widely used, with the inherent technology
being developed persistently and rapidly.
its early stages. How conceivable is it that the technological capacity of 3D
printers will increase to the atomic level, with their owners able to build
literally anything (including food)? It's practically a certainty, according to those
at the forefront of nanotechnology. What's more, these `nanofactories' will be
in every home, affordable for everyone, making each household completely
self-sufficient and turning modern society on its head.
Martin, for example, have developed a membrane just one atom thick, which
can be used to desalinise and purify sea water, potentially solving the global
drought problem. Nanotechnology's potential is also being steadily unlocked
for use in pharmaceuticals, and the World Health Organisation (WHO) has
said it vastly increases the effectiveness of drugs in the fight against superbugs,
and their growing resistance to antibiotics.
Asda, for example, have recently toured the UK offering a 3D scanning and
printing service, allowing customers to make a model-sized ceramic replica of
themselves. Websites are also cropping up which now operate almost in an
Amazon style, where customers can browse objects, such as mobile phone
cases and, instead of having the item delivered, can instantly download the 3D
design and print it on their household 3D printer.
being explored, as bioengineers are now using living cells in the printing of
functional liver segments. With the ability to 3D-print whole, functioning
organs seemingly not too far away, it's clear that the commercial potential of
this technology will expand far beyond building your own mobile phone case.
James Burke, are limitless. He recently predicted that in 40 years, everyone
will have their own nanofactory (an atomic-level 3D printer), and we will
be able to produce anything we could ever want, including food, for free.
This, he explains, is because the ingredients soil and water atomically provide
everything needed to build any physical object (provided you have electricity
and some acetylene gas). Houmous, a t-shirt, crockery; anything you want,
this technology can create from almost nothing a concept identical to "Star
Trek's" on-board Replicator, but this time non-fiction.
abolish the need for money, as the population will be totally self-sufficient. If
people no longer need money to make purchases, they won't have to work
in order to earn money. This would bring about total economic collapse and,
Burke argues, the abolition of government (as the main purpose of the state
is to ensure appropriate redistribution of wealth, which will no longer be
needed).
need for people to live in large collectives now is to be near their place of
work, or source of food (i.e. shops). He says that people can choose to live
self-sufficiently anywhere they want (including in the most idyllic and remote
locations in the world), and will most likely spread out to live as individuals, or
in simplistic medieval-style communes, as opposed to built-up cities.
as the world will literally be able to create as much `stuff ' as it desires. Perhaps
the most vital result will be that the problems of the one in eight people in
the world currently suffering chronic undernourishment, will disappear.
will be enormous, and the only way that traditional food sourcing and
manufacturing techniques will be abandoned is if they are more expensive
than nano-production. It's impossible to say if enough funding will be focussed
invest in this without the prospect of financial return at the other end.
This means that nanofactory equipment will be prohibitively expensive to
customers. On top of this, there will be a need for the design of complex
software and atomic-level `blueprints' for the catalogue of physical objects
that customers will produce.
brings to developers, customers will need to be charged for using these
devices. The scientists designing these complex product blueprints won't
work for free, so to pay for their efforts, developers will most likely need to
charge customers in order to download the designs to their nanofactories.
Whether this charge will be one-off for the design (and then unlimited
printing), or for every single print of the design, depends on the company.
With the extensive development cost and infinitely higher earning potential,
it's likely to be the latter. So every time a customer wants to print, say, an
apple, they'll have to pay.
the current websites where customers buy and download mobile phone
case designs), it's hard to see how it could suddenly change and become free
to use. The need for money would therefore always be with us, it will just be
used in a different way. In effect, we'll all have vending machines in our homes,
capable of dispensing anything we like.
service, it's possible that companies will find a way to offer lower and lower
prices. A `free' option may even emerge, similar to Linux, with open source
software and the molecular blueprints becoming widely available for nothing;
all you need to buy is the hardware. This would be a game-changer, and
Burke's vision of a totally self-sufficient life seems more likely, without the
need for money.
in some way. Whether we have to pay for the things we print with our
nanofactories or not, the delivery of products could easily transform to being
electronic, rather than physical. The same thing that happened to music (i.e.
the transition from vinyl or CD purchase, to downloads), could therefore
happen to every other physical thing that we could imagine wanting.
but it is likely to transform into something unrecognisable to us, particularly
with the near disappearance of the manufacturing and retail industry. These
areas would come under the umbrella of `IT', as a wealth of IT products and
services will be needed to support the nanofactory's function. The IT industry
would therefore grow exponentially and will be relied upon for the delivery
of food and supplies. The world of IT has always explored and realised
astounding achievements in the past, but with the possibility of solving world
hunger and allowing the public to be entirely self-sufficient, it could be the
cause of an unprecedented period of transition.