From Next Big Future , The Economist is pointing out that with 3d printing, it costs no more or less to make one of something, than it does to make a thousand. How technically complicated a piece is, how many curves, how many bends, no longer matters as much, and it's more environmental too.
Talk about disruptive technology.... what happens when people can routinely customize everything they buy. What happens when companies only assemble the complete product after an order has been placed for it? We are already doing that with tee shirts, baseball caps, vinyl stickers for our phones and laptops. It won't be long before we routinely customize the actual casings on all our products so that the things we care the most about are obviously unique and reflective of our personalities.
After custom modding the outside of things... we now start customizing the insides too... having it run the software we choose. After all, if you can't fix it, you don't own it.
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What happens when we own a device that can print out whatever we need? What happens when it can print itself? when we can go online and look up a product, and print it out directly Or we just order it online? Maybe a favorite game character...
What happens when large manufactures realize they are on the same disruptive roller coaster as the music and print industries? Where people see something they like, and simply make a version for themselves?
Already happening.
Standing on a stack of library books, head high with bottle thick glasses glinting on a single shaft of light, calculator raised in defiance while my well read wife is wrapped suggestively around my legs... I. Am. Nerd!
I've seen some of this technology in person. They had a "rapid prototyping machine" when I was at Kelly AFB.
ReplyDeleteWhen the tech. is perfected it would be similar in function as the 'transporter' in ST. What ever object you want, select it from the menu, and 'energize'!
Probably where corporations will try to maintain proprietary ownership is in the coding of the information used to create the object. And the manufacturer of the 'printer' will probably have proprietary ownership of the 'ink' (for lack of a better term) with a built in terminator. Because most items in the future will share internet connectedness these items can easily be 'pinged' by the corporations and any item that doesn't sing back the right song gets zapped and disintegrated. Thereby maintaining copyrights and guarding against patent infringement.