Chris Anderson: Why I left Wired - 3D Printing Will Be Bigger Than The Web

[MindMover]

Chris Anderson has exited one of the top jobs in publishing - Editor-in-Chief of Wired magazine - to pursue the life of an entrepreneur, making a big bet that 3D printers represent a massive new phase of the industrial revolution.

He spoke at a Wired "Culturazzi" event, at the Marriott Union Square and to sign copies of his latest book: "Makers: The New Industrial Revolution."

http://www.zdnet.com/chris-anderson-why-i-left-wired-3d-printing-will-be-bigger-than-the-web-7000007535/

[salvorhardin]

1. I guess the long tail didn't pay as well as he thought it would

[aletier_v]

37. Constraints on the Long Tail are cultural, not technological

I think I wrote Chris a letter five or six years ago describing why.

Never got a reply, though.

[HiPointDem]

52. not much of a tail when median wage is about $15/hr

[kestrel91316]

2. They need to call it something more appropriately descriptive,

like computerized composite manufacturing. The "printers" build 3-D structures layer by layer out of a plastic composite or resin or some such.

People who say they will be able to "print" meat to eat are smoking crack.

[Scuba]

3. Can they print the crack?

[pinboy3niner]

5. Oh, that would be just great!

One more thing to get lost in the queue!

[Bonobo]

4. I think it is largely hype.

What are we going to "print" that we don't mind if it is made out of an ugly uniform yellow or blue plastic?

Shoes? Figurines? Dishes? Toys?

I call bullshit on most of it.

[DreWId]

8. Chocolate.

3D printers can print models made of chocolate.

[jmowreader]

18. In most cases it would make more sense to NOT print in chocolate

You need to know how to vacuform for this, but the way to do 3d chocolate is to print a positive in plastic, vacuform a food-safe acetyl sheet over it and use the resultant mold to cast tempered chocolate. This gets your cycle time down from hours to minutes per piece and lets you make more chocolates (or, because acetyl is good up to around 400 degrees, hard candy or cakes) faster. Plus you can use real chocolate and not that "melty" crap you'd have to use in a 3d printer.

[2pooped2pop]

55. Have you watched the videos of the printers?

colors are not a problem. Neither is moving parts.

[Aerows]

11. They used one

to make a replacement beak for a Bald Eagle that had hers blown off. That seems like something useful to me.

[GeorgeGist]

30. Yeah, I've had that problem.

Never.

[Son of Gob]

33. In the future everyone gets a pet bald eagle

and a hover board.

[Confusious]

40. Shit. I got nowhere to keep a bird with a 6 foot wingspan.

I might have to pass on the bird.

[Son of Gob]

41. You can get a mini.

[pinboy3niner]

44. That looks more like the next size below mini...

Toy.

[joshcryer]

13. It's more advanced than you think. They're working on circuit boards now.

They've already got molds for any sort of 3D object down pretty good (with 10+ years of trying).

Next after that will be screens (and CCDs) and then actual IC (computer chips).

Industry is going the automated route, just a matter of time. A lot of the people behind it are transhumanists or "humanity plussers."

[GeorgeGist]

31. Sounds like just what we need ...

to put more people out of work.

Sooner than later, machines will figure out that people are irrelevant.

[Son of Gob]

34. Ahh, you've seen the Terminator. Me too.

I'll be back. Remember that part?

[Posteritatis]

72. Yes, let's smash all those looms. (nt)

[madokie]

16. Prototypes silly:-)

Just kidding about the silly part

thats where the 3d printers are going to change the face on most everything we do.

[theKed]

23. the third world doesn't call bullshit on

opensource designs on cheap, efficient ways of building useful tools.

[joshcryer]

29. Think of the lost jobs.

All those slave labor workers won't be able to be slaves anymore.

( )

[Occulus]

42. Um.

http://www.shapeways.com

Just browse around.

