Components are becoming ever more complex and more integrated. They are no longer built to last but rather built to fail. Things that we could previously disassemble or assemble have now been supplanted by mysterious chip boards hiding encapsulated functionality. The mechanical world is not only being replaced by electronics, there is also software, lots of software. There are approximately 100,000,000 lines of code in a current upscale automobile. All of these things serve as layers of abstraction between us and the things that power our world.
As technology becomes more ubiquitous it is at the same time becoming less visible. We hide it behind GUI’s, casings, brushed aluminum; stuffing it all away in the recesses of something. Design hides functionality and the inner workings. It seems that at the moment the golden rule is, “as long as your product looks like an attractive designy thing that completely obscures what it is intended for”, you’re on the right path.
The Maker movement is a reaction to this. People want to open things, change them, repair them and work with their hands again. Another response is Steampunk (as a cosplay movement (and I mean this in a nice way)). Steampunk is refreshingly mechanical and refreshingly visible technology. This technology is also technology we can feel more at ease with because its obviousness makes it less of a threat, we still feel we can understand and control this.
The same cannot be said of our microwaves and cell phones. The things that surround us are mass produced complex things that hide technology through design and commodity components. As people grapple with feeling out of touch with technology new inventions are being introduced all the time, at an ever accelerating pace. These inventions might all seem to inexorably lead to more abandonment angst but one particular invention has in it the capacity to fundamentally alter man’s relationship with technology and modern society.
This technology is 3D printing. Some people might see 3D printing as just another technology, like WiFi, USB, LCD even the laser but it is not. 3D printing is a process where an object is built up layer by layer by a machine. It’s useless for Happy Meal toys. Too expensive. It has a limited place in our mass production oriented society. It can however be used to cost effectively make unique things. 3D printing will grow because there is real demand for unique things at the moment and as more unique things are made this will stimulate demand for more unique things.
You are a unique thing. And right now people are working on printing hearts, livers, bones, teeth and skin cells. In my mind there is no impediment to being able to 3D print any particular part of the human body. Just to be clear, I mean working part of your body. So an actual working heart, piece of skin etc. Furthermore, your expensive sneakers come in only 13 different sizes. A 3D printed sole, a 3D printed hearing aid, a 3D printed grip, a 3D printed steering wheel, a 3D printed remote control etc. All of those items would work better for you because they fit you better.
The things you cherish tend to be unique also. Jewelry, high end lamps, art and gifts are just some of the tens of thousands of things people are making with 3D printing. I still don’t know if “everyone” will own a 3D printer at one point or if everyone will use 3D printing. I’m sure that people who now own Dremels will eventually own 3D printers. I’m also sure that all the people who now own Freitag bags will at one point all try 3D printing. I’m sure that there are lots of products that are eminently suited for 3D printing and that there are many others that are much more efficiently mass produced.
3D printing gives consumers control over the technology they use & lets people create and make things exactly as they should be. All of this means that the 3D printing revolution is something that is happening right now at this moment.
3D printing won’t be bigger than the internet, but it will be bigger than the Segway.
Images used under Creeative Commons Attribution from: Aperturismo, Digital_Rampage, Steevithak, MagnuMicah & IntensivCarryChair.
Hi,
I’m wondering how you got to the conclusion that 3d printing is “useless for happy meals” – I mean I know it doesn’t make sense to stick a makerbot in mcdonalds, but say for this problem – wouldn’t you agree it would help?
Say if I had waste agricultural products – feathers, rotten apples and potatoes from a field somewhere close by. With this I create PLA or some interesting mix of “light green” plastics (the ones that need machines to help them degrade). With this I print small plastic bags. I’m talking small industrial, not home affair – so with something like 10 3d printers, making small bags all day every day as long as there is plastic. Would this all be a nightmare to keep everything going, or is it actually profitable? Or if machine repair, speed, durability, price aren’t the problem here, what made you say that?
Ale
Ale,
it would make sense to stick a makerbot in mcdonalds, to personalize the toys.
Your recycling idea is of course a great one. Some people were working on a recyclebot and this is a fantastic idea of a machine that simply turns old 3D prints into new 3D printing material.
The recyclebot & 3D printer combo is of course a dream which we need to pursue because it would make the entire process cradle to cradle, you could simply recycle everything in the home.
But, I meant the Happy Meal Toys as an example of a type of product that will probably never be efficient to make with 3D printing. It was an imperfect example.
ah fair enough
Making plastics is always a bit flawed… I like the DIYness of taking apart some old tech and making a 3d printer, but once you get into processing something that much, there is probably a simpler way…
Actually here in Barcelona people came with a 3d printer and printed out little models of people passing by, which they then sold to them. It was a simple idea and very popular, so yeah personalisation has a future!
There is also the absolute pleasure to give something special that you have some input into whether this is applying a name, an icon, or a 2D or 3D designed templates that can be manipulated and changed on a mobile and then printed – 2D or 3D. This is already available and the Barcelona event and UCODO have taken this concept of special personalised 3D tangilbe objects as gifts another step forward. This is happening where software programmes are cleverly exploiting hardware. As Joseph Beuys said ‘every human being is an artist’ and my aim with our haptic 3D modelling software is to add another strand to democratising 3D creativity.
I do agree with that, great point. In response to the Beuys quote though, “An artist is somebody who produces things that people don’t need to have. Andy Warhol”
Read more: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/andy_warhol.html#ixzz1Mnu4QQfj
We’ve just started experimenting with digital fabrication at the Centre for Alternative Technology. One of our engineers is building a 3D printer from scratch. The designs are all open source. We’re hoping to start making components to use in some of our renewable energy systems. Blog post here: http://blog.cat.org.uk/2011/06/08/open-source-digital-fabrication/
We think it’s really important that these technologies are open source- and that people start using digital fabrication to address environmental problems.