Lay Techs: Tech for Laypeople

Let us fast-forward to year 2023:

Situation 1

Son   : Mom, I want meatloaf tonight!

Mom : Sure thing, son. Let me print one out right now.

Situation 2

Doctor : Mr. Frey, I’m afraid you have lung cancer

Patient : So what should I do?

Doctor : I’m going to charge you an extra Fifty Dollars to replicate a new set of lungs. It’ll just take two minutes to ready up. Comes with a 30-day guarantee.

Patient : Fifty? Isn’t that a little too expensive?

Situation 3

Teacher  : Class please go to Page 230. The week we’ll be learning about people who used to eat real meat.

Student 1 : Do you mean real animal meat?

Student 2 : No way! That’s gross!

After decades in development 3D printing has finally reached a point where it can take the world by storm. From being able to replicate tools and accessories to a complete reproduction of synthetic body parts, the adoption of 3D printing globally will see the Industrial Revolution happen all over again.

How It Works

Think of it like a regular printer, only this time users will require STL (Standard Tessellation Language) format files that will guide the printer to produce 3D objects. Some printers do ‘subtractive’ manufacturing by cutting the object out of a standard plastic block, while others do ‘additive’ manufacturing by depositing approximately 100-micron thick layers one on top of the other. The latter method of printing requires the input of, instead of inks, a few different materials for duplication.

More complicated machines also scan and generate a blueprint out of an existing object, then duplicate based on desired scale. In the medical field 3D printers’ abilities have been stretched to the limit by synthetically manufacturing functioning tissues to replace damaged ones.

Bringing Production Back Home

The developed side of the world has never been very fond of the idea of globalization particularly when they start noticing labor-intensive production lines departing their shores by the masses and leaving many unemployed. Since then countries like China and India developed into manufacturing powerhouses with wages as low as US$ 3 per day.

With this new technology, products can be printed in home countries instead. Although inefficient in terms of Economies of Scale, it will more than make up in the cost and time they take to be shipped halfway across the globe. Companies will not need to deal with the tricky bureaucracy of setting up manufacturing plants in faraway countries and having to manage them 12 hours apart, nor will they have to worry about currency hedging.

But this is no cause for rejoice. Even with production brought back to the developed world, it will not solve the employment problem its outflow caused in the first place. As workforce demand increases in local printing plants, they merely replace the decrease in demand for distribution and logistics networks previously needed to transport these goods. Furthermore employment demand will increase in areas of product design and machine maintenance which will require entirely different skill sets and proficiencies than logistics.

Medical Miracles

Researchers are already developing body tissues using ‘water droplets’ made out of water and lipid molecules. These water droplets will be able to mimic actual nerves in transmitting electric signals, which will ultimately provide function to that damaged body part like an ear or a nose. Because these water droplets are completely synthetic, they contain no genome therefore avoiding the complications associated with artificial tissue replication used in stem cells.

More research and development needs to be done to ensure complete commercialization of this method to medicine, which includes the possibility of the body’s defenses rejecting this foreign object completely.

If one can simply print body parts out of water droplets, then it only makes sense if food can also be replicated the same way. The answer is Yes. Today it will cost one nearly US$ 300,000.00 to print a regular burger, but as the technology reaches consumer adoption stage it will start making more economic sense to start printing meat instead of raising and slaughtering animals for them. Soon people can have access to nutritious food simply by having a specialized 3D printer, proper coding files and an adequate supply of Carbons and Hydrogens.

It is worth considering though that one of the main causes of famine is not from limited and unequal distribution of food but rather authorities applying embargoes onto their people for non-economic reasons. But these are matters outside today’s topic which could be revisited at another time.

Pinning Down Property Rights

One can remember the outcry among Intellectual Property owners when color printers and scanners first came about and also when digital media was introduced through Peer-To-Peer sharing over the Internet. 3D Printing will be no different with any new technology venturing beyond the threshold and challenging the boundaries of legislation. But like any new technology, legislation will soon catch up and industries affected will eventually adapt.

The Darker Domain

I remember days when I accidentally stumbled upon a book in the National Library teaching me how to build home-made bombs. Freaked out, I immediately brought it to the attention of the head librarian who then took it off the shelf. I couldn't imagine anyone with the intention of causing people harm getting hold of this knowledge. Then the Internet and Google came along, giving this information away freely and easily.

At the dawn of its commercialization, 3D Printers are already getting negative media with people printing and assembling firearms from home. Soon everyone with the ability to own a 3D printer more sophisticated than their EQ level will be able to get their hands on a killing tool.

But wait. Kitchen knives are potentially killing tools too. So are baseball bats, crowbars and shovels. It requires a person the rage and intent beyond all sensibility to perform the act of harm onto another, and when they so need the deed can be done with a house key.

The Final Frontier

Let us stretch the limit of our imagination for a moment here. The creation of synthetic fossil fuel will eliminate world-wide struggle for everything related to energy, which is basically everything. Office tables can be laced with synthetic chlorophyll to actively free up Oxygen and balancing the Greenhouse Effect. Synthetic body organs can be created to replace damaged systems in a person. Science fiction is materializing now, as if being printed into existence out of thin air.