Posted on 03/05/2014 9:49:29 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Imagine going online and, with a single click, printing out any physical object. With a miniature production plant in every home, there would be no need for retail stores, factories, shipping or the pollution associated with those activities. Large-scale automation of a huge segment of the workforce, combined with free worldwide-Internet, 3D printing and renewable off-grid energy will free humanity to achieve anything without worrying about basic material needs.
FREE WIFI FOR ALL
In the next few years, everyone on the planet with a wireless device will likely have access to high speed, uncensored Internet. A futuristic project spearheaded by the New York-based Media Development Investment Fund will see 150 miniature satellites launched into low Earth orbit beginning in June 2015. These satellites will “datacast” the Internet around the planet in a manner similar to satellite television, with plans to make the signal two-way soon after.
Citizens of the planet will be able to educate themselves on any topic at no cost, exchange billions of ideas at the speed of light and organize to overthrow oppressive governing regimes should the need arise. The Internet has already been responsible for the rapid rise of free software and entertainment including music, movies, books, news and video games and will continue improving when combined with 3D printing.
THE LIBERTY OF 3D PRINTING
The capabilities of 3D printers have grown exponentially during the past decade. The Nanoscribe 3D printer can replicate the Empire State Building within the width of a human hair and can construct models 30 millionths of a meter in diameter by layering of liquid plastic. It’s a matter of time before 3D printers are able to print at an atomic and molecular level; this development could allow people in the comfort of their own home to download designs off the Internet and print tools, parts and robot assistants to perform repetitive tasks.
Larger 3D printers could construct infinitely customizable houses, cars, boats and planes within 24 hours for anyone who wanted one. While hugely liberating for the modern working class consumer, 3D printing threatens established institutions of power and wealth that may resist the coming technological revolution.
WITH ABUNDANCE, DO WE NEED GOVERNANCE?
The overwhelming majority of conflicts in human history have occurred between governments as a result of resource scarcity. Spain, Portugal, England, France, Holland and Germany fought hundreds of battles while spreading disease and forcing the colonization of millions of natives around the world in order to bring home cheap crops, minerals and labor.
The Empire of Japan attacked the U.S. in World War II to secure access to oil and commodities in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, and the main reason the Southern Confederacy wanted slavery to remain legal was to avoid many of the costs of labor involved in the production of cotton, tobacco and other agricultural commodities for European export.
Governing bodies have only existed just as long as organized agriculture, and their function has largely been to redistribute surplus resources in the form of taxes as payment for safeguarding consumers and stockpiles of goods from those who would raid them. If ideas, resources, goods, labor and energy become abundant, there would be no need for Social Security or welfare, and maintaining a defense force would be pointless as resources and goods would be available to all free of charge. Money would also become obsolete, because it has no intrinsic use or value.
In a world of free and uncensored Internet, 3D printing and near-limitless clean energy, organized central government would no longer be necessary nor serve much purpose.
——In the next few years, everyone on the planet with a wireless device will likely have access to high speed, uncensored Internet. ——
Stopped reading right there....
In the next few years....all tyrannical depots will quit ?
Free unicorns and skittles for all...
Where are the people moving side walks and the flying cars that usually come with such predictions?
Ummm...so okay Mr. Kalinowski, what do you plan on doing to support yourself and your family while waiting impatiently for your 3D Utopia of free stuff to arrive for everybody?
Seriously, if you must smoke that stuff, please do it after work, not before. Your “articles” will make a lot more sense if you do.
I think this particular article is too focused on 3D printing etc.
There is already a growing problem with the central issue, which is automation (computers, robots, CNC machines etc.) replacing humans - i.e. taking their jobs.
Farming is a good example. Because of improved machinery, one person can now farm as much as many more would have 100 years ago. There are fewer farmers than ever, yet we produce more food.
We have a large and growing population, and less and less work for them to do. A large portion of them don’t have the intellectual capacity to make a meaningful contribution on the “creative” side.
Going forward, things are only going to move more in that direction. I personally think Kurzweil’s singularity will happen, certainly before the end of the 21st Century. That will complete this process one way or the other. Perhaps the best outcome that can be hoped for is that humans will be augmented and empowered by it, so they can participate in the big discoveries to come.
I think it’s almost impossible to predict what society and the world scene will look like in 50-100 years. “Climate change” is certainly a red herring...
“May you live in interesting times” - an old Chinese curse. :-)
I own a 2-D printer. The most expensive part of it, by far, is the INK. What does this fool think will need to be fed to the 3-D printers, air?
“I own a 2-D printer. The most expensive part of it, by far, is the INK. What does this fool think will need to be fed to the 3-D printers, air? “
One version is:
The major requirement is virtually unlimited energy - nuclear, thermonuclear or LENR. Then you need robotic factories that can produce general purpose robots. The robots are “talented” enough to repair the factories, and perform virtually all of the “productive” tasks humans perform today, including mining/growing raw materials (the “ink”). The “struggle to survive” has been eliminated.
One hopes humanity will then show its greatness and colonize the Solar System and beyond - instead of sitting in front of the TV...
Unlimited, free, sustainable, distributed energy has been a pipe dream of leftists since at least the 1940’s when nuclear energy became feasible. It is simply not yet even on the horizon. It’s gone from fission to fusion to cold to LENR to DiLithium crystals. There is a lot more than just technology to get unlimited free energy to everyone on earth. It’s called reality.
One question in a world of 3D printers will be, under what laws do the data files used to create the article exist. This is actually fairly important. If it is treated as an invention, then it will be controlled under patent law for (I think) 17 years, after which time anyone who wants to use it can do so freely. If, on the other hand, it is considered to be copyrightable, then it essentially stays out of the public domain forever.I’m quite sure that business will make sure that it is the latter, because we have the best congress that money can buy.
Who is going to maintain the roads,the sewers,the bridges,airports,waterways and levy and control public taxes?
“Unlimited, free, sustainable, distributed energy has been a pipe dream of leftists since at least the 1940’s when nuclear energy became feasible. It is simply not yet even on the horizon.”
You’re quite wrong, and I said “virtually unlimited”. Conventional nuclear could already be far cheaper and more available than it is - ignorance largely realized through government regulation is holding it back.
Thorium reactors will tap a resource even larger than the Earth’s uranium deposits.
LENR may or may not pan out, but NASA seems convinced it’s a real phenomenon. If real and practical, it will eclipse conventional nuclear as a potential energy source.
Nuclear fusion is clearly real, but of course harnessing it has proven tough. That in no way means it will never be harnessed. Once practical, 1% of the worlds total water could produce around 175,000 years worth of 100 times the current total energy consumption of all types - at 10% conversion efficiency. That is the very definition of “virtually unlimited”.
If Kurzweil is (roughly) correct, entities with the brainpower of ten (or a hundred, or...?) Einsteins and perfect memories will be attacking the big problems with monomaniacal intensity in a few decades. It is called the “singularity” because there is literally no way for us to understand what will happen. Can an ant understand calculus? I expect practical fusion reactors will be among the smaller achievements.
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