What Todd takes for granted part 4
The presence of ubiquitous computing, augmented and virtual reality may be some of the least unusual things about the world Todd Hershel lives in.
Most small consumer goods aren't sold at retail outlets anymore. Most homes have 3-d printers that can print out anything the size of a modern cell phone or smaller. Larger products can often be printed out as components and assembled. A typical home printer uses high strength carbon composites that have a tensile strength comparable to turn of the century steel. High end industrial models can work with a much wider range of materials and on a much larger scale.
Operations costs of large scale 3-d printing it uneconomical to print out whole cars, for example, but most of the components on the assembly line are printed out on an as needed basis.
Most businesses that would be retail today have been replaced by shops that have larger printers optimized for a specific type of product. An autotailor for example is a 3-d printer optimized for clothing. Not everything is printed out on demand, though. For many products the convenience of being able to pick the item off the shelf and take it home immediately outweighs the benefit of having it custom made.
This has led to massive societal changes. Only larger products are shipped from a factory to a distributor to a retailer. Most are produced on site at the retailer. Much of the cost of consumer goods in Todd Hershels life comes from the retailers overhead and the licensing fees paid to the people who produced the plans the product is made from (assuming the product is not public domain). Black market printing services will often provide cut rate products by omitting the licensing fees much as bootleg song and film downloads do today. On the other hand the purchaser of a black market product has to worry about whether it has been produced to the safety and reliability standards of the authentic product much as those who download bootleg content have to worry about getting a virus along with their content. On the other hand someone who downloads bootleg movies only has to worry about their computer being harmed. Someone who buys a black market hot plate might end up burning down their home if it doesn't work right.
Most small consumer goods aren't sold at retail outlets anymore. Most homes have 3-d printers that can print out anything the size of a modern cell phone or smaller. Larger products can often be printed out as components and assembled. A typical home printer uses high strength carbon composites that have a tensile strength comparable to turn of the century steel. High end industrial models can work with a much wider range of materials and on a much larger scale.
Operations costs of large scale 3-d printing it uneconomical to print out whole cars, for example, but most of the components on the assembly line are printed out on an as needed basis.
Most businesses that would be retail today have been replaced by shops that have larger printers optimized for a specific type of product. An autotailor for example is a 3-d printer optimized for clothing. Not everything is printed out on demand, though. For many products the convenience of being able to pick the item off the shelf and take it home immediately outweighs the benefit of having it custom made.
This has led to massive societal changes. Only larger products are shipped from a factory to a distributor to a retailer. Most are produced on site at the retailer. Much of the cost of consumer goods in Todd Hershels life comes from the retailers overhead and the licensing fees paid to the people who produced the plans the product is made from (assuming the product is not public domain). Black market printing services will often provide cut rate products by omitting the licensing fees much as bootleg song and film downloads do today. On the other hand the purchaser of a black market product has to worry about whether it has been produced to the safety and reliability standards of the authentic product much as those who download bootleg content have to worry about getting a virus along with their content. On the other hand someone who downloads bootleg movies only has to worry about their computer being harmed. Someone who buys a black market hot plate might end up burning down their home if it doesn't work right.
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Reflections author blog
An irregularly updated blog by the author of The Face in the Mirror: a transhuman identity crisis Chained Reflections.
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