Chapter 1: Everything is becoming science fiction

As I start reading the book the opening lines instantly catch my attention: “The smell of freshly baked whole wheat blueberry muffins wafts from the kitchen food printer. The cartridges to make these organic, low-sugar muffins were marketed as a luxury series. The recipes were downloaded from different featured artisan bakers from famous restaurants and resorts. “My imagination turns from printing food to printing clothes and other personal objects. How great would it be if every morning I could print a designer outfit without leaving the house by simply downloading a design file on their official website? Or a customized pair of glasses?

I then keep on reading and find cloud manufacturing particularly interesting. “Cloud manufacturing – like cloud computing – is a decentralized and massively parallel model of production.” If a digitally designed object can be printed almost anywhere, what is really crucial is a good software design of an object. This leads me to think how different occupational landscape will look in probably less than a decade. Medical schools will have a new major in body organs and implants design. Medical students will be required to take classes in 3D printing. The popularization of 3D printing will lead to emergence of a new occupation – digital design professionals specializing in different industries: healthcare, transportation, sports, military equipment, etc.

Chapter 2: A machine that can make almost anything

“Technologies are only as good as people using them.” This quote makes me think of the scale of negative consequences of 3D printing. If in the future almost anyone will able to print anything they want, how can printing guns and drugs be regulated?

Another topic that this chapter makes me think about is Art and 3D printing. On the one hand, 3D printing will turn anyone with an access to computed into a creator, allowing people to customize and update everything that surrounds them ( E.g. furniture, cosmetics, cars) continuously. On the other hand, I believe that one of the unexpected consequences of  3D popularization will be the real appreciation of hand-made products. I truly believe that things created with our hands carry a special energy that another person can feel that will be lacking in objects created with 3D printing technology.

Chapter 3: Nimble manufacturing: Good, fast, and cheap

“I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, when you looked at it in the right way, did not become still more complicated.”  Paul Anderson

The author debates that 3D printing will eliminate trade-offs between product quality and cost to manufacture. “On a 3D printer it costs the same amount of money to 3D print 1,000 unique products or 1,000 identical products. The cost of customization nearly disappears.” I do not fully understand how the cost of customization almost disappears when the most important component is the design and the more parts a future object will have (including the inner parts), the more complicated the design process will be.

Chapter 4: Tomorrow’s economy of printable products

An interesting question posed in this chapter was whether this new technology will create or destroy jobs. I tend to agree with the author that it will re-shape the occupational landscape. It will boost creativity and make part-time entrepreneurs out of all of us. And I believe that people will still be the most important part of the creation process. Machines, equipment, cyborgs, no matter how advanced they might be,  do not have abstract thinking and imagination and will never fully replace people.