I'd argue that 3D printing isn't a baby step along that road. The road points toward the replicator, but it hits a dead end long before you get there. You sti

I'd argue that 3D printing isn't a baby step along that road. The road points toward the replicator, but it hits a dead end long before you get there. You still run into a basic materials problem. For instance, you mention 3D printing up a refrigerator. You'll still need some sort of compressor gas for the actual cooling sections. You're also not going to be able to print the permanent magnets for your compressor motor. The 3D printer will help you make the doors and shelves, but the parts that actually make the refrigerator worthwhile have material properties that you can't simply print out. You also mention clothes. Now, this is a possibility, if you're willing to clothe people in plastic shirts and pants. Effective, but highly uncomfortable and they're going to get pretty sweaty, especially in the developing countries where you want to do this. Now, if we want cloth clothes, things suddenly become much more difficult. First, the printer will still need plain fabric for input. Thus, all the machine is saving us is the cost of dying, cutting, and sewing the fabric. Considering that the jobs of cutting and sewing fabric have been shipped out to developing nations precisely because they have so much cheap expertise in those areas, it's not likely that a 3D printer is going to change much there. To put it differently, how would access to a 3D printer change things that their current access to a sewing machine hasn't? Don't get me wrong. I love 3D printing and can't wait to own my own. There's a lot of neat stuff that can be done with these. However, it will ultimately be a joint approach. Third world amputees won't be printing off prosthetic limbs. They'll be printing off adapter cups that connect to a mass manufactured limbs. There's just too much material science for most things to just be printed.