A friend of mine once suggested to me that 3D printing had the potential to bring an end to capitalism.
The technology, he reasoned, could reverse the commodification of human needs like shelter, clothing, and food, and mean the average person was no longer beholden to ‘the man.’ If we bothered to work at all, it would not be to pay the mortgage or put food on the table, but to pursue projects of passion and labours of love. And fund a very versatile 3D printer, of course.
I know, quite the dreamer. Dozens of reasons sprang to mind for why this is just a little far-fetched, but picking apart the vision does not make for great pub conversation and, I considered, would only do what I’d never want to: stifle creative thought.
Whenever an off-the-wall application is developed, or a particularly ambitious 3D printing-enabled business endeavour is announced, many of us are quick to throw cold water on it. “Just because you can, it doesn’t mean you should.”
But we’re usually saying that because of the constraints of our market-driven society, rather than the technology. What we mean is there is a business owner or venture capitalist higher up the chain that will be scornful of the cost. We then equally bemoan the slow pace of change and grow tired of seeing the same applications time and time again.
Perhaps we need to step out of the way. The inspiration that 3D printing can provide is this industry’s greatest recruitment and retainment tool, and as Laura articulates on page 57, few will find that in drones and missiles. The geopolitical tension and outright conflict of the day is driving such applications, and yes, defence is a necessity, and yes, it will enhance the technology’s capability, prove supply chain concepts, and fund additional R&D, but inspiring it is not.
What most of us are looking for, I think, is applications that fuel meaningful change, improve people’s lives, and advance societies. The only way we get them is by fostering an environment that empowers imagination rather than one that rushes to curb it.
Now, nobody who has ever used our favourite phrase – and I include myself in that – has ever done so with any other intention than to be helpful. But just because you tried, doesn’t mean you were. In our quest for 3D printing to be taken seriously as a viable and functional manufacturing tool, I worry we’re losing sight of what makes it different, what makes it exciting, and what makes it inspiring.
I certainly won’t have any grand expectations of our great-grandchildren donning their 3D-printed Sunday Best as they remove the support structures from their cultivated steak in the kitchen of their extruded concrete home. But I do hope this technology keeps inspiring such creative thought, and I hope this industry keeps striving for the meaningful change this technology can enable. It isn’t too grandiose, I hope, to suggest that’s our duty. And it’s only our imagination holding us back.
