4 ms·

Here we have a piece of technology achieving nothing short of miracles, saving people's lives. And yet, I can't believe some idiots look at this technology and

Here we have a piece of technology achieving nothing short of miracles, saving people's lives. And yet, I can't believe some idiots look at this technology and the best use case they think of is: "hey, this sounds awesome -- let's print guns!"

davidandgoliath 13y ago
The same could be said of any technology -- anything can be used for good or evil. Immediately labeling them idiots because they're doing something you don't like is a bit ignorant, no?
deleted 13y ago
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HCIdivision17 13y ago
Remember it's technology - it'll get used for anything of value. Heck, the awesome bit is that eventually it'll be used for _everything_ applicable! Think of it like the Internet: today all you have to do is ask a question and someone somewhere probably has asked it and been answered. Also porn. And cat GIFs. And hundreds of apple pie recipes. And everything else. _And the medium's not even saturated yet_! Just imagine when _stuff_ is like that. Expect some nasty things, but also expect cheap, easily reproducible miracles. I'd take that trade.
SoftwareMaven 13y ago
What was metalsmithing used for first? Warfare and farming. Why would 3D printing be any different? What scares me are the people who are going to start foaming at the mouth to ban 3D printing because you could print a gun. I'm afraid our best-case scenario is "heavily regulated", so I fully support anything that democratizes the technology, even if it is just printing stupid chochskies.
noonespecial 13y ago
If its not good enough to print guns, its not good enough to do much of anything useful. Rocks: You can bash skulls or build cathedrals. Do both and we call it human.
- lessnonymous 13y ago
  And we used rocks as weapons before we used them for building. (Ignoring naturally forming caves). We know media technology is led by the porn industry. Maybe physical technology is led by the weapons industry.
  - Ygg2 13y ago
    Ironic, because weapons industry has a lot of incentives to stop this development.
    - CodeCube 13y ago
      I think that's probably better phrased as, "the existing weapons industry has a lot of incentives to stop this development". Just because someone like defense distributed isn't an established arms manufacturer doesn't mean they aren't "in the industry". Same goes for other startups. The "payment industry" seems to have been greatly affected by an upstart named paypal. The "finance industry" probably doesn't like kickstarter very much. etc.
wnight 13y ago
I think their (the ones who post Youtube videos about it anyways) goal isn't to make gun parts, but to show how laws that restrict some magic block (that can be milled, carved, or printed) have nothing to do with making anyone safe. They probably see that 3D printers are too widespread and too economically game-changing to be banned, effectively at any rate, and thus that by showing how printers enable production of something, they can show that regulating that thing at the historical source is going to be ineffective. I imagine these people are your allies more than you think.
prollyignored 13y ago
You'd be surprised to know that surgical instruments make good murder weapons.
ivanca 13y ago
The government is not any smarter, they would let people starve to death if food could be easily transformed into fire weapons.

davidandgoliath 13y ago

The same could be said of any technology -- anything can be used for good or evil. Immediately labeling them idiots because they're doing something you don't like is a bit ignorant, no?

deleted 13y ago

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HCIdivision17 13y ago

Remember it's technology - it'll get used for anything of value. Heck, the awesome bit is that eventually it'll be used for _everything_ applicable! Think of it like the Internet: today all you have to do is ask a question and someone somewhere probably has asked it and been answered. Also porn. And cat GIFs. And hundreds of apple pie recipes. And everything else. _And the medium's not even saturated yet_! Just imagine when _stuff_ is like that. Expect some nasty things, but also expect cheap, easily reproducible miracles. I'd take that trade.

SoftwareMaven 13y ago

What was metalsmithing used for first? Warfare and farming. Why would 3D printing be any different? What scares me are the people who are going to start foaming at the mouth to ban 3D printing because you could print a gun. I'm afraid our best-case scenario is "heavily regulated", so I fully support anything that democratizes the technology, even if it is just printing stupid chochskies.

noonespecial 13y ago

If its not good enough to print guns, its not good enough to do much of anything useful. Rocks: You can bash skulls or build cathedrals. Do both and we call it human.

lessnonymous 13y ago
And we used rocks as weapons before we used them for building. (Ignoring naturally forming caves). We know media technology is led by the porn industry. Maybe physical technology is led by the weapons industry.
- Ygg2 13y ago
  Ironic, because weapons industry has a lot of incentives to stop this development.
  - CodeCube 13y ago
    I think that's probably better phrased as, "the existing weapons industry has a lot of incentives to stop this development". Just because someone like defense distributed isn't an established arms manufacturer doesn't mean they aren't "in the industry". Same goes for other startups. The "payment industry" seems to have been greatly affected by an upstart named paypal. The "finance industry" probably doesn't like kickstarter very much. etc.

wnight 13y ago

I think their (the ones who post Youtube videos about it anyways) goal isn't to make gun parts, but to show how laws that restrict some magic block (that can be milled, carved, or printed) have nothing to do with making anyone safe. They probably see that 3D printers are too widespread and too economically game-changing to be banned, effectively at any rate, and thus that by showing how printers enable production of something, they can show that regulating that thing at the historical source is going to be ineffective. I imagine these people are your allies more than you think.

prollyignored 13y ago

You'd be surprised to know that surgical instruments make good murder weapons.

ivanca 13y ago

The government is not any smarter, they would let people starve to death if food could be easily transformed into fire weapons.