre is 3,000-10,000 nanometres in diameter. It is not a nanoscale object, and is significantly larger than a cell.
A buckytube is generally only a few nanometres in diameter, and relatively unreactive.
If you want examples of dangerous carbon-based particles, you need look no further than the unfiltered particulates emitted from all diesel exhausts. There's scant concern about those - diesel engines continue to operate unabated worldwide. Use of the apropriate nanotechnologies would eliminate this dangerous source of pollutants.
Plasticisers, stabilizing agents, enzymes, catalysts and all these wonderful pharmecuticals that we consume and then pee into the environment are also nanomachines, just ones built with bulk chemistry rather than direct nanoscale assembly.
Didn't we ought to focus on what they do in the environment, rather than propagate scare stories about future nanomachines that can be pre-programmed to safely degrade?
Oh puhlease. Adding CO2 to the atmosphere increases the energy absorbed. Adding more energy to the weather system will increase the endpoints of the extremes of weather. I don't need NYT articles to persuade me otherwise; their scientific street cred is pretty poor. I prefer New Scientist and Nature.
Nature, by the way, is mentioned in that NYT article. They quote an MIT hurricane experrt as saying that the total power dissipated by tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic and North Pacific increased 70 to 80 percent in the last 30 years.
The way to solve impending catastrophies is not to pretend they don't exist and claim all to the contrary is propaganda. They need early intervention, or shit happens big time.
No, it darn well is not silly. You said it, I can pick up little handhelds dead cheap - they come in handy on family outings and firegrounds.
Now, you need to explain to me why giving a cellphone this functionality would cost so damn much when I can actually buy it for the cost of a 6-pack (and half of that is the cost of the battery and charger).
Consumers will be confused, undoubtedly. The average one seems to stare at boxes of orange juice that says ""concentrate".
Chokepoints? That's what mesh is for. I can see that relaying would not be generally used, but having it available is desirable for civil emergencies when the cell sites are down.
I completely disagree with you that consumers don't want this service. Not paying for calls to the immediate area is a great bonus, particularly for EMS workers, tradespeople (think of builders on a building site) and mall-rats to name just a few. The desire for this is even stronger in areas where coverage just sucks.
Waste of time - we have drivers in cars already. How about expending the effort and investments on electric vehicles so we can still drive when the oil it too expensive to use or unobtainable?
Sorry, I forgot. That's the period of maximum profit for the oil industry, isn't it? Silly me. Oh well, roll on with more of those CO2-induced hurricanes...
If cellphones were designed for the benefit of the user, they would be able to communicate with each other directly, bypassing the towers. Sure, the range would not be fantastic, but relays etc. would fix that.
Of course, cellphones are designed for the benefit of the consumer - in this case the telcos, not the end user - you. If our phones called each other direct, telcos don't get to clip the ticket and make their bucks. So we get a service that only works when they do.
Oh the joys of the "free market", where the feedback from market forces encourages the creation of dumb, pliable consumers, churned out to order by the state. Come the revolution...
Vik:v)
Re:CAD software - I don't find it difficult to use
on
Fab
·
· Score: 1
We're using ArtOfIllusion http://artofillusion.org/ at RepRap. It does STL output, is cross-platform (Java-based) and it's free, Free, FREE!
Vik:v)
Open Source Fabricators
on
Fab
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
It's a field in which the Open Source community are already active, and as with the software industry it's hard to get something in print before it gets out of date. As reported earlier on Slashdot, the RepRap Team (and I'm one of 'em) are going for the materials deposition route as per http://reprap.org/
We believe that this is the easiest to implement of the designs listed by Professor Gershenfeld, in a way that will be capable of producing the majority of its own parts. Open Source, shareable hardware. The sooner we get MkI out, the quicker others will be able to develop it - and the harder it is for anti-social types to patent what we're going to be doing.
We've devised a way to deposit a low melting point but durable plastic called Polymorph - it's recyclable - and have also deposited a low-temperature solder as an electrical conductor.
While the project may appear a simple affair, it really does need to be. It's about more than just re-inventing the glue gun; the RepRap will be capable of fabricating itself, and so the simpler the design the less work we have to do. Sometimes, simple is hard.
It's been interesting watching all the different comments. Some clearly don't "get it". This is a device to give individuals complex manufacturing capabilities, and also their own recycling capabilities. It is not designed for mass production, but may well replace some of it.
As for what it can make, the answer at the moment is a hollow cylinder of EVA or Polymorph. That robot was printed on a Stratasys FDM machine as a proof of concept for the techniques involved.
What the beta release will do is to print parts from plastic and metal - it may well not be capable of perfectly replicating itself.
