5 ms·

What is a Christmas tree machine?

DanielBMarkham 16y ago
They're going by the name "3-D printer" right now, but the overall idea is a home fabrication machine capable of producing complex 3-D goods (including moving parts, electronics, etc) on demand. Current 3-D printing is an extremely crude version of the eventual device. So if you wanted a new microwave, go online and download the design. Then go to the Christmas Tree machine and have it print one up for you. Just like presents under a Christmas Tree, you ask for something, say the magic words, then it appears with a little bow on it. (It occurs to me they should have been named Santa Claus machines, but I don't make this stuff up, I simply repeat it) Of course, we're starting off with extremely simple implementations. I think the current technology does stuff like figurines. Adding moving parts is probably a next logical step, then printable simple electronics. There's a long way to go, but once realized, Christmas Tree machines will change everything.
- nollidge 16y ago
  Ah, I gotcha, thanks. I've only ever heard those called "3D printers". Google only turned up either artificial tree makers or logging equipment. The Make magazine follows CTM/3DP stuff pretty closely: http://blog.makezine.com/ http://blog.makezine.com/
  - HeyLaughingBoy 16y ago
    It's the latest name. Don Lancaster's been calling them Santa Claus machines for about 15 years now...
    - codebaobab 16y ago
      Actually, that seems like a low estimate. I think I remember him already having coined that term when I was buying his books 20 years ago... ...And Don was already Old School then...
      - HeyLaughingBoy 16y ago
        ...so how long did it take before your copy of The Incredible Secret Money Machine was ripped off :-)
        codebaobab 16y ago
        I proactively bought gift copies... Seriously, it is amazing how way ahead of the curve he was. ISMM was originally published when Tim Ferriss was only 1 year old, but the only real difference between it and 4 Hour Work Week is the scale that the Internet makes available. Every time some hungry hacker blogs about supplementing his income by selling photos on some stock photography site--man, it's deja vu all over again.
patio11 16y ago
Scifi. Imagine you had nano-scale robots where, given a substrate to work with, they would assemble whatever the local environment needed to look like, then assemble two child bots coming from them like twigs on the branch of a Christmas tree. This is supposed to allow arbitrarily complex construction at prices which are rounding error next to current ones, solving scarcity, reshaping the world, and generally making for a nice backdrop for your novel of choice. [Edit: Hmm, Daniel and I seem to have different etymologies for the word...] [Edit the second: Engrish is hard.]
- btilly 16y ago
  FWIW your version is the one I've encountered before. I saw it in a nice book called Indistinguishable From Magic by Robert L. Forward. It is half sci-fi, and half hard science fact. The format is that he first describes a hard science idea that could allow future technology to do something that looks like magic. And then he has a short story showing a world with that technology. Then he moves on to the next idea. Christmas Tree robots were one of the ideas he considered.
- michael_nielsen 16y ago
  Either you mean "etymology", or that's a really unusual and interesting sentence :-)
- revorad 16y ago
  Oh you mean Kalpavriksha! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalpavriksha http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalpavriksha
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grhino 16y ago
I guessed 3d printer. A search results suggested it was a common science fiction term synonymous with Star Trek's replicator.

They're going by the name "3-D printer" right now, but the overall idea is a home fabrication machine capable of producing complex 3-D goods (including moving parts, electronics, etc) on demand. Current 3-D printing is an extremely crude version of the eventual device. So if you wanted a new microwave, go online and download the design. Then go to the Christmas Tree machine and have it print one up for you. Just like presents under a Christmas Tree, you ask for something, say the magic words, then it appears with a little bow on it. (It occurs to me they should have been named Santa Claus machines, but I don't make this stuff up, I simply repeat it) Of course, we're starting off with extremely simple implementations. I think the current technology does stuff like figurines. Adding moving parts is probably a next logical step, then printable simple electronics. There's a long way to go, but once realized, Christmas Tree machines will change everything.

nollidge 16y ago
Ah, I gotcha, thanks. I've only ever heard those called "3D printers". Google only turned up either artificial tree makers or logging equipment. The Make magazine follows CTM/3DP stuff pretty closely: http://blog.makezine.com/ http://blog.makezine.com/
- HeyLaughingBoy 16y ago
  It's the latest name. Don Lancaster's been calling them Santa Claus machines for about 15 years now...
  - codebaobab 16y ago
    Actually, that seems like a low estimate. I think I remember him already having coined that term when I was buying his books 20 years ago... ...And Don was already Old School then...
    - HeyLaughingBoy 16y ago
      ...so how long did it take before your copy of The Incredible Secret Money Machine was ripped off :-)
      - codebaobab 16y ago
        I proactively bought gift copies... Seriously, it is amazing how way ahead of the curve he was. ISMM was originally published when Tim Ferriss was only 1 year old, but the only real difference between it and 4 Hour Work Week is the scale that the Internet makes available. Every time some hungry hacker blogs about supplementing his income by selling photos on some stock photography site--man, it's deja vu all over again.

patio11 16y ago

Scifi. Imagine you had nano-scale robots where, given a substrate to work with, they would assemble whatever the local environment needed to look like, then assemble two child bots coming from them like twigs on the branch of a Christmas tree. This is supposed to allow arbitrarily complex construction at prices which are rounding error next to current ones, solving scarcity, reshaping the world, and generally making for a nice backdrop for your novel of choice. [Edit: Hmm, Daniel and I seem to have different etymologies for the word...] [Edit the second: Engrish is hard.]

btilly 16y ago
FWIW your version is the one I've encountered before. I saw it in a nice book called Indistinguishable From Magic by Robert L. Forward. It is half sci-fi, and half hard science fact. The format is that he first describes a hard science idea that could allow future technology to do something that looks like magic. And then he has a short story showing a world with that technology. Then he moves on to the next idea. Christmas Tree robots were one of the ideas he considered.
michael_nielsen 16y ago
Either you mean "etymology", or that's a really unusual and interesting sentence :-)
revorad 16y ago
Oh you mean Kalpavriksha! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalpavriksha http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalpavriksha

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grhino 16y ago

I guessed 3d printer. A search results suggested it was a common science fiction term synonymous with Star Trek's replicator.