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A comment on Why 3-D Printing Isn't Like Virtual Reality. Parent comment

Re:Why 3-D Printing Isn't Like Virtual Reality by Gormo on Monday January 30, 2012 @12:13PM (#3529562)
That idea sounds pretty far-fetched. 3D-printing is another step closer to the ideal of self-sufficiency; similar improvements in agriculture and energy production all put us on the path toward resuming a kind of modern homesteading, allowing us to eliminate the role of institutional middlemen in meeting our basic needs.

Apart from the dubious economics of a Guaranteed Minimum Income, such a program would maintain the role of institutional intermediaries in our lives just as self-sufficiency again becomes possible.

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Re:Why 3-D Printing Isn't Like Virtual Reality by cousin_it on Monday January 30, 2012 @01:26PM (#3529942)
> put us on the path toward resuming a kind of modern homesteading

Future homesteads will lose bids for natural resources because big actors will be able to exploit these resources more efficiently due to economies of scale. I'm for basic income.

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Re:Why 3-D Printing Isn't Like Virtual Reality by DirkScheuring on Monday January 30, 2012 @01:36PM (#3529992)
Are there reasons why the idea of a Guaranteed Minimum Income could not be implemented using a peer-to-peer system? Would middlemen be strictly necessary?
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Re:Why 3-D Printing Isn't Like Virtual Reality by itmag on Monday January 30, 2012 @03:59PM (#3530630)
How do you mean?
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Re:Why 3-D Printing Isn't Like Virtual Reality by DirkScheuring on Tuesday January 31, 2012 @06:12AM (#3532775)
I don't really know (yet?), but it seems to me that what you need is a network of nodes, such that each node automatically downloads a common amount of money from a pool once a month. That pool would be filled by the system subtracting a percentage from the gross income of each node. Is it really necessary that those calculations are done by a central unit - like the IRS -, or could they be done in a distributed manner, SETI@home-style?
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