The first release that can replicate itself will still require chips, discrete components, motors, bolts and so forth. Those items are so ubiquitous in modern life there is no point in delaying development of the concept to produce them.
Of course, once it is out there people will start improving the design, much as per Open Source software. Faster, more materials, wider uses. If you don't think it is useful you have two basic options:
If they spilt it on their keyboards, that would be fine. But, oh no, not good enough for 'em. They have to pick my $100 wireless keyboard to spill it on.
Useful tip: After cleaning, dissolved tracks can be replaced with conductive silver PCB repair paint.
My last keyboard survived 3 coke washes with this technique before they finally killed it off.
Given speed of sound in water (of which we humans are mostly made in the head) is over 1,000m/s (closer to 1,400m/s actually), and ultrasound is around 40KHz, we end up with a wavelength of:
1,000/40,000 = 0.025
2.5 cm or about an inch.
So that's roughly the size of the area of the brain you'll be whacking with ultrasound. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but this does not make for very precise neural stimulation.
If the Cell is all it's cracked up to be, a couple of them on an AGP video board are going to trash the host CPU performance-wise. Will we see a huge twist of irony in which PCs are just reduced to a shell that supports the SMP Linux system hosted on the "graphics" card?
It's not so far-fetched. Linux runs on Cells, they're designed for good graphics, they'll be widely available, and if all else fails there's Cygwin to handle X output on a standard graphics card for die-hard Windows bunnies.
A few years ago, pirating MS software in the government sector was relatively commonplace. Along comes Microsoft and says: "Either you commit to our systems, or we force and audit and retrospectively sue your arse off for breach of copyright."
Lo and behold, government departments find themselves locked into expensive Microsoft "deals" thereafter, even though FOSS would be more beneficial to them.
Paranoid delusions? Well, it's not a decision based on the quality of the code, or the support, and it's not the TCO.
If Bush loses the election, it is likely that investigations into his behaviour over Iraq and his handling of Allawi will be carried out by a less sympathetic collection of officials. This will undoubtedly uncover things that Mr. Bush does not want to see daylight.
Knowing this, Bush has four options:
1. Lose gracefully - I don't believe he is capable of this.
2. Destroy the evidence. Could be done, but this involves close personell. A "terrorist attack" might provide cover for it and lead to:
3. Cancel the elections due to terrorist activity.
4. Fix the elections, which is going to be hard as the Europeans are monitoring them.
The real reason is quite simple: They don't want you using cellphones MP3 players & walkman through the compulsory filght safety video and any potential warning messages during takeoff and landing. They want your full attention. This is why you are allowed to use their entertainment facilities - the ones they can turn off at the appropriate moments.
Id you install Knoppix or just boot it up from the CD? I'm guessing that from the length of time it took to load you were loading Linux, X and OpenOffice from the CD - not the fastest way to do it!
If you just booted it up, you must've read somewhere that it WILL NOT MODIFY YOUR HARD DISK. That includes saving data on it.
If you want to use it as a real, live system you have to install it, usually by running knx-hdinstall from a root window. There's instructions scattered arounf the web.
Yeah, do research. Follow the links and... no link between Iraq and 911. Like people thinking that lead-free gas will save the ozone layer it is a popular concept but wrong.
Well if we can get this thing into enough hands, some bright spark will come up with a way that some form of projectile weapon can be made within the limitations of the device. And the designs will circulate as Open Source and improve as they pass from hand to hand.
A version of a 3d-printed weapon that could be produced now would probably require some inserts, but the design could be configurable to match the specific components available.
A stubby length of old vaccuum cleaner tubing might reinforce a barrel or combustion chamber. Things like wire will be needed for ignition systems, and possibly batteries or priming compounds.
Stored energy can readily be derived from compressed gas, butane lighters, or the chlorates formed by the enthusiastic electrolysis of strong brine.
The requirements for machining metal are not needed to make effective weapons, and the materials are not limited to just the resin. Channels can be left in the printer parts for reinforcement by inserts, epoxy, stronger resins etc. up to the point of merely being a mould.
Sounds possible to do it with available fabs to me. You just need the right kind of creative person in the right place at the right time.
Slashdot Mirror
There is a huge difference in scale. A biologically dangerous asbestos fibre is 3,000-10,000 nanometres in diameter. It is not a nanoscale object, and is significantly larger than a cell.
:v)
A buckytube is generally only a few nanometres in diameter, and relatively unreactive.
If you want examples of dangerous carbon-based particles, you need look no further than the unfiltered particulates emitted from all diesel exhausts. There's scant concern about those - diesel engines continue to operate unabated worldwide. Use of the apropriate nanotechnologies would eliminate this dangerous source of pollutants.
