Our future with 3-D printers

3D printing will change the world on an immense scale in the coming years. Here's a list on Forbes magazine of some of the potential uses for it. Of course, I can think of many more uses for 3D printing; and some of the possibilities listed have only begun to scratch the surface of the potential of 3D printing. Check it out:

www.forbes.com...

I think it'll be exciting when folks start getting 3D printed replacement parts for their bodies.

Lose an eye because you got that B-B gun you always wanted for X-Mas?
No Problem.
Take a cell sample, and print out a replacement!

Certainly such is a long way off, but, still, the prospect is exciting, where then an even more extreme version would be to print out complete biological body replacements.

Got old?
Print out a new body and be young again!

Of course, with discoveries occurring on revitalizing cell youth, such might not be a concern in a society where anyone could potentially live as long as they wanted, but, it'd certainly make for an interesting change in social culture where concepts like Race become transitional and optional.

reply to post by AliceBleachWhite

Just hold on and in a few years getting a brand new heart may very well be possible. The bioengineer in the article says it could be done in less than a decade.

And here a company claims to have made a functioning, although very small, liver constructed through printing. As far as current use, I've also read about a man in the UK who has supposedly had part of his face reconstructed using scaffolding made via 3-d printing tech. Cool stuff.

reply to post by lostbook


I hope you are right...


The truth is that the Technological Revolution may hit a plateau just like the Industrial Revolution did

reply to post by truthinfact


Ah, but the Technological Revolution only came about due to the all of the prior revolutions. The past creates the future, and without it you have no future.
Technology will be furthered by Biotechnology, Nanotechnology, ultimately* leading to a point where we can manipulate -and exist outside of- space and time.

Today we print inanimate objects - tomorrow we print organics - after that we print atoms, and so on.

*I say "ultimately" because I can't possibly imagine anything beyond that point, as we would no longer be physical beings experiencing this reality from the inside.

All of this assuming we don't annihilate ourselves in the process, of course.

Maybe someday we can have giant orbiting 3D printers that can print out spaceships and space stations.

reply to post by Junkheap


ha ha .. think big .. why not ....
or, nano 3d printers .. that can self replicate .. er .. self print other nano 3d printers
by the power of greyskull ....

reply to post by SocialCUT


When my dad was a young boy... he thought everyone would be driving a space ship when he grew up... They believed that much in the space programs and exploration.... It turns out there was not anywhere to go... No ships worth needing.







There will be a plateau. It has already happened... How different is the new iPhone... really?

You still have to touch a button to work Google Glass.








It is great people have big ideas.... It is not going anywhere far. We all still die. We haven't pushed the limits of our lifespan at all...

reply to post by truthinfact


We are nowhere near plateauing when it comes to innovation. There is an infinite source of material to draw upon for ideas, as each idea can be combined with its predecessor to create an entirely new one.
The only truly limiting factor of innovation in our society is funding.

Here's an article you may find enlightening.