User:Amb5906

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Revision as of 15:44, 18 September 2012 by Amb5906 (talk | contribs) (Post 2: 9/18/12 (this is really late I am sorry :())
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Post 1: 9/3/12

Today I was checking out the website Thingiverse, which is a website where users post their 3D designs and then other users can download them and print them out using a 3D printer. While browsing on this site I found several objects that caught my fancy and I then had to wrangle them into 5 different categories according to the administrators in charge of this program. The 5 categories that were given to us were useful, artistic/beautiful, pointless/useless, funny, and weird. So the following items in my blog post will be the items that I found fit those categories the best.

Useful

First of all I would like to say that if you are looking for something useful on thingiverse go to the gadget and the household sections, there you will find all sorts of awesome things that can make your life easier. During my browsing session the item that I found to be the most useful was this model of a car window crank. This one here was made originally for a Miata but they said it should fit most cars. This would be really handy because I know that in my dads car the handle broke off of the passenger side door of his 2003 Kia. I have not had a chance to see if this model would work on his car but if it does it could prove useful in ending the over a year long stint without a window crank handle. By having minor replacement parts like this available for the average consumer could really be beneficial because as it stands now my dad is too lazy/forgetful/busy to take his car down to a shop to have it replaced so by being able to print your own parts out the average person can cut out the middle man and finally get rid of excuses as to why things are not done.

Artistic/Beautiful

There are many artistic endeavors that are put up on thingiverse there are all sorts of items that are both intriguing and beautiful. One item I found striking to me was this vase the title of this piece is Flow and it is based off of something called a Voxel. This piece is beautiful in its lines and the what I really like is the fact that it is based off of math, call me a nerd or what ever but this thing is pretty cool.

Pointless/Useless

Even though thingiverse is full of useful and beautiful things it also has its share of pointless items. One such item I found while perusing the site was a Mounted T-Rex Head Trophy. This creation is exactly what it sounds like it is. Even though I find this creation pretty pointless I probably would print this out and put it somewhere, what makes this pointless item great is the description of the object which is full of puns and Jurassic Park references.

Funny

Because of the nature of Thingiverse many of the people that post things on there are nerds/smart people. This being said there are also many items that are deemed funny/cool by the nerd community by incorporating video game, movie, programming, D&D, and various other nerd references in the various creations. Now I am not trying to hate on this community because I am one and proud of it, so one item that struck me as particularly funny/clever was this Portal Waste Disposal Unit Accessory A. Portal has to be one of my favorite video games of all time and it has its own following. This piece is very tongue and cheek with the nature of the it being a toilet paper roll holder and then the engraving on the inside of it. But what makes this item great is the fact that it has a companion cube that just sends it into over the top nerddom. I would so totally make this if I could and put it in my bathroom.

Weird

We are nearing the end of my blog post about my adventures on Thingiverse and to conclude this post I will tell all of you about something that I found which could be considered weird. So while I was browsing I found this: Automaton Hand. This thing while it is cool, it is a little weird, having a severed hand that moves. While I probable would consider printing this thing out I would still consider it weird, just the whole severed hand thing, I don't know maybe it is just me. Thank you guys for reading about my adventures on Thingiverse I hope you liked my choices.

Post 2: 9/18/12 (this is really late I am sorry :()

I do believe that this goal/idea of a ‘self-replicating universal constructor’ is feasible, but like with any good idea there are some potential roadblocks that could stand in the way of this idea. The first thing that I think needs to happen is that there needs to be some sort of base model, there needs to be a design that everyone needs to agree on that works and is reliable as well as easy to create. Right now the project is only known to a small group of people. For example I did not even know about these machines until I started taking this class, and if you asked the average person they would think that a 3D printer would be too complicated for them to make and use. So that will be one of the first obstacles to overcome, just getting the idea of these products out to the average person and making it simple to use and make so that everyone will have access to these machines. Another obstacle I can see happening is the big businesses. If everyone can manufacture their own goods in their homes then what will happen to all of those companies that are in the business of manufacturing? What will happen to the people those companies employ? These are some serious questions that need to be addressed, how will this technology impact the economy both the good and the bad. Also with the corporations I can see major corporations being very hesitant to release their files for people to manufacture in their attics. So by addressing these few issues and figuring out how they could be addressed and solved I think that this self replicating project is feasible and an exciting prospect.
The phrase "Wealth Without Money" in this article refers to the fact that for very little money you can produce just about anything you could ever need. You would be wealthy in the sense that your needs can almost always be met by using this self sustaining printer in your house. This is also based on the some of the teachings of marks where everyone's needs are met and therefore the society is wealthy in the fact that no one is left out. These ideas are nice but they never seem to work, human nature always seems to intervene with corruption, and the need to be better off then the person down the street. But in the sense of the 3D printers it is a little different, the society would be wealthy by being self sustaining and if people could make their own polymers like was mentioned in the article then there every household would be completely self sustaining with no need for any infrastructure really. So in a perfect world with this product everyone would be able to fulfill their needs with these printers and everyone will be happy and healthy, but is this possible? Probably not due to the fact that we have all of this infrastructure in place that will prevent that and it is really hard to change people.
There has been a lot of evolution in the 3D printer community since the Darwin model which was released in 2007. The community has evolved to make improved versions of both hard and software. I can see many opportunities for this idea to evolve and to continue to improve. One thing I can see happening really soon is a company like makerbot or maybe someone else bringing the full public's attention to the idea of a 3D printer and a market for these printers will start to emerge and gain more and more popularity. This will then lead to an exponential growth of innovation and improvements on these machines with companies getting involved and even just more people getting involved with the community idea behind it that individuals will make improvements and post them on the internet for other people to use. Unfortunately I can also see these printers becoming commercialized too much to the point where the average person will not be able to afford these products. I can see a whole new slew of regulations being passed around regarding intellectual property and sites like thingiverse getting completely shutdown by the government. So while I can see a bright future for these printers, I think most likely what will happen is corporations and the government will get involved and ruin everything as usual.