Vik
Plasticisers, stabilizing agents, enzymes, catalysts and all these wonderful pharmecuticals that we consume and then pee into the environment are also nanomachines, just ones built with bulk chemistry rather than direct nanoscale assembly.
:v)
Didn't we ought to focus on what they do in the environment, rather than propagate scare stories about future nanomachines that can be pre-programmed to safely degrade?
Vik
I give a fuck. Apparently shooting looters is more important than saving people's lives. Someone needs to get their viewpoint adjusted:
5 247845,00.html
:v)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-
Vik
Oh puhlease. Adding CO2 to the atmosphere increases the energy absorbed. Adding more energy to the weather system will increase the endpoints of the extremes of weather. I don't need NYT articles to persuade me otherwise; their scientific street cred is pretty poor. I prefer New Scientist and Nature.
:v)
Nature, by the way, is mentioned in that NYT article. They quote an MIT hurricane experrt as saying that the total power dissipated by tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic and North Pacific increased 70 to 80 percent in the last 30 years.
The way to solve impending catastrophies is not to pretend they don't exist and claim all to the contrary is propaganda. They need early intervention, or shit happens big time.
Vik
The rest of the world is a little different.
:v)
Vik
No, it darn well is not silly. You said it, I can pick up little handhelds dead cheap - they come in handy on family outings and firegrounds.
:v)
Now, you need to explain to me why giving a cellphone this functionality would cost so damn much when I can actually buy it for the cost of a 6-pack (and half of that is the cost of the battery and charger).
Consumers will be confused, undoubtedly. The average one seems to stare at boxes of orange juice that says ""concentrate".
Chokepoints? That's what mesh is for. I can see that relaying would not be generally used, but having it available is desirable for civil emergencies when the cell sites are down.
I completely disagree with you that consumers don't want this service. Not paying for calls to the immediate area is a great bonus, particularly for EMS workers, tradespeople (think of builders on a building site) and mall-rats to name just a few. The desire for this is even stronger in areas where coverage just sucks.
Vik
Uh, they don't connect directly to the other guy's phone. There's this tower in the middle...
:v))
Vik
Waste of time - we have drivers in cars already. How about expending the effort and investments on electric vehicles so we can still drive when the oil it too expensive to use or unobtainable?
:v)
Sorry, I forgot. That's the period of maximum profit for the oil industry, isn't it? Silly me. Oh well, roll on with more of those CO2-induced hurricanes...
Vik
If cellphones were designed for the benefit of the user, they would be able to communicate with each other directly, bypassing the towers. Sure, the range would not be fantastic, but relays etc. would fix that.
:v)
Of course, cellphones are designed for the benefit of the consumer - in this case the telcos, not the end user - you. If our phones called each other direct, telcos don't get to clip the ticket and make their bucks. So we get a service that only works when they do.
Oh the joys of the "free market", where the feedback from market forces encourages the creation of dumb, pliable consumers, churned out to order by the state. Come the revolution...
Vik
We're using ArtOfIllusion http://artofillusion.org/ at RepRap. It does STL output, is cross-platform (Java-based) and it's free, Free, FREE!
:v)
Vik
It's a field in which the Open Source community are already active, and as with the software industry it's hard to get something in print before it gets out of date. As reported earlier on Slashdot, the RepRap Team (and I'm one of 'em) are going for the materials deposition route as per http://reprap.org/
:v)
We believe that this is the easiest to implement of the designs listed by Professor Gershenfeld, in a way that will be capable of producing the majority of its own parts. Open Source, shareable hardware. The sooner we get MkI out, the quicker others will be able to develop it - and the harder it is for anti-social types to patent what we're going to be doing.
We've devised a way to deposit a low melting point but durable plastic called Polymorph - it's recyclable - and have also deposited a low-temperature solder as an electrical conductor.
While the project may appear a simple affair, it really does need to be. It's about more than just re-inventing the glue gun; the RepRap will be capable of fabricating itself, and so the simpler the design the less work we have to do. Sometimes, simple is hard.
Vik
It's been interesting watching all the different comments. Some clearly don't "get it". This is a device to give individuals complex manufacturing capabilities, and also their own recycling capabilities. It is not designed for mass production, but may well replace some of it.
:v)
As for what it can make, the answer at the moment is a hollow cylinder of EVA or Polymorph. That robot was printed on a Stratasys FDM machine as a proof of concept for the techniques involved.
What the beta release will do is to print parts from plastic and metal - it may well not be capable of perfectly replicating itself.
The first release that can replicate itself will still require chips, discrete components, motors, bolts and so forth. Those items are so ubiquitous in modern life there is no point in delaying development of the concept to produce them.
Of course, once it is out there people will start improving the design, much as per Open Source software. Faster, more materials, wider uses. If you don't think it is useful you have two basic options:
a) Bitch about it on Slashdot.
b) Fix it.
Vik
Not that I drink the crap, but my kids do.
:v)
If they spilt it on their keyboards, that would be fine. But, oh no, not good enough for 'em. They have to pick my $100 wireless keyboard to spill it on.
Useful tip: After cleaning, dissolved tracks can be replaced with conductive silver PCB repair paint.
My last keyboard survived 3 coke washes with this technique before they finally killed it off.
Vik
Given speed of sound in water (of which we humans are mostly made in the head) is over 1,000m/s (closer to 1,400m/s actually), and ultrasound is around 40KHz, we end up with a wavelength of:
:v)
1,000/40,000 = 0.025
2.5 cm or about an inch.
So that's roughly the size of the area of the brain you'll be whacking with ultrasound. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but this does not make for very precise neural stimulation.
Vik
If the Cell is all it's cracked up to be, a couple of them on an AGP video board are going to trash the host CPU performance-wise. Will we see a huge twist of irony in which PCs are just reduced to a shell that supports the SMP Linux system hosted on the "graphics" card?
:v)
It's not so far-fetched. Linux runs on Cells, they're designed for good graphics, they'll be widely available, and if all else fails there's Cygwin to handle X output on a standard graphics card for die-hard Windows bunnies.
Vik
A few years ago, pirating MS software in the government sector was relatively commonplace. Along comes Microsoft and says: "Either you commit to our systems, or we force and audit and retrospectively sue your arse off for breach of copyright."
:v)
Lo and behold, government departments find themselves locked into expensive Microsoft "deals" thereafter, even though FOSS would be more beneficial to them.
Paranoid delusions? Well, it's not a decision based on the quality of the code, or the support, and it's not the TCO.
Vik
New Zealand is obviously pollution free. So clean, in fact that it does not show on the map at all - even in outline!
:v)
Vik
If Bush loses the election, it is likely that investigations into his behaviour over Iraq and his handling of Allawi will be carried out by a less sympathetic collection of officials. This will undoubtedly uncover things that Mr. Bush does not want to see daylight.
:v)
Knowing this, Bush has four options:
1. Lose gracefully - I don't believe he is capable of this.
2. Destroy the evidence. Could be done, but this involves close personell. A "terrorist attack" might provide cover for it and lead to:
3. Cancel the elections due to terrorist activity.
4. Fix the elections, which is going to be hard as the Europeans are monitoring them.
5. Something else.
Vik
And who is going to be the first sad person to use this as a basis for a wearable head-mounted display then?
:v)
Vik
The real reason is quite simple: They don't want you using cellphones MP3 players & walkman through the compulsory filght safety video and any potential warning messages during takeoff and landing. They want your full attention. This is why you are allowed to use their entertainment facilities - the ones they can turn off at the appropriate moments.
:v)
Vik
Id you install Knoppix or just boot it up from the CD? I'm guessing that from the length of time it took to load you were loading Linux, X and OpenOffice from the CD - not the fastest way to do it!
:v(
If you just booted it up, you must've read somewhere that it WILL NOT MODIFY YOUR HARD DISK. That includes saving data on it.
If you want to use it as a real, live system you have to install it, usually by running knx-hdinstall from a root window. There's instructions scattered arounf the web.
Vik
Yeah, do research. Follow the links and... no link between Iraq and 911. Like people thinking that lead-free gas will save the ozone layer it is a popular concept but wrong.
:v)
Vik
WTF Has Iraq got to do with 9/11?
:v)
Vik
Well if we can get this thing into enough hands, some bright spark will come up with a way that some form of projectile weapon can be made within the limitations of the device. And the designs will circulate as Open Source and improve as they pass from hand to hand.
:v)
A version of a 3d-printed weapon that could be produced now would probably require some inserts, but the design could be configurable to match the specific components available.
A stubby length of old vaccuum cleaner tubing might reinforce a barrel or combustion chamber. Things like wire will be needed for ignition systems, and possibly batteries or priming compounds.
Stored energy can readily be derived from compressed gas, butane lighters, or the chlorates formed by the enthusiastic electrolysis of strong brine.
The requirements for machining metal are not needed to make effective weapons, and the materials are not limited to just the resin. Channels can be left in the printer parts for reinforcement by inserts, epoxy, stronger resins etc. up to the point of merely being a mould.
Sounds possible to do it with available fabs to me. You just need the right kind of creative person in the right place at the right time.
Vik
They should talk directly to the Open Source community, not the US Government Corporate. We don't need Government permission.
:v)
Vik