They can print in gold and silver, too. No, the metals themselves. Not just a color.

[Matariki]

43. I think it will go beyond plastics very quickly

There's a product you can get that is malleable like clay but is mostly powdered metal (you can get anything from brass, copper to silver or gold) suspended in a binder that burns away when you kiln fire the thing to become solid metal.

I could see 3D printers using similar stuff to make all sorts of parts and eventually more complicated stuff out of various materials. Certainly for inventors it is an amazing thing. Where you'd have to find a shop to mill parts for your invention, you can now just print them for your prototypes.

[Aerows]

7. They have been trying

to make artificial meat since at least the late 80's. I believe that they constructed a piece of "ham" from a potato bacteria batch in the late 80's - I remember reading about it in Omni. It truly would not surprise me if they found a way to do it with a 3-D printer. Use the protein from an easily harvested source, and I think it would be possible.

[joshcryer]

9. Replicators.

[EC]

14. Is this the resin spray that solidifies

in light? They were experimenting with making temporary quick housing for disater areas with this.

[joshcryer]

17. We're going to have artifical meat in a few more years.

They will be able to print meat molds.

There are also efforts to, at a low level, lay down meat proteins.

It's already happening.

[jmowreader]

22. Why the hell print meat molds?

Get a frozen steak, vacuform a mold over it, and use that to pour your artificial meat into.

[joshcryer]

25. Texture. You're laying down the cells individually, really rapidly.

Meat into molds would be all spamy.

[jmowreader]

45. How freakin' small are the orifices on these things?

Synthetic meat seems like one of those technologies that is going to be "just around the corner" but never actually arrives in commercially viable form. It sounds like something good for vegans but there are vegans who reject seitan as too "meat like" so something like this would definitely be a no-go.

[joshcryer]

46. Thiel wants to do it basically at a molecular level.

I think it's viable, but it's going to need a lot of research.

The "state of the art" is no where near what Thiel is after, though, to be honest.

As far as I'm concerned, synthetic or "laboratory" meat hasn't been viable until the next 5 years, so yeah, I never bought into the early claims. You need to be able to clone protein "skeletons" then saturate them with cells (which will grow into meat).

NOVA did a good series on this method, but I don't recall the name of the episode. It also has serious applications toward regrowing limbs or organs, so people wouldn't need to get outside donors. Pretty amazing advances, if you ask me.

[snooper2]

63. I want my synthetic meat to be free range..

and the computer should get to take a rest ever two hours-

[joshcryer]

68. They have to get the DNA from somewhere.

Would be nice if it was a free range cow.

[uncle ray]

36. it's already called "additive manufacturing"

but no layperson would know what the heck that is.

[LeftofU]

6. From what i understand ....they could "print" a gun.

Still have to buy bullets, though.

[joshcryer]

10. Thingyverse (a site where you post plans for stuff) banned guns for that reason.

There are some "Libertarians" who are against it and they have promised to make a 3D gun model.

Eventually you'll be able to print bullets.

[Angleae]

49. It wouldn't likely survive shooting the bullet.

The pressures inside the chamber require something hard like steel.

[jmowreader]

54. You can print in metal now

[Angleae]

57. What types of metal?

I read up earlier in the thread about gold and silver but they're too soft and won't last.

Not to mention being hideously expensive.

[jmowreader]

61. Barrels aren't controlled items...

The parts of a gun that need to be transferred via FFL dealer (hence the parts that would be most likely to be 3d printed) have serial numbers on them. Google "gun barrels for sale" and you'll find LOTS of barrel dealers. Send them money and they will send you a barrel. Perfectly legal. Design your printed parts to accept manufactured barrels, and you're in like Flynn with a "home made" gun that will last.

[high density]

12. Biggest nonsensical hype since the Segway

I went to Macy's today and spent $300 on a suit made in China. Let me know when I can print one of those out for myself.

[joshcryer]

19. 5-10 years.

