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What if earth patents/IP were invalid on Mars? Wouldn't enterprises race to mars for the chance to code/manufacture components that they are legally and financi

What if earth patents/IP were invalid on Mars? Wouldn't enterprises race to mars for the chance to code/manufacture components that they are legally and financially restricted from doing on earth? >Until Mars settlers can build things in-house, they need constant economic support from the earth This is where digital manufacturing (CNC, laser cutting, 3D printing) actually makes sense. You go with the base materials and blueprints, and you can survive without transferring goods. You manufacture on-demand, and the blueprints can change based on feedback/results. Mars SHOULD have a prototype culture, the same as with explorers. With engineering/research help from earth, a fab lab on mars would be incredibly valuable. Science the shit out of it!

gus_massa 10y ago
Even is patents are invalid, when you bring they back to Earth they will be confiscated. It's like burning a pirate DVD in the middle of the sea and expecting to sell it legally in New York. (And probably the transportation cost will be still high enough to make it mot profitable.)
- fudged71 10y ago
  >when you bring they back to Earth they will be confiscated Nobody is talking about using Mars as a manufacturing base to transport to Earth, it's all about creating a self-sustaining colony. There has to be stronger incentives for people/companies to move there. Even on earth there are many economic zones incentivized by lack of regulation etc.
yongjik 10y ago
If Martian colonists can manufacture something using 3D printing, Earthlings can also do it, and probably a lot more cheaply, because all the necessary ingredient and parts (and even customers) are within forty light-millisecond, instead of ~20 light-minutes. The economy is just not going to work.
- TaylorAlexander 10y ago
  I'm having a hard time understanding this comment. That people on Earth can do it too does not detract from people on Mars doing it. The parent comment isnt saying there will be an economy of building things on Mars and sending them to Earth, they're saying Mars can sustain itself without sharing an economy with Earth. Which I believe is true. And for what it's worth, I'm actively working to build better robots with commodity 3D printers[1] and I hope to build self sustaining communities on Earth with 3D printed micro factories that produce all the goods humans need for survival. I believe it is possible to make economically closed self sustaining communities. Both on Mars and on Earth. We've done it on Earth for a long time. [1] https://github.com/tlalexander/Flutter-Scout https://github.com/tlalexander/Flutter-Scout
  - Pinckney 10y ago
    But why would a rational, self-interested person put up with great risk and expense to live in a small closed economy on Mars, when they could much more easily live in a small closed economy on earth? What's so great about Mars?
  - yongjik 10y ago
    At our current technological level, we didn't even succeed in building a self-sustaining biosystem when we threw money at it (as a research project): see Biosphere 2. Self-sustaining community that can economically fund itself is out of reach even here on Earth. And, frankly, 3D printing isn't magic: it won't help that much. Can you 3D-print a glass window that can withstand 1 atm and has anti-UV coating?
    - TaylorAlexander 10y ago
      Sorry, where did I say 3D printing was magic? I'm a mechanical engineer who has had my 3D printer for 4 years. I just got a second one. I understand you can't print glass with a 3D printer. You can however, absolutely print critical parts of the machinery you would need to build a glass making system. I'm talking 10-20 years out for having a self sustaining community that manufactures its own hard goods. But I believe it is possible and I'm working on making it real. I'm not relying on magic.

gus_massa 10y ago

Even is patents are invalid, when you bring they back to Earth they will be confiscated. It's like burning a pirate DVD in the middle of the sea and expecting to sell it legally in New York. (And probably the transportation cost will be still high enough to make it mot profitable.)

fudged71 10y ago
>when you bring they back to Earth they will be confiscated Nobody is talking about using Mars as a manufacturing base to transport to Earth, it's all about creating a self-sustaining colony. There has to be stronger incentives for people/companies to move there. Even on earth there are many economic zones incentivized by lack of regulation etc.

yongjik 10y ago

If Martian colonists can manufacture something using 3D printing, Earthlings can also do it, and probably a lot more cheaply, because all the necessary ingredient and parts (and even customers) are within forty light-millisecond, instead of ~20 light-minutes. The economy is just not going to work.

TaylorAlexander 10y ago
I'm having a hard time understanding this comment. That people on Earth can do it too does not detract from people on Mars doing it. The parent comment isnt saying there will be an economy of building things on Mars and sending them to Earth, they're saying Mars can sustain itself without sharing an economy with Earth. Which I believe is true. And for what it's worth, I'm actively working to build better robots with commodity 3D printers[1] and I hope to build self sustaining communities on Earth with 3D printed micro factories that produce all the goods humans need for survival. I believe it is possible to make economically closed self sustaining communities. Both on Mars and on Earth. We've done it on Earth for a long time. [1] https://github.com/tlalexander/Flutter-Scout https://github.com/tlalexander/Flutter-Scout
- Pinckney 10y ago
  But why would a rational, self-interested person put up with great risk and expense to live in a small closed economy on Mars, when they could much more easily live in a small closed economy on earth? What's so great about Mars?
- yongjik 10y ago
  At our current technological level, we didn't even succeed in building a self-sustaining biosystem when we threw money at it (as a research project): see Biosphere 2. Self-sustaining community that can economically fund itself is out of reach even here on Earth. And, frankly, 3D printing isn't magic: it won't help that much. Can you 3D-print a glass window that can withstand 1 atm and has anti-UV coating?
  - TaylorAlexander 10y ago
    Sorry, where did I say 3D printing was magic? I'm a mechanical engineer who has had my 3D printer for 4 years. I just got a second one. I understand you can't print glass with a 3D printer. You can however, absolutely print critical parts of the machinery you would need to build a glass making system. I'm talking 10-20 years out for having a self sustaining community that manufactures its own hard goods. But I believe it is possible and I'm working on making it real. I'm not relying on magic.