The thing I read

What I learned about it

huh.

Interesting.

The "dream" part of this is at least twofold, it seems to me. First, of course, the notion that privacy could possibly be preserved in the face of the widespread implementation of this technology. Second is that of the cheap recovery of materials. Apart from the presumable uninterest on the part of manufacturers to re-acquire spent goods for this purpose, as well as the probable high cost of this means of recovery -- individual returns to individual manufacturers in a very different line of business than the production of raw materials -- it is likely that products age not only due to stress and wear, but to changes in chemical composition. I would, however, be very glad to know where my glasses have got to.

Undoubtedly lying on top of my thesaurus.

Thanks Ted. And just so you know, I wrote that sentence just for you!

Nice subject line, Father Steve. You fooled me!

three-dimensional printers This, I understood the description of (somewhat, anyway: deposits on top of deposits, building up); but what I totally don't have an inkling of is: how deep do they get? How could a printer put out something, say, 6" or a foot deep? Say, a chair. Or perhaps they didn't mean a model you can hold in your hands--is it more like a bas-relief, maybe?
wseiber, did you know about this?

Edit: insel, I hadn't even thought about it in terms of manufacturers getting stuff back. Perhaps, if it becomes a reality, it'll be something like an ATM card: the tracking chip won't be activated until you put in your own identifier similar to a PIN. So maybe only you could track it...?

Thanks, Father Steve - droll indeed! I agree though, it's never going to happen in the idealistic way that Bruce Sterling writes and speaks about with such engaging rhetoric! The reason is simple - where's the economic driver? We can already recycle stuff beyond our economic ability to make it worthwhile; and most of the social changes this kind of development would imply tend towards the authoritarian. "Don't do that, Dave...!"

I like his word blobject, though...

Blobjects are the period objects of our time. They are the physical products that the digital revolution brought to the consumer shelf.

I've used one of these 3D printers to prototype a machine part - they do indeed build up a fully three-dimensional model, and change the whole approach to product development.

edit: I can't remember the exact machine I used, but here's a typical example, plus a BBC article about the technology.

I am shocked.

Thanks, mav. Love you!