Totally agree, when you think about the profound societal changes we've seen with P2P, Web Video, Social Media, etc. then think about how that may translate into the physical world we could be living in a very different world ten years from now.

I agree that the physical world will go through a revolution, but do you really think the changes will happen over the next ten years? I think maybe that's overestimating the impact in the short term. It's probably going to be a long time before you're going to be printing out the first usable objects (like the reprap's coat hangers, door handles and shoes) with minimal effort at, say, walmart quality and prices.

reitzensteinm, Revolution may be too strong a word, but I think thinks significant change ala what we have seen with social media is completely realistic. One think to keep in mind is that this list jut covers 3D printing, Laser cutting, CNC milling, Print on Demand, and other technologies can also enable personal fabrication. Where I see the big impacts are:

Health - If printing bone or at least better implants becomes acceptable this will be huge for the rising senior population.

Entertainment - With the rise of virtual worlds and video games, 3D printouts of your characters could seriously disrupt the action figure/ doll product categories which are worth about $4B/year. This assumes quality continues to improve.

Well, I think that in the long (very long) term this will result in the manipulation of the physical world as easily as we copy and manipulate bits on a computer today. And that will be an even bigger revolution (IMO) than the digital revolution has been.

But in the short term, the only place where this makes sense is for one off items, where it brings the cost of production down nicely. Just like FPGAs versus statically designed microchips (I'm not sure what the right word is for that), intersting niches will be advanced by printing, but advances in mass production probably will have more impact on global wealth.

Don't get me wrong - I'm going to be taking a holiday next year to build a reprap, so I'm a believer in this technology - I just think it'll be used in specific niches and by hobbiests for a long time to come.

PS - About Rock Solid, I'm cofounder and a developer, yes.

reitzensteinm,

What is your affiliation with Rocksolid? Are you a Flash developer?