On Wed, 22 Oct 2008, Jeremy wrote: > I wanted to get his take on 3D printing. When the cost of reproducing > physical goods approaches zero, it will then take on some of the same > economics as software, and the same battles will be fought again. > > Imagine if you purchase & download a set of chess pieces to print > locally, but you can only print one, and can't modify them. The GPL > suddenly has applications in the physical world. > > But it's far more than chess pieces at stake. Anything you can buy at > walmart, that's made of plastic, could be made at home eventually. > > If you have $15 to $50k, you can do it today. > > Jeremy Are you saying that there exists some sort of 3D "printing" machine that makes things out of plastic? Hmmm... I guess so (and it started in 1986!): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing I don't think the cost can approach zero unless you're talking about very small objects. I think your question is interesting, but is it different to control "printing" of objects than to control how a car or computer works? It seems like the same problem. The Wikipedia article shows that objects can be 3D scanned and 3D printed from the scans, so you can be sure that manufacturers of all sorts of products will want laws to control that kind of copying of their works. Mike