Lisa Harouni: A primer on 3D printing

http://www.ted.com 2012 may be the year of 3D printing, when this three-decade-old technology finally becomes accessible and even commonplace. Lisa Harouni gives a useful introduction to this fascinating way of making things -- including intricate objects once impossible to create.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/translate

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• Category

  Science & Technology

[Matt McInnis]

Clearly this will be very disruptive to the Pen industry.

[miloibrado]

Or imagine not needing violence or a monetary system because people have access to all the resources they need. Pessimism and paranoia won't give you that.

[Eric Lieber]

a Revolution I can believe in.

[bonooobong]

there are already some free downloadable customizable 3D models and openscad files grabcad and thingiverse where you can create your own design;)

[Missy707]

Yesyesyesyes

[psykedude]

not necessarily actually, there are ways to print out moving parts directly.

[whitebird77]

can it create flesh? create me a woman.

[Ian MathWiz]

...and then at that point, we just win.

[FranklyBald]

YAY! now people can print their own guns... 0_0

[NakedGrizzly]

you have to put it together component by component. That would be a huge bitch. Just buy a gun.

[Cataluna Lilith]

Already happening arstechnica. com/tech-policy/2013/03/downlo­ad-this-gun-3d-printed-semi-au­tomatic-fires-over-600-rounds/ 

[JGCouryo9]

Machine fetishism