User:Jms6579

Blog 2

1. I see no reason to think that a self-replicating universal constructor will not be feasible in the future. As of now, 3D printers are unable to print vital parts such as screws, electronics, motors, etc. Despite this, what would stop this from happening in the future? Or rather, what would stop a separate machine to be able to do this particular part of it? And what's stopping these machines from being combined into one? One possible (and perhaps paranoid) situation that would prevent the construction of such a machine is government. This constructor could drastically damage industry when everyone can make almost anything they want for practically free. Government might get involved in an attempt to prevent an economic downturn.

2. To me, "wealth without money" refers to how a self-replicating universal constructor would provide seemingly endless possessions for little to no money. This "wealth" could also be thought of as the affordable value of 3D printing technology towards the progress and evolution of mankind. The former interpretation poses, as stated earlier, economic difficulties. It goes without saying that such a powerful machine would decrease the value of the dollar. Drastic government and banking intervention would be required or, at the risk of sounding utopian, a revolution where people no longer see any value in money and care about technology and progress for its own sake.

3. As long as the REPRAP project remains open source, I think it has a very bright future. Unbelievable progress has been witnessed just in the past few years. As more of them are made, and as more people find out about REPRAP, the faster it will grow. I imagine that at some point, REPRAP will move beyond plastics and other similar materials into various others. Perhaps a massive, metallic REPRAP will be the future of industry. At that point, anyone can have their own industry of anything and give it to others. I imagine something similar to illegal music downloading might happen. People can share what they construct (and a duplicate of the constructor) and give it to others for cheap. This will hurt not just one industry, but all industries that REPRAP gets involved in. This sounds disasterous, but if humanity can find a way to overcome these hardships, it could be a significant step towards ameliorating our situation on earth.

Blog 1

Useful: The High Velocity Beverage Delivery Harness [1] is a triumph of human ingenuity. The design allows for a can to be shot out of a pneumatic cannon toward a thirsty individual, with a parachute attachment for safe landing. The only weakness I can see is having to wait a while after shooting carbonated beverages to avoid fizzy explosions. Maybe there's a way to use some sort of valve to avoid this?

Artistic: Nothing says disco quite like a rhombicuboctahedron with controlled RGB LED's. The LED rhombicuboctahedron disco ball [2] has an elegant geometric design with multicolor LED lights.

Useless: The United States Capitol Building is useless. This model is, too [3]. While impressive, I don't know why anyone would want this.

Funny: Not only does Admiral Ackbar [4] look funny, but this print is a constant reminder that he has one of the most enjoyable lines to quote in cinematic history.

Weird: It should go without saying that this Bart Simpson walking toy[5] is strange. Perhaps a second version can be created that will look a little less inaccurate and unnatural (even by cartoon standards). It's an interesting project, though.