3D Printing and Weapons

3D Printing can do many things, some of which may be cause for concern. Specifically, the personal manufacture of weapons has many implications. Why get guns illegally when you can just print them in the privacy of your own secret lair? Unfortunately, unlike drugs, printed guns cannot be sniffed out by dogs. All new technologies can be used for good or for evil. What can be done about this new problem? 3D printing makes gun control a joke. We need to find a new way to control weapons. You can't print gunpowder. Is it even possible to try to regulate ammunition?

Star Trek in our future

As technology advances, it tends to make our work more efficient. We harness technology, and make it do our work for us. I often wonder if this trend will eventually lead us to the economy of the fictional world of Star Trek. A world where technology has so far trivialized the work required to fulfill our basic needs, that everyone instead uses their time to explore science and creativity. This hypothetical world of general wealth and prosperity is quite different from the capitalist society we live in now: where new technologies are used for personal gain rather than given freely to others. Such drastic changes in politics would have to be fueled by an incredible amount of cooperation. Many of the necessary changes seem almost unfathomable. For example, how exactly does one overthrow the use of currency in society? Changes like this may be in our distant future. What could we be doing now in order to make changes like this possible, or maybe even likely?