Tags for this video have been changed from 'ASAP' to 'ASAP, 3D Printing' - edited by Trancecoach

One of my ex-coworkers actually was part of a company that makes 3D printers that are just about cheap enough to buy yourself. Starting at $2200, it's reasonably feasible to buy one yourself if you have a good chunk of disposable income.

http://makerbot.com

Another cool thing that came out of this is http://www.thingiverse.com/, a huge database of models you can print out.

I sound like a marketer, but I promise I ain't.

The idea of consumerism will change so that we no longer need to purchase constructed things from companies which overcharge you by inflating the costs of resources. You'll just need to purchase the resources themselves.

And then when anything can be manipulated into anything, we will no longer purchase things from other people, but rather purchase their services.

"I can make my iPad Infinity with my own parts, I just need someone that can synthesize deuterium for the mini-reactor."

You can print plastic or bio matter, but printing hardened materials like steel or even carbon fiber is not even on the radar yet.

Thinking that you would be able to print anything you need if you only had the materials is likely impossible.

It is like dreaming that everyone could have their own nuclear reactor in their house so that they wouldn't have to pay the electric company for power anymore.

Yes, that was a thing in the 60's when no-one understood much about nuclear energy. Just like that technology, something better and safer will likely come around that will supplant the need for that crazy idea.

Uhm...

metal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20R9nItDmPY

ceramic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0TQKm5ciY0

a working gun: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7ZYKMBDm4M

Right, but can I 3D print a 3D printer? If I'm paying $2.2k, I'd like to recoup that by selling a copy of the thing I just bought.

... http://www.ted.com/talks/taylor_wilson_yup_i_built_a_nuclear_fusion_reactor.html

Yes, you can (part by part perhaps), though there's at least one 3d printer that costs under $100.

What blows me away is we have gone from goods being expensive, 1-off, completely custom items, to inexpensive, mass-produced, one-size-fits-all items, to inexpensive, 1-off, completely custom items.

A 1930s hand crafted wind up watch -> a Timex quartz watch -> a self-designed, 3D printed, wind-up watch that looks identical to the 1930s handcrafted one.