Printer's
Devil.
 Years
ago, speaking as a commercial artist, if a client wanted
a picture of, say, the Chrysler Building covered
in fish scales he would
hire an illustrator, like me, and pay him a relatively
handsome sum for what would be a lot of work.
Today, just about anyone can simply apply a few twists
of the Photoshop wrist and you're done. Multiply this by
thousands of
times
and you'll
understand why the commercial illustrator field gets all
the respect of custodial work and/or
fast food. In other
words,
technology kicked our little illustrator
booties.
While I would find it very satisfying to see the gun manufacturers
similarly reduced to penury as a result
of the widespread fabrication of 3D-printed weapons we'd
still
be in the same, dismal
boat of too many guns owned by too many people inclined
to use them unwisely. But I'm heartened by the fact that
they'd probably have a tendency to unpredictably explode
in the
user's face. Plastic will do that, especially after having
been stowed under the mattress for years on end, awaiting
the perfect moment for its owner to do the bidding of corporate-financed
astroturf groups, uh, I mean, to effect social upheaval.
Or go squirrel hunting. Either one.
If I had real Mad Scientist
credentials I'd like to invent a device that made all the
bullets on
Earth detonate one-by-one. Not so much for
the resultant explosions
but
for the satisfying
sound of millions
upon millions
of testicles
shrinking to raisin-like proportions upon the owner's discovery
that they had nothing left to make their KABOOM's with.
-----------
Addendum: One
thing that needs reminding
is that personal printing systems are going to become much
more sophisticated in days to come. It is not beyond reason
to expect a system that will anticipate your needs and
create the things you want in time to use them. Shoes,
fly-swatters
and, who knows, even guns.
These devices might even conceivably make your food,
combining basic ingredients like oil, protein, salt,
and
carbohydrates.
It probably
won't look
much like what you eat now but it will be nutritious
enough to get you through the day at your job at Soylent
Green, Inc.
=Lefty=
|
