lundi 25 septembre 2017

3D Printer Filament Is Reinventing Everything

By Dorothy Miller


Very few of the best minds on Earth could have conceived of the radical direction technology has taken in recent years. Fewer still could have imagined that the invention which is set to change everything about our lives would start as a toy for artsy-craftsy technology chasers. Truth is that a revamped copy machine along with a few spools of 3D printer filament is the new recipe for anything.

In the beginning few really took notice as this new tech emerged. The first people showing an interest were hobbyists or technology buffs who always seek to get whatever is new for collecting, if for no other reason. In this humble start, even those who created it did not know the unexpected directions it would take, or that it could open amazing doors, but the double side of this knife is all too obvious as well.

It was the Hobby Lobby crowd that first gave us a peek into this new potential. Holiday ornaments began to appear on social media pages, then there were solar powered self lighting versions, and finally there were ornaments that functioned like tiny machines, jingling with the power of motion. These first shiny objects of idle entertainment sparked the first embers of recognized potential.

There are many children who, for whatever reasons, are born with hands, arms, feet, limbs missing. When a parent of such a child saw these tiny machines hanging from artificial trees, ornamenting the Holidays of strangers, an idea suddenly emerged into concept. A parent made a child an artificial hand that was radically Transformers in appearance, and could be redesigned over and over as they grew.

As with any new toys that yuppies take a shine to, the variations on materials will expand as long as their credit limits last. One of the next items the world came to behold, printed right in some gamer geeks living room, were musical instruments. Many of them are basic electric and bass guitars, but there are some unique one-of-a-kind gems out there which even their creator was hard-pressed to find a name for.

With music and robotics covered, naturally the fashion industry would be the next market attempting to push this new toy to the limits of potential. Creative minds who love clothes do not always love to sew. Truly creative minds abhor limitations, and with these printers, there is neither sewing nor limits to what a fashion designer can manifest.

Now, here is where the story takes the strangest and most unbelievable twist yet. Some lab geek thought to themselves, what if we reproduced synthesized stem cells in much the same way, through programmed repetition of a design. Now we are looking at a future where we can be as alcoholic as we desire so long as we sober up long enough to print ourselves a new liver.

Manufacturing, robotics, fashion, and medicine all stand to be radically altered a machine that once worked as no more than a scribe. In less than a century, realms of possibility more vast than all potential our ancestors ever could dream for us has suddenly been opened by one of the most simple machines they created. Now we must rethink everything.




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