3D printing on Atomic Level

[Razorette3D]

