I’ve been a design engineer since 1972. I helped design computer hard drives in 1977, and then printers, then office computers. In the late 80’s I bought a Timex Sinclair computer, in 1987 I took a CAD class (1 week), in 1988 I built my first computer, in 1992 I bought a domain name and thinking that whoever controlled the Yellow Pages could make a killing, I mapped my entire city of 100,000 people and placed every retailer on that map. People still didn’t know what the internet was and thought I was crazy, this was before Google.
Two years ago I bought a 3D printer, and while it is ok for proving a design, I’m waiting for something better to come along. To get a 3D part you can do it two ways, scan it or draw it. When you draw it, in 3D, you can get a lot more accuracy, then you convert the file to a printable file that is not easily changed, that is what you distribute, you keep the original drawing, no one else needs it. Because you have the original drawing, it is easily improved and redistributed only by you.
I realize that the socialist are pushing a livable wage and a guaranteed income. Jerry Brown has been pushing that since 1995. If you can manufacture something without depending on anyone else then what you earn will depend on how imaginative you are.
Jerry Brown from 1995
http://nation.foxnews.com/jerry-brown/2010/10/14/jerry-brown-flashback-we-need-more-welfare-and-fewer-jobs
3D printers are evolving at the rate that your printer was post dated 6 months after you bought it. They’re getting better every generation. they even have ones that do clothing now, though they admit not terribly well.
Once you distribute your design it’s out in the world and somebody can share it. Just look at Pirate Bay. IP is dead in a lossless copy world.