Does anyone think this is scary stuff?
I want to have an advanced discussion about this for a moment so please hear me out.
Look at what happened in world history as certain advances were made. Things that were once unusual, exotic and expensive became commonplace. Look at the tools we use today. Steel wrenches, hammers, anvils, screwdrivers... these things would have been considered expensive luxuries or tools only for the rare blacksmith in the 1700s.
In the early days of computers slow systems and software to run on them cost thousands of dollars to a home user. Now it’s a few hundred dollars for a thousand time the computing power.
It used to be that guns were high tech. Now the technology to make them, in general, is comparatively stone age to us. Metal tubes that shoot lead projectiles with gunpowder is simple to make and quite antiquated against nukes, cruse missiles, attack helicopters, and satellite/drone surveilance on a battlefield. A mere gun by itself is unremarkable.
Now, we enter 3D printing. It’s time to stretch our minds around the entirety of the industrial revolution now being “low tech.” If you need a PART, made of one material or only a couple of materials then 3D printing will be able to do it immediately and simply. Yes, this means that the jobs AND the intellectual property of mere PARTS will become nearly valueless compared to all of history up to now. You can lament it, but it’s going to happen. The result in general SHOULD be a net gain to mankind’s standard of living as making basic replacement parts for nearly everything in our lives becomes trivial. This opens up our time, focus and resources to concentrate on extremely high-tech items that you can’t make on a 3D printer.
It’s hard to say what the world will look like even 10 years from now with 3D printing, but like so much else today you have to change with the technology and the times. If you are a small parts manufacturer or a machinist that works for one you need an exit plan NOW or you need to be studying CAD and 3D printers and learning how to do your job all over again... and understanding that margins are about to get tighter as what you do may be possible on someone’s desk printer in a few years.
In short, it is not protecting the IP that matters. That is impossible. It is adjusting industries and business models to accept the fact that almost anyone can make a mere part. Open source parts for almost EVERYTHING will exist in a few decades which in theory will give rise to a quality of life improvement the world over.
One great use for these bio-printers will be printing skin.
The transplantation of faces will thankfully be a very short term phenomenon. Soon plastic surgeons will print new faces for the disfigured.
Serious scarring of the face cannot be well repaired by surgery. A full facial replacement will actually be easier to perform. Early on the full facial replacements will probably have little sensation. It would be hard to get used to having a numb face IMO.
Replacing other body parts that are mostly just skin should work well but will also suffer from lack of sensation. Numb but normal looking noses, ears and skin will be commonplace in a decade.
Replacement fingers, toes and entire hands and feet will follow. The bones will be mechanically functional but at first probably won’t be living tissue. The limiting factor will be the surgical skills needed to hook up the new body parts...fast robotic surgical machines will be needed.
I wonder just how young looking an 80yr old would be with a brand new face made of their own cells?
In a future world where everyone can be beautiful, will beauty mean much anymore?
Not sure if this has been tried yet, but it seems like the potential for printing perfect $100 bills could wreak havoc...
But, hey, I could be wrong.
This may well yank the rug out from under the “Made in China” problem.