Sadly copyright covers clothing designs.

Will have to use open source designs, it'll probably be quite ugly.

[uncle ray]

38. you could not possibly be more wrong, mr. density.

that's not a statement i throw around.

i work in manufacturing, i make medical implants and other precision machined components, i eagerly await the day i can "print" an implant to spec, rather than machine away everything from a billet of titanium that isn't the implant i'm making. this is the future of very lightweight yet strong metal components. yes, you can print metal.

[Logical]

65. You sound like the type that said the same thing about....

CDs, DVDs, Internet, etc!

[reformist2]

15. It's going to be big, but not that big.

I don't buy lumpy plastic things very often... I'm certainly not going to be making them at home with a 3D printer!

[joshcryer]

21. The idea is for most things you'll go to a "maker factory."

Go to the "factory," walk in with your designs, and have them printed on the spot or heck, go to a site online, have it printed, and when you walk in it's already ready for you (or even shipped to you).

Automated manufacturing is the future, yeah, we've been overly optimistic many times over the years, but the technology is evolving rapidly!

[reformist2]

24. But what am I going to make???

[joshcryer]

26. What do you want to make?

I look forward to being able to get a cell phone not made by Chinese labor, myself. All automated in a machine that lays down the circuits, makes the screen, and installs it into a printed mold in the shape of a cell phone.

[reformist2]

28. That would be cool! I agree it has promise. Designers and hobbyists are going to love it.

[Bonobo]

32. So the Chinese labor goes away...

What do they do instead? They can't all get two acres of farmland and start growing their own food you know.

And what about all the cheap crap that will not fill the world even more? Oh, I think I want a 3D model of Justin Bieber... bang! I got one. More landfill crap... is this progress?

Yes, it is easy to say how it will "liberate" people, just like washing machines liberated people from the trouble of washing and microwaves saved so much cooking time. But did any of these things actually make the world or people's lives better? Will this?

What will happen to all the extra crap you print up every time there is a new model of cell phone available for a free download?

[joshcryer]

39. You're destroying labor economy and it becomes a resource economy.

So you can finally start putting objective qualities toward the value of something. A new model of a cell phone comes out, I take in my old one to the maker factory, and they give me the new one for nearly nothing or a small amount. Why? Because the new phone doesn't use much more materials (as in raw chemical elements) than the new one.

Those Chinese people who slave away making Android phones can likely never afford to have one of their own. Now they can.

The real question is how bad are corporate governments going to fight back against this revolution in industry? Corporations will not like that people are building their own stuff, that options explode, and they can't control and manipulate consumers as to what choices they should have.

As far as a washing machine making peoples lives better?

[BlueMan Votes]

69. can i design my own car...?

what i mean is- can i FINALLY get that car i drew in the 3rd grade...?

[joshcryer]

71. My dream is to one day make an open source vehicle. :)

That is still a long way off though.

[JVS]

47. Have you ever had a key made?

You currently go to the hardware store. There they have a lot of blanks for various cars or locks laying about. You select the appropriate blank and then cut it to fit your need. The thing is that plenty of those blanks never get used. They're just kept around in case someone needs a key. An easy use of 3-d printing is to make the pieces as they are needed rather than having a few hundred blanks in every hardware store in the world.

Now if it gets so that they can make really strong and elaborate products, you could have parts like replacement clutches or transmissions available. Even with just plastics, if you need a rear-view mirror for a 66 mustang, they could create it.

[reformist2]

56. That's cool and all for custom-made stuff, but most people are fine with mass-produced.

And mass-produced things are likely to remain far cheaper than anything made by the 3-d printers.

To reiterate, I'm not against 3-d printing... I just see it as a high-end novelty for now.

[Egnever]

59. I disagree, I think its definitely going to be that big.

Would you buy these?

[reformist2]

60. No, because I don't need new arms.

[reusrename]

20. You can use a 3D printer to print a 3D printer.

Skynet begins!

