You're probably in your early teens right now. Let's travel forward in time 10-15 years. You're in your mid 20s. The internet is not longer a means for sending information only in the form of text and images. The internet is a way to buy and create your consumer technology. Let's say you own a smartphone. You've had it for 2 months and you're bored with it. 10 years ago, you would have had to go to a store and shell out over $200 to get a new one. Now you hop on your computer and go over to a website. You download the plans for a cool looking phone. You download it and it saves in your downloads folder. You open it with your viewer and click 'print'. Suddenly your 3D printer starts whirring and prints out the plastic pieces of your phone. Then it prints out a A4 page consisting of 3 steps. Lastly, the printer stops and tells you that it's run out of conductive ink, a special ink that can conduct electricity. You go look in your cupboards, your drawers, then find it on the desk. You open up the printer and snap in the new cartridge. It starts whirring again and you shut the printer and it prints out, on some 1mm thick plastic, a circuit, memory, cpu all on the one piece of plastic. Now you get the two plastic pieces that printed out first and snap them, according to step one. Then you snap in the system-on-a-chip thingy. Finally, you take out the colour e-ink display from your old phone and snap it in your new phone, according to step 3. You've got a new phone. You triumphantly lean on on your monitor which promptly breaks. It's neck is shattered. You look up the model on the internet and find that it's a common problem with triumphant users and weak monitor stands. There's a design version 1.1 offered from the manufacturer, a free download. You print it out with your 3D printer (which, as we've seen also prints out circuits using conductive ink) and print out the new neck stand for the monitor. You replace the old shattered one with the new one, version 1.1 and you're done.
Amazing isn't it. 3D printers and conductive ink printers are being experimented with even today. It may not even take 10 years for it to become a consumer product. I also heard MIT is working on the conductive ink printer thing. Maybe the Scratch Team could provide some up-to-date info?
What do you reckon? Is this the end of capitalism? Not likely, but it's still cool. The internet has a lot of potential as you can see.
Resources:
http://hackaday.com/2012/05/22/3d-print … ctive-ink/
Last edited by Paddle2See (2012-07-16 19:56:04)
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3D printers aren't realistic in my eyes
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SpriteMaster wrote:
3D printers aren't realistic in my eyes
Neither on mine, I'm pretty sure most people will prefer manufactured items in 10 more years. Not even the most high-tech 3D printers will be able to surpass actual, specialized industrial equipment.
The end of capitalism isn't gonna be anytime soon, either.
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This sounds pretty cool, but then people will be supplying illegal downloads for loads of products.
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No, not the end of capitalism, and definitely not the end of manufactured goods, but consider. How many people these days buy their music on iTunes. 10 years ago nobody would have thought software distribution over the internet was feasible. people are still gonna want hard copies of floppy disks' they said. Many people today still prefer buying actual DVDs, me included, but free software could never have blossomed the way it has without internet software distribution.
Same for this. Imagine if you could get hackers building not only free apps, but free hardware? It's not impossible. Sure you'd have to buy some part but still...
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jji7skyline wrote:
No, not the end of capitalism, and definitely not the end of manufactured goods, but consider. How many people these days buy their music on iTunes. 10 years ago nobody would have thought software distribution over the internet was feasible. people are still gonna want hard copies of floppy disks' they said. Many people today still prefer buying actual DVDs, me included, but free software could never have blossomed the way it has without internet software distribution.
Same for this. Imagine if you could get hackers building not only free apps, but free hardware? It's not impossible. Sure you'd have to buy some part but still...
I think 10 years ago stuff like iTunes was getting started and becoming more valid.
Also, I can't see my phone getting a screen, proper technology, and everything it needs via a printer. I also imagine computers will be stronger than LEAN ON MONITOR A LITTLE = SNAP NECK OFF.
