I happened to be surfing around and via the Clanking Replicator project website I found a decent – though old – article over on AGORAVOX (link) discussing open source fabrication devices (in general) and RepRap (in particular) and the overall importance of these developments on the manufacturing world… especially China. There isn’t much explanation for why rapid manufacturing technology threatens China’s manufacturing dominance {it should be obvious, but at least in the U.S. there’s a whole lot of people who have no clue how things get made}, but I don’t need one since I’m already on record making the same observation. However, I’m also on record as saying it’ll be a long time before fab-on-demand has an appreciable impact; perhaps not until after my time on this rock has expired. Even so, it’s worth a read. And for those who aren’t familiar with traditional manufacturing and need some questions answered, feel free to post a comment.
reBang
I think replication will occur as a slow fade from night to day.
And it’s already happening, for example Toyota in the auto sector is employing more robotics and more is on the way as the US needs to compete better. As we develop more and better manufacturing techniques to compete with China, our ‘replicators’ will become more sophisticated and the threat to China will increase.
It’s interesting how energy comes in the equation and the question of ethanol. Will Robots be competing with humans for their food source? Do we use this corn to power those GM manufacturing robots or do give it to the Chinese to power their cheap human labor?
Are people and robots already competing for their space under the sun? A truly frightening discussion if you really dig into it.
Personal replication I think is a sci-fi concept that will require great strides in nanotechnology before it becomes interesting. I also think it is a red herring because it distracts us from discussing what’s already happening today and the immediate forseeable future.
Concur. Mass production processes are going to be compelling for some time to come; not just because of efficiencies, but because in the end so many people really *do* want what other people have, so individualized/customized products aren’t always what consumers want.
And I found recent news reports on ethanol interesting for the same reason. I’d not given it much thought until a couple of weeks ago.