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Pause for a moment and consider that one can purchase narcotics from an anonymised network using virtual money. There's no need to read speculative science fict

Pause for a moment and consider that one can purchase narcotics from an anonymised network using virtual money. There's no need to read speculative science fiction these days, you can just read the news.

betterunix 14y ago
Those drugs still have to be shipped via a real postal system. Speculative scifi suggests that I will have a machine in my house that will produce drugs on the fly, with chemical reactions that are controlled by software.
- stephengillie 14y ago
  So the drugs are 3d-printed? Maybe in pill form?
  - sliverstorm 14y ago
    That implies one of the following: 1) The printer is capable of "printing" complex compounds using individual atoms 2) The printer is pre-loaded with cocaine, LSD, MDMA... My point being not everything can be printed...
    - zevyoura 14y ago
      There's a concept floating around for something called a 'chemputer' that would effectively be a 3D printer for chemistry: http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-chemputer-that-could-print-out-any-drug http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-chemputer-that-could-print-out...
    - stephengillie 14y ago
      Not everything can be printed today...
    - toufka 14y ago
      It actually wouldn't be much more complicated to have a machine into which you pour a bit of bakers yeast, sugar and water and out comes a highly-enriched biomolecule of your choice. Most (recreational) drugs can be created via natural biochemical pathways. Honestly, not that much more complicated than your espresso machine.
      - sliverstorm 14y ago
        Sure, but at that point it isn't a printer, and let's not forget that while any one particular chemical may have a simple synthesis process, different chemicals don't generally have the same process, which makes synthesizing an arbitrary chemical in a printer-sized box that sits on your desk a difficult prospect.
- michaelbuckbee 14y ago
  No need to wait for 3D printing, last night I was reading a short story [1] in which the players in an ARG earned experience points via the hand delivery of items from one player to another in the real world forming an alternative delivery system from the postal carriers. Similarly, in Daniel Suarez's Daemon [2] he describes how a series of net connected people pass around individual parts that they have no idea the purpose of until they all get delivered to one guy who assembles them into a gun. 1 - http://www.amazon.com/Metatropolis-John-Scalzi/dp/B0058M5ZJ6 http://www.amazon.com/Metatropolis-John-Scalzi/dp/B0058M5ZJ6 - "The Red in the Sky is Our Blood" 2 - http://www.amazon.com/Daemon-ebook/dp/B003QP4NPE/ http://www.amazon.com/Daemon-ebook/dp/B003QP4NPE/
  - dobbsbob 14y ago
    On the orig bitcointalk thread when SR first advertised there somebody suggested this kind of a network and there's 20 pages of replies why this wont work for narcotics the biggest reason being theft downline the second being arrested with a ton of drugs and authorities wont care you were in an anonymous network you are getting a major trafficking charge
  - kirian 14y ago
    Or maybe something like this drone delivery network: http://www.economist.com/news/technology-quarterly/21567193-networking-enthusiasts-dream-building-drone-powered-internet-carry-objects http://www.economist.com/news/technology-quarterly/21567193-...

betterunix 14y ago

Those drugs still have to be shipped via a real postal system. Speculative scifi suggests that I will have a machine in my house that will produce drugs on the fly, with chemical reactions that are controlled by software.

stephengillie 14y ago
So the drugs are 3d-printed? Maybe in pill form?
- sliverstorm 14y ago
  That implies one of the following: 1) The printer is capable of "printing" complex compounds using individual atoms 2) The printer is pre-loaded with cocaine, LSD, MDMA... My point being not everything can be printed...
  - zevyoura 14y ago
    There's a concept floating around for something called a 'chemputer' that would effectively be a 3D printer for chemistry: http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-chemputer-that-could-print-out-any-drug http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-chemputer-that-could-print-out...
  - stephengillie 14y ago
    Not everything can be printed today...
  - toufka 14y ago
    It actually wouldn't be much more complicated to have a machine into which you pour a bit of bakers yeast, sugar and water and out comes a highly-enriched biomolecule of your choice. Most (recreational) drugs can be created via natural biochemical pathways. Honestly, not that much more complicated than your espresso machine.
    - sliverstorm 14y ago
      Sure, but at that point it isn't a printer, and let's not forget that while any one particular chemical may have a simple synthesis process, different chemicals don't generally have the same process, which makes synthesizing an arbitrary chemical in a printer-sized box that sits on your desk a difficult prospect.
michaelbuckbee 14y ago
No need to wait for 3D printing, last night I was reading a short story [1] in which the players in an ARG earned experience points via the hand delivery of items from one player to another in the real world forming an alternative delivery system from the postal carriers. Similarly, in Daniel Suarez's Daemon [2] he describes how a series of net connected people pass around individual parts that they have no idea the purpose of until they all get delivered to one guy who assembles them into a gun. 1 - http://www.amazon.com/Metatropolis-John-Scalzi/dp/B0058M5ZJ6 http://www.amazon.com/Metatropolis-John-Scalzi/dp/B0058M5ZJ6 - "The Red in the Sky is Our Blood" 2 - http://www.amazon.com/Daemon-ebook/dp/B003QP4NPE/ http://www.amazon.com/Daemon-ebook/dp/B003QP4NPE/
- dobbsbob 14y ago
  On the orig bitcointalk thread when SR first advertised there somebody suggested this kind of a network and there's 20 pages of replies why this wont work for narcotics the biggest reason being theft downline the second being arrested with a ton of drugs and authorities wont care you were in an anonymous network you are getting a major trafficking charge
- kirian 14y ago
  Or maybe something like this drone delivery network: http://www.economist.com/news/technology-quarterly/21567193-networking-enthusiasts-dream-building-drone-powered-internet-carry-objects http://www.economist.com/news/technology-quarterly/21567193-...