Last edited by soupoftomato (2012-07-16 00:59:08)
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soupoftomato wrote:
jji7skyline wrote:
No, not the end of capitalism, and definitely not the end of manufactured goods, but consider. How many people these days buy their music on iTunes. 10 years ago nobody would have thought software distribution over the internet was feasible. people are still gonna want hard copies of floppy disks' they said. Many people today still prefer buying actual DVDs, me included, but free software could never have blossomed the way it has without internet software distribution.
Same for this. Imagine if you could get hackers building not only free apps, but free hardware? It's not impossible. Sure you'd have to buy some part but still...I think 10 years ago stuff like iTunes was getting started and becoming more valid.
Also, I can't see my phone getting a screen, proper technology, and everything it needs via a printer. I also imagine computers will be stronger than LEAN ON MONITOR A LITTLE = SNAP NECK OFF.
You are entitled to your own opinion, but the truth is often more unbelievable than fantasy, as Sherlock Holmes once said
And yes, sorry, I meant like 20 years ago, 10 years ago it was 2002, I was thinking more of 1994.
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SpriteMaster wrote:
3D printers aren't realistic in my eyes
But they are real now, and so in a decade or two they will be even more advanced, like the OP said.
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Here's another future technology that I guarantee will be the future of computing. Every portable computer, either laptop, tablet, or phone, will be razor thin with a weak processor and minimal memory. They will run a very basic operating system that uses a remote desktop on the ubiquitous internet wifi field. The desktop being connected to will be fitted with terabytes of storage, powerful processors and GPUs so that even a laptop with the profile of a MacBook Air is capable of playing 1080p or retina modern games on max settings. The Air is thin enough for an ultraportable, shrink the power components and grow the battery and then profit.
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soupoftomato wrote:
Also, I can't see my phone getting a screen, proper technology, and everything it needs via a printer.
That's what I mean
And not really the end of capitalism, because where do you get your 3D printer?
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It's called a motherboard.
@15skittles. CPU units are already tiny, and soon they will shrink to the size of individial molicules. Once that happens, computers will not get more compact. Since this will happen in a few years, your theory is implausible.
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I have a 3D printer and it's extremely slow, so they'd need to speed it up a lot for that to work.
@ Wiki: But the cool thing is 3D printers can print a lot of parts for more 3D printers. Once one person has one they can print other people them! Except the plastic you use is expensive and some of the parts can't be plastic, so...
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16Skittles wrote:
Here's another future technology that I guarantee will be the future of computing. Every portable computer, either laptop, tablet, or phone, will be razor thin with a weak processor and minimal memory. They will run a very basic operating system that uses a remote desktop on the ubiquitous internet wifi field. The desktop being connected to will be fitted with terabytes of storage, powerful processors and GPUs so that even a laptop with the profile of a MacBook Air is capable of playing 1080p or retina modern games on max settings. The Air is thin enough for an ultraportable, shrink the power components and grow the battery and then profit.
Too Wifi reliant.
These predictions scare me. I like how technology is right now but with more capability.
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jji7skyline wrote:
soupoftomato wrote:
jji7skyline wrote:
No, not the end of capitalism, and definitely not the end of manufactured goods, but consider. How many people these days buy their music on iTunes. 10 years ago nobody would have thought software distribution over the internet was feasible. people are still gonna want hard copies of floppy disks' they said. Many people today still prefer buying actual DVDs, me included, but free software could never have blossomed the way it has without internet software distribution.
Same for this. Imagine if you could get hackers building not only free apps, but free hardware? It's not impossible. Sure you'd have to buy some part but still...I think 10 years ago stuff like iTunes was getting started and becoming more valid.
Also, I can't see my phone getting a screen, proper technology, and everything it needs via a printer. I also imagine computers will be stronger than LEAN ON MONITOR A LITTLE = SNAP NECK OFF.You are entitled to your own opinion, but the truth is often more unbelievable than fantasy, as Sherlock Holmes once said
Yes but it seems like your future has caused lots of issues and problems for the consumer in order to provide some sort of "amazing new technology."
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i have no idea if this would ever be plausible but in the future i want something similar to just about anything having to do with computers in homestuck
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All of this could actually be possible if we have the necessary technology and the means to put it in action.
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berberberber wrote:
It's called a motherboard.
@15skittles. CPU units are already tiny, and soon they will shrink to the size of individial molicules. Once that happens, computers will not get more compact. Since this will happen in a few years, your theory is implausible.
Sure, they are small. But try playing ANY game on a netbook. It doesn't work. CPUs can be small, but with the trade off of power, heat, and energy consumption. With a system like this, a computer or tablet with minimum system resources would be able to play modern games or power applications while being small, energy efficient and cool. (by cool I mean not hot) If you look at gaming rigs, they are heavy, often over two inches thick, run extremely hot and only last for three hours on a charge. Take the iPad, for example. Add a bluetooth mouse and keyboard, and you have a light gaming powerhouse that lasts all day.
@soupoftomato: Well, wifi, 4G, any sort of mobile broadband. There is no doubt in my mind that all future devices will have an Internet connection anywhere. If what you mean is that without the wifi connection you'd end up with a paperweight, then you would be somewhat right. Although it could be pulled off that it is basically a netbook/tablet with an app for power uses. My school recently got an upgraded wifi network in which you can walk from building to building and automatically switch between access points. It is just a matter of time before that is done on a massive scale. In the short term a 4G connection would be sufficient as well.
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777w wrote:
i have no idea if this would ever be plausible but in the future i want something similar to just about anything having to do with computers in homestuck
flarping?
then they'd sue hussie for the deaths of countless teens
Last edited by spongebob123 (2012-07-16 15:20:10)
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16Skittles wrote:
berberberber wrote:
It's called a motherboard.
@15skittles. CPU units are already tiny, and soon they will shrink to the size of individial molicules. Once that happens, computers will not get more compact. Since this will happen in a few years, your theory is implausible.Sure, they are small. But try playing ANY game on a netbook. It doesn't work. CPUs can be small, but with the trade off of power, heat, and energy consumption. With a system like this, a computer or tablet with minimum system resources would be able to play modern games or power applications while being small, energy efficient and cool. (by cool I mean not hot) If you look at gaming rigs, they are heavy, often over two inches thick, run extremely hot and only last for three hours on a charge. Take the iPad, for example. Add a bluetooth mouse and keyboard, and you have a light gaming powerhouse that lasts all day.
@soupoftomato: Well, wifi, 4G, any sort of mobile broadband. There is no doubt in my mind that all future devices will have an Internet connection anywhere. If what you mean is that without the wifi connection you'd end up with a paperweight, then you would be somewhat right. Although it could be pulled off that it is basically a netbook/tablet with an app for power uses. My school recently got an upgraded wifi network in which you can walk from building to building and automatically switch between access points. It is just a matter of time before that is done on a massive scale. In the short term a 4G connection would be sufficient as well.
Oops, ate one of your skittles.
Last edited by berberberber (2012-07-16 15:22:52)
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SciTecCf wrote:
nathanprocks wrote:
This sounds pretty cool, but then people will be supplying illegal downloads for loads of products.
I can't wait to go pirate a ship!
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16Skittles wrote:
SciTecCf wrote:
nathanprocks wrote:
This sounds pretty cool, but then people will be supplying illegal downloads for loads of products.
I can't wait to go pirate a ship!
Maybe there'll be open-source project things
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You know, this is probably how the world is going to end up.
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Interesting topic! But to fit into this topic, it needs to be a discussion of something you are reading or some other media you are consuming. Quoting your sources would also be helpful to other people that are interested in 3D printing and want to get up to speed on your background material. So I'll close this (for now) as not fitting the forum.
If jji7skyline would like to have the topic reopened so he can edit the first post and add sources - just use the Report button
Update: Source has been listed, so topic is reopened.
By the way, a quick Google turned up this interesting article on research at MIT on 3D printing.
Last edited by Paddle2See (2012-07-16 19:59:27)
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