[KittyWampus]

62. Such a poetic thought. Glad I read this thread.

[jmowreader]

27. I think I heard this before

"The Web will eliminate brick and mortar stores because everyone will shop online." Stores are still here--there are more than ever.

"With the Internet you will be able to order a car exactly the way you want it and have it delivered to your door." They make all cars the same way now - there are no more "factory options." Turns out it's cheaper to make 100,000 cars with all the options on them than it is to make 100,000 cars all different and track every one from cradle to ordering dealer.

And now "3D printing will be bigger than the Web." 3d printing WILL be a big thing. Manufacturers will love it. It will be great for people who have old machines you can't buy parts for anymore...imagine if someone were to build a huge database of...oh, say water pumps or cylinder heads...for every car that ever existed, and when you needed one you'd just call this guy up and get it printed out. And those of us in industry who have machines they quit making would be saved. But for consumers, it's overblown: you are probably not going to go to a "maker factory" and order a new pair of shoes from a catalog of 200,000 different designs; you are going to a shoe store and buying shoes you like right off the shelf.

Mr. Anderson's career plan may not turn out so well.

[aletier_v]

35. Yes, he's probably wrong.

It may become big but it won't match the web.

That's the nature of technology cycles,
people never grasp when the current cycle has peaked,
and afterwards, they always look for a repeat,
which rarely happens.

[Bonobo]

48. The suffering in the world is NOT due to the lack of readily available shit. I'll pass. n/t

[joshcryer]

64. Yeah, who needs readily available clean water.

[Bonobo]

66. Good luck printing up water.

Oh, maybe you are imagining poor African villagers with 3D printers and they will just print up a giant water pump...

[joshcryer]

67. The problem isn't water, it's getting clean water.

There are applications for this: http://web2.bgu.ac.il/ziwr/faculty/Arnusch/Index.htm

http://www.dezeen.com/2012/10/20/openstructures-water-boiler-by-unfold/

Neo-Luddite crap thinking that this technology and technology like it doesn't have good uses for the impoverished in the world. Just because annex 1 countries enjoy buying a lot of useless crap doesn't mean the technology to make it is itself useless.

[Bonobo]

70. Thank you for the link. I will try to inform myself a little better. nt

[Egnever]

50. He is right!

So many possibilities with this. They are already printing houses.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

51. I was amazed to read that they can 3D "print" guitars, and many say they sound good.

Not just the electric guitars,


but the acoustic ones, too.



http://cubify.com/store/creation_list.aspx?searchtext=&minprice=&maxprice=&category=Music&tag=&creator=

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-10-11/the-worlds-first-3d-printed-guitar

[Cicada]

53. Working body parts have been printed

Printed bladders have been successfully transplanted into animals.

[JDPriestly]

58. Assuming that 3d printing is the wave of the future,

how will the profits, the proceeds, the benefits of this technology by rewarded? Who will benefit? Will it be displaced workers? Or will all the benefits go to a few who hire the rest of us as their servants?

The big issue now is not whether we will master the universe through our technology but how the benefits of the technology will be distributed.

Choices about socialism, communism and capitalism may, in the future, not be at all relevant. Those ideologies assume that work and capital have different functions and values that have to be reckoned.

With 3d printing and all these new technologies, is work no longer a factor to be figured in our social and political accounting?

Already, I have so many friends studying things like acupuncture and massage, etc. Seriously trying to learn those skills so that they can earn money. Then we have endless numbers of artists, it seems. (Or do I just think that because I live in LA?)

With all the technology, we have to ask ourselves, do we continue to determine who gets what based on their work? If we continue to innovate with our technology, that may not be possible in the future.

[Posteritatis]

73. It's a technology, not a company. There's no one group/person in control of it. (nt)

[Posteritatis]

74. Always kinda fascinated by the kneejerk Luddism these threads inspire. (nt)