The here is the googled website:
http://reprap.org/
I have always thought replicating machines would be cool (it's possible as can be seen from the "two-legged existence theorem"). Using a 3D printer sounds like the way to go about this today.
However, I would think that whatever it is you are crafting with a machine has to necessarily be at a lower mechanical tolerance to the machine itself, so over several generations, the precision falls catastrophically. Some form of recovery or repair is needed (as in DNA). I have always thought we were a long way off from this sorta thing......
The practical solution outlined or implied here seems workable in contrast - use your machine to make various parts, and have a human assemble them together. It was mentioned in
http://www.blog.speculist.com/archives/000293.html
that additional off the shelf spare parts might be needed. This certainly provides a practical trade-off for an almost self-replicating machine. Nice! Hmm
"We'll be watching your future career with great interest." (Senator Palpatine)
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Grrr, my first post. Didn't realise it would be HTML collapsed into 1 long paragraph.
The here is the googled website: http://reprap.org/ I have always thought replicating machines would be cool (it's possible as can be seen from the "two-legged existence theorem"). Using a 3D printer sounds like the way to go about this today. However, I would think that whatever it is you are crafting with a machine has to necessarily be at a lower mechanical tolerance to the machine itself, so over several generations, the precision falls catastrophically. Some form of recovery or repair is needed (as in DNA). I have always thought we were a long way off from this sorta thing ... ...
The practical solution outlined or implied here seems workable in contrast - use your machine to make various parts, and have a human assemble them together. It was mentioned in
http://www.blog.speculist.com/archives/000293.html
that additional off the shelf spare parts might be needed. This certainly provides a practical trade-off for an almost self-replicating machine. Nice! Hmm
"We'll be watching your future career with great interest." (Senator Palpatine)