Oh man…
There are times when I really want to throw down some heavy verbage. Use words like “amazing” and “incredible” and “totally paradigm shifting.”
None of those words or phrases could come close to expressing the level of excitement I have for what Bre Pettis, Adam Mayer, and Zach Smith are creating at MakerBot Industries in Brooklyn. All in a tiny mini-warehouse that will one day have a bronze plaque that reads: Here Stood MakerBot!
(photo by Buck Ennis in Crains)
Last Friday, they were kind enough to throw wide their doors and invite the world over to see the lab where the MakerBots are made, tested and shipped.
Like Charlie Bucket, I was lucky enough to go…
Y’all get how big this is going to be, right? The implications of this technology (and it’s affordability!) are huge.
Because we’ll be able to make anything we want! Instantly! Right in front of our eyes.
Your glasses broke? Print some new ones.
Out of chopsticks? Print some new ones.
Need a stopper for your bathtub? Print one out.
So that’s cool, right? Melt some plastic into cute little shapes?
It’s so much bigger than that.
Adam, Bre, and Zach have made it so that nearly anyone could have their very own 3-D printer, (and if you can’t buy one, you can just ask them politely and they’ll give you plans to make your own. It’s open-source!) so very quickly you will see refinements and advances in home 3-D printing.
If anyone can buy one, then anyone can hack one and improve upon it. So very soon you will see cheap, high-quality, publicly accessible, 3-D printing everywhere you go.
You might not ever need to buy anything again. What an amazing planet that would be! A factory on every desktop!
You can order the MakerBot CNC machine with a special attachment nozzle that let’s it squirt out frosting instead of melted plastic. It’s called the Frostruder. This means that you can frost in 3-D, homes!
And like Carla’s post yesterday pointed out, using a 3-D printer to print out food is but a short hop away. Print out a pizza! Print out some fries! Print out the napkins and plates! Compost everything you don’t use!
That’s the world we’re rapidly heading into. 3-D printing of food and goods will allow us to conserve resources in a way never before imaginable. Everything will be custom. Every meal and every object will be perfectly suited for the one who prints it out.
That means that the manufacturing and shipping of many goods will soon be over. This will have a massive impact on our species carbon usage, as everyone has exactly what they need, exactly when and where they need it.
Ladies and gents, it can take but a whisper to cause an avalanche, and the MakerBot boys are bellowing! Watch as the world shakes off the old inefficiencies that have plagued it.
I do love drama, but MakerBot and 3-D printing totally warrant the gushing enthusiasm.
Bre Pettis, Adam Mayer, and Zach Smith, for your open-source awesomeness and for working to free mankind from mass-production, SuperForest salutes you!
Visit makerbot.com & thingiverse.com!
And read the MakerBot blog!
And special thank to Bre for so generously giving me a tour and printing me out my lovely ring!
We shall watch with excitement as MakerBot grows and improves.
-Jackson
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