User:Tch5085
Blog 4: 9/28/12
1. It would seem that Makerbot is moving more towards a closed sourced company, not releasing their designs and trying to own everything they can from Thingiverse. If this were the case I would certainly understand Prusa's concerns. I am never pleased when a movement that started out as open to the public becomes closed off for greedy business reasons. However after reading this article it is a little unclear if all the rumors are what they actually appear on the surface. It would seem as though Makerbot 'owning' everything is really just a legal clearance to redistribute the designs, and not actually for profit. Of course I never trust anything a lawyer says up front anyways. Personally, I am skeptical, I would wait to see what becomes of Thingiverse and this whole ownership of design problem. If it turns out to be what Prusa thinks it is, then yes I would leave. I have no desire to hand over anything of mine to support a company who leaves their roots for profit.
Blog 3: 9/21/12
1. As 3D printing takes off and comes more into the spotlight I definitely believe that the government will attempt to restrict the spread of digital designs and ideas just as they have with music via DRM. I think ultimately they will fail at this just as miserably, if not worse than they have with digital media. It is already becoming increasingly difficult for them to apply this to digital media, and attempting to add similar restrictions on something that is already in full force will be useless. Considering the amount of progress made in the area of 3D printing thanks to the benefit of leaving everything open source, I really don't see any reason to try and restrict it.
2. Aside from technology, my other passion would have to be nature. Perhaps because it is so drastically the opposite of technology that it provides some kind of escape. I certainly would not see this as a way to get money however. As for attracting a mate, I'm not sure how many people would be interested in a lengthy discussion on something like identifying bird calls so it's probably good that that's not my only interest. Also ,it is always fun to see when your interests overlap, like how the organic aspects of nature often permeate into engineering, like in robotics or RepRap.
3. I think in terms of electronic media, intellectual property already has one foot in the grave. 3D printing will be just another blow leading to its demise. Personally I think this is a good thing. When you look at all the open source projects going on (RepRap, Firefox, Linux, etc.) all of them make leaps and bounds in improvements compared to anything closed source. Our technology would all progress much faster if the information was readily available to the public for review. For example, just look at how rapidly everything has progressed already thanks to the internet allowing knowledge to be easily disseminated.
Blog 2: 9/8/12
1. I think the goal a 'self-replicating universal constructor' is feasible, but only to a certain extent. While this should be theoretically possible, I think the goal will ultimately be hindered by parts of the machine that are simply to difficult to produce at a high quality without more complex means of production. To be able to produce parts like motors and microprocessors at a reasonable quality, the self-replicating machine would have to grow in size, complexity, and cost exponentially.
2. The phrase 'wealth without money' refers to the idea that people without money could still produce wealth. In the context of a replicating universal constructor, this implies that people who would otherwise have to sell their labor would instead be given their own means of production to generate wealth. People would have their own means of producing wealth through the production of goods, without the need for extensive capital first.
3. I think the RepRap project will continue to grow, but that its use as a household production factory will still be limited. While it may be useful for creating small simple objects, and certainly for prototyping, as a means of producing more complex or higher quality objects, I think it will plateau in its evolution. Since everything in economics is ultimately driven by money, in the end it will probably still be more cost effective to mass produce goods as opposed to mass producing machines to produce goods. This is not to say that these machines will not have a place in the future. I just think their use will not be able to extend far enough to completely eliminate the need for industrial production. However, I can certainly envision a world where people simply download the design for a product they want and print it out right there on the spot.
Blog 1: 8/3/12
1. Useful Peristaltic Pump I think this pump could be especially useful for small volume water circulation, and could possibly be used on a water cooled hot end. ref
2. Artistic/Beautiful Gear Heart The fact that this is a functional piece of kinetic art I think makes this keychain item particularly artistic and nifty.
3. Pointless/Useless Shutter Shades I find these to be useless in real life, so I don't find a 3D printed version to be any less useless.
4. Funny LOL Coin I'm a fan of rage comics, so I got a chuckle out of finding this one.
5. Weird Colberthulhu Stephen Colbert's head on an octopus is just disturbing in my opinion.
