[hosh]

What is far more interesting about this story is what he used the printer for: printing utensils.

It is easy to overlook something like that in the industrialized world. Who would think to print out a fork or a spoon? And so, people here tend to have this big blind spot when it comes to 3D printers: that it is essentially a toy for hobbyists; that it will never replaced mass-produced parts; that it can't print out everything.

What it really is, is breaking apart the power aggregated in centralized, mass-production industrial economy. These are our first-generation microfabs, and while they cannot compete in efficiency with a modern factory, that is not the point.

The "internet of things" won't be gadgets that talk to each other, it will be in the decentrialization and open-sourcing of the global manufacturing base, and it will likely to take root first in the poorest, most impoverish parts of the world.

[makos]

Glad you pointed out the bit about utensils. Also a very interesting point about the internet of things. However if you look at a basic definition of internet of things (maybe there are more accurate), you can see that those would pretty much be "gadgets that talk to each other". Maybe the decentralization you mentioned would rather be the effect of internet of things rising than the goal of internet of things?