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by 2stop 4510 days ago
It isn't just 'print whatever the consumer needs'. It's

- Dig it out of the ground

- process it

- Fabricate the unprintable bits

- Store all of this

- Print whatever the consumer needs in less time than it takes to drink a coffee.

So unless this make believe "shop" is fronted onto a processing/fabrication plant, which is itself, fronted on a magical mine that you can dig up any resource you like. Your scenario can never happen.*

* Or we could invent teleportation.

1 comments

Yes, but no.

Yes, there's a ton of raw resource extraction, processing, and transport.

But no, because a Nissan Altima or Apple Macbook (or Moto X!) are not commodities in the same way that gold or lumber or silicon are.

There's a reason that the Nissan Altima was the sixth best-selling car last year. I don't purport to know what that reason is, but it's not because it's comprised of raw materials any different from any other car.