[extropy-chat] Rapid prototyping makes police state more likely

[John]

> You think of Bruce Simpson, who did this in New Zealand.
>
> http://www.interestingprojects.com/cruisemissile/

Sorry, you're right yes. He was on scrapheap challenge with the engines at 
one point.

>So if you can't economically make a firearm with rapid prototyping,
>how could one economically make cameras, diseases, or aircraft with
>rapid prototyping?

I forgot to mention that aspect. That even though you could use a printer to 
make a bird sized drone, you can get some pretty small model aeroplanes 
complete with a video camera for next to nothing now anyway.

The problem may get greater when people start releasing things they've 
designed for fun, drones for instance, that can very easily translate across 
to a desktop printer in a terrorist's house - in the same way that posting 
up the G-Code for milling a receiver isn't likely to help slow the process 
now. However, like the receiver example, the end result will likely have to 
require next to know intelligence or effort to finish and operate for 
terrorists to even bother thinking about it.

It might be worth also considering how much demand we can expect for 
stereolithography from the public domain. Will it, for example, follow the 
standard paper printer development in that we'll rapidly end up with 
printers in Tescos for 29.99 - thereby allowing terrorists to have access to 
one as a regular household item (that they perhaps initially bought for some 
other reason) by aggresively forcing the price down.

My guess is, perhaps not. How many people actually want to be able to print 
3D things? There are options to 'print' (mill) things on your desktop 
already that are quite cheap and only a very small number of people ever 
bother. Stereolithography, like milling, has somewhat limiting factors on 
just how cheap and clean you can make it due to the inherent means by which 
the process is performed. Mills generate swarf and mess, stereolithographs 
need baths of clean resin and lasers for even basic work. Sintering metals 
and ceramics would only be harder again. A multimaterial, all in one system 
may even be unnecessarily expensive for the people who actually need them, 
compared to using standard methods - like winding coils and stamping parts.

John 




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