[jagged-chisel]

Our science fiction us based on what we know and what we can dream. I think our modern dismissal of ancient alchemy has probably discouraged scifi writers away from scenarios where any other conceivable alchemy prevents the necessity of hunting resources across the cosmos. Sure, you can write anything in fiction, but you do things For Plot.

To answer your question: no.

[mnky9800n]

Your statement mostly ignores the Star trek replicator which is an alchemist's dream.

[TeMPOraL]

Yup. My first thought exactly.

Iff this laser trickery worked permanently, then you'd basically have a prototype Star Trek replicator right there. Feed garbage in, out comes something useful.

If the laser trickery worked temporarily (say, on the timescales of minutes), then perhaps this could be a small step towards creating Star Trek style holograms. Vent inert gas in, reshape it into interesting stuff, pulse it up from time to time to keep it from decaying.

Though I imagine sensory and computational requirements of such a thing would hit the limit of what's physically possible in our universe.

[bogwog]

We just need to figure out how to convert poop back into food.

[TeMPOraL]

... in a simpler way than spreading it around and letting the ecosystem recycle it.