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by semi-extrinsic
545 days ago
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Meh, 3D printed guns are a stupid example that gets trotted out just because it sounds futuristic. In WW2 you had many examples of machinists in occupied Europe who produced workable submachine guns - far better than any 3D-printed firearm - right under the nose of the Nazis. Literally when armed soldiers could enter your house and inspect it at any time. Our machining tools today are much better, but no-one is concerned with homemade SMGs. The Venn diagram between "people competent enough to manufacture dangerous things" and "people who want to hurt innocent people" is essentially zero. That's the primary reason why society does not degrade into a Mad Max world. AI won't change this meaningfully. |
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And, yes, in principle, 3D printing doesn't really bring anything new to the table since you could always machine a gun, and the tools to do so are all available. The difference is ease of use - 3D printing lowered the bar for "people competent enough to manufacture dangerous things" enough that your latter argument no longer applies.
FWIW I don't know the answer to OP's question even so. I don't think we should be banning 3D printed gun designs, or, for that matter, that even if we did, such a ban would be meaningfully enforceable. I don't think 3D printers should be banned, either. This feels like one of those cases where you have to accept that new technology has some unfortunate side effects.