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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dannyalcatraz" data-source="post: 6329952" data-attributes="member: 19675">3D printing is kind of like the homo erectus ancestor of the Replicators from Star Trek.  The farther along techonology heads down that path, the closer you get to a post-scarcity economy.  Post-scarcity economies would look very unsusual, since- theoretically- most needs and the majority of wants could be satisfied for most humans.  That could be very utopian or distopian, depending on a variety of factors:1) the printing process' cost, considering all factors including pollution and raw materials.2) the wildcard of human psychology.  Just because you can have nearly anything you want does not guarantee peace & harmony.  I know of many cases of robberies and killings done to aquire goods that the criminals could easily have afforded to buy.  I mean as easily as I can buy a pack of chewing gum.3) precise details of what can and cannot be "printed."  I have already been part of conversations about the possibilities and pitfalls of 3D printing of pharmaceuticals.  Sure, it can make the process much cheaper, and filling a prescription may be as simple as feeding a formula into your home printer.  However, if you can print legal pharmaceuticals, you can also print illegal ones.  Certainly, the gov't could prevent certain drugs from being printable, bue as we all know, street chemists are usually one step ahead of the law with their formulas...4) the security of the printers.  If they're at all hackable, what is to stop someone from replicating the crime of the 1982 Tylenol poisoner on a grander scale?One thing is also true: Information in the form of formulas for making things with them would become increasingly valuable...if they can be kept secret,</blockquote>

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