For those of you as confused as we were at the sound of these two opposing entities being pronounced side by side, 3D printing is the new introduction to technology that is due to take the world by storm. But what the bloody hell is it?
What 3D printing? Well it’s… it’s a printer that, y’know, prints… in 3D n’ stuff!
Ooohhh, of course. Prints in 3D n’ stuff, geddit. Thanks for explaining.
Nothing like acquiring the definition of something from an ignoramus. Here’s the actual explanation of it…
The initial stage consists of 3D modeling on a computer. The blueprints are then sent to the 3D printer, which uses super-thin layers of thermoplastics, one on top of the other, to create intricate finished objects.
Which in theory, means that you can forget about calling out ‘£350-an-hour-Dave-the-plumber’ to replace that tiny £620 part that fell off the radiator. Because in the not so distant future, we’ll be able to download the blueprint, take it into a local supermarket and print it into reality in a matter of minutes!
(If you just heard a ‘Kapoosplat’, that was the sound of your mind exploding).
And not only that, although prices may start out typically high for such a new piece of technology, the truth is within 3 years of mass production, 3D printers are predicted to be sold at around the £1,500 mark – the same price as a standard Apple Mac.
So what with the average UK family being able to afford such a technological advancement, what does this mean for the future formation of the world we live in? Well potentially it means an abundance of things, from 3D clothes to 3D cars, not to mention that the way we purchase products could change forever.
And we’d like to think we’d embrace that change, but there are some, shall we say ‘not so good things’ 3D printers will bring with them too. Last week Cody Wilson from Texas, who describes himself as a “crypto-anarchist”, posted the blueprints of a 3D gun online which were downloaded by over 100,000 people before being banned by the US government – who as you can imagine, were well pissed off. To add to the many other regulations that Cody managed to violate, it appears that the 3D guns (being made completely out of thermoplastics) are unable to be recognized by metal detectors. #codyyoufuckingidiot
But bar what the printer can actually print, what else does it mean for our future world? We’d clearly be lying if we say we knew. No one can tell the future, but we could take a pretty good wild guess that coding as a profession will be on the increase, maybe eventually even on the curriculum? It’s not a crazy suggestion when you think about it. Our next generation of children will probably be part of the geek revolution. Kids will be printing catapults and bullying all the cool kids who can’t code, whilst America will attempt to print petrol and Madonna eventually manages to print the worlds first thermoplastic African child.
Okay, so our wild guess got a little wild – but hey, it could still happen.
