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<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 5595840" data-attributes="member: 177">Replicators are not &quot;unlimited everything for free&quot; machines.&nbsp;&nbsp; Replicators do not suddenly mean everyone can have anything they ever want.&nbsp; Thermodynamics tells us quite clearly that there's no such thing as a free lunch.A replicator needs either base materials to operate from, or an energy supply more copious than anything humankind has ever really considered.&nbsp; If you take the *entire* energy consumption of the United States in 2005 (100 quadrillion BTU, or thereabouts), you could make one single moderately sized car.&nbsp; And that's it. If you don't have nigh-unlimited energy resources, then you still need raw materials - presumably they still need to be gathered and processed for efficient use, and transported to the devices.&nbsp; If you want these delivered to homes, you're talking about a major infrastructure that's going to shape the society.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 5595840, member: 177"] Replicators are not "unlimited everything for free" machines. Replicators do not suddenly mean everyone can have anything they ever want. Thermodynamics tells us quite clearly that there's no such thing as a free lunch. A replicator needs either base materials to operate from, or an energy supply more copious than anything humankind has ever really considered. If you take the *entire* energy consumption of the United States in 2005 (100 quadrillion BTU, or thereabouts), you could make one single moderately sized car. And that's it. If you don't have nigh-unlimited energy resources, then you still need raw materials - presumably they still need to be gathered and processed for efficient use, and transported to the devices. If you want these delivered to homes, you're talking about a major infrastructure that's going to shape the society. [/QUOTE]

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