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The alternative to a computer in every home is... well, there really isn't any other way to talk with people around the world. The alternative to a 3d printer i

by ynniv 13y ago

The alternative to a computer in every home is... well, there really isn't any other way to talk with people around the world. The alternative to a 3d printer in every home is Amazon Prime.

zachkatz 13y ago
However, 3D printing is nearly instant delivery. With Amazon Prime, as of now, it still takes 1-2 days for packages to arrive. Imagine if Amazon Prime were to adopt 3D printing into their model...
- bigiain 13y ago
  Clearly written by a guy who hasn't left a Makerbot (sloooooowly) printing something overnight, only to wake up to a room full of PLA fairy floss… ;-)
Taylorious 13y ago
How will you ever be able to print transistors, capacitors, anything made of metal, or most anything useful? Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of cool uses now for very specific things like robots, prototyping, or medical things, but the idea that one day soon everyone will have a 3d printer and you will purchase schematics for things on Amazon is far fetched. I cant think of a single thing I have purchased on amazon in the last year that could be made on a 3d printer. Unless they will start being able to make things out of steal, glass, rare materials, and be able to vacuum seal things, etc.
- tomhoward 13y ago
  How will you ever be able to This kind of skepticism has been raised about everything, years, decades or centuries before it happens. The very thing that makes 3D printing an interesting field is that's it's in its infancy and the long-term possibilities are unknown/unknowable. I'm not making any predictions about what will or won't happen, but I'll be fascinated to see it unfold. Unless they will start being able to make things out of steal, glass, rare materials, and be able to vacuum seal things ...well yes, exactly.
  - slacka 13y ago
    >"3D printing an interesting field is that's it's in its infancy" Infancy? We had 3D printers in the 80s along with 1Mhz processors powering home built computer kits. Yet, 30 years later those CPUs are running at 3000Mhz with multiple cores while the printers have barely advanced. The only reason you hear so much talk is the patents on early Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) units have expired. But these $1000 printers are only good for printing cheap plastic junk like this guy printed for his daughter which costs more to print and is worse quality than the stuff you can find at the local $ store.
- DanBC 13y ago
  "it is very possible that ... one machine would suffice to solve all the problems that are demanded of it from the whole country." -- Sir Charles Darwin in 1946 about computers.
- mortehu 13y ago
  Two things might interest you: Optomec's process of printing semiconductors onto 3D structures, and the NovoGen MMX Bioprinter, which prints human tissue. Still, I agree that fused deposition modeling is not going to be cost effective compared to injection molding if you need more than 2000 objects worldwide.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
stormbrew 13y ago
There were these things, before computers. We called them Telephones I think.
- ynniv 13y ago
  The way that we use computers to communicate is very different from the Plain Old Telephone System. With telephones you could call an individual around the world, but you couldn't have the kind of interactions with lots of people in non-realtime that computers allow.
  - stormbrew 13y ago
    Yes, and how you obtain things will be different when you can reliably make them at home. Yes, even stupid plastic trinkets (as if it'll really stop there anyways). The point is, if you pretend a new tech will always be as lame as it is now you'll never see anything coming. And for most of the years computers have been around they did not revolutionize communication. That's a relatively late development.
    - ynniv 13y ago
      And for most of the years computers have been around they did not revolutionize communication. That's a relatively late development. Not even close. Computers have been used as a novel communications tool since at least 1958, and for (de)encryption of traditional communications since 1943. [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-Automatic_Ground_Environment#Network_communications http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-Automatic_Ground_Environme... ] [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossus_computer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossus_computer ]
nightski 13y ago
Sure, if you limit what you print to what is available on Amazon Prime. That is an incredibly limited imagination in my opinion.

by ynniv 13y ago

The alternative to a computer in every home is... well, there really isn't any other way to talk with people around the world. The alternative to a 3d printer in every home is Amazon Prime.

zachkatz 13y ago

However, 3D printing is nearly instant delivery. With Amazon Prime, as of now, it still takes 1-2 days for packages to arrive. Imagine if Amazon Prime were to adopt 3D printing into their model...

bigiain 13y ago
Clearly written by a guy who hasn't left a Makerbot (sloooooowly) printing something overnight, only to wake up to a room full of PLA fairy floss… ;-)

Taylorious 13y ago

How will you ever be able to print transistors, capacitors, anything made of metal, or most anything useful? Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of cool uses now for very specific things like robots, prototyping, or medical things, but the idea that one day soon everyone will have a 3d printer and you will purchase schematics for things on Amazon is far fetched. I cant think of a single thing I have purchased on amazon in the last year that could be made on a 3d printer. Unless they will start being able to make things out of steal, glass, rare materials, and be able to vacuum seal things, etc.

tomhoward 13y ago
How will you ever be able to This kind of skepticism has been raised about everything, years, decades or centuries before it happens. The very thing that makes 3D printing an interesting field is that's it's in its infancy and the long-term possibilities are unknown/unknowable. I'm not making any predictions about what will or won't happen, but I'll be fascinated to see it unfold. Unless they will start being able to make things out of steal, glass, rare materials, and be able to vacuum seal things ...well yes, exactly.
- slacka 13y ago
  >"3D printing an interesting field is that's it's in its infancy" Infancy? We had 3D printers in the 80s along with 1Mhz processors powering home built computer kits. Yet, 30 years later those CPUs are running at 3000Mhz with multiple cores while the printers have barely advanced. The only reason you hear so much talk is the patents on early Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) units have expired. But these $1000 printers are only good for printing cheap plastic junk like this guy printed for his daughter which costs more to print and is worse quality than the stuff you can find at the local $ store.
DanBC 13y ago
"it is very possible that ... one machine would suffice to solve all the problems that are demanded of it from the whole country." -- Sir Charles Darwin in 1946 about computers.
mortehu 13y ago
Two things might interest you: Optomec's process of printing semiconductors onto 3D structures, and the NovoGen MMX Bioprinter, which prints human tissue. Still, I agree that fused deposition modeling is not going to be cost effective compared to injection molding if you need more than 2000 objects worldwide.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]

stormbrew 13y ago

There were these things, before computers. We called them Telephones I think.

ynniv 13y ago
The way that we use computers to communicate is very different from the Plain Old Telephone System. With telephones you could call an individual around the world, but you couldn't have the kind of interactions with lots of people in non-realtime that computers allow.
- stormbrew 13y ago
  Yes, and how you obtain things will be different when you can reliably make them at home. Yes, even stupid plastic trinkets (as if it'll really stop there anyways). The point is, if you pretend a new tech will always be as lame as it is now you'll never see anything coming. And for most of the years computers have been around they did not revolutionize communication. That's a relatively late development.
  - ynniv 13y ago
    And for most of the years computers have been around they did not revolutionize communication. That's a relatively late development. Not even close. Computers have been used as a novel communications tool since at least 1958, and for (de)encryption of traditional communications since 1943. [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-Automatic_Ground_Environment#Network_communications http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-Automatic_Ground_Environme... ] [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossus_computer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossus_computer ]

nightski 13y ago

Sure, if you limit what you print to what is available on Amazon Prime. That is an incredibly limited imagination in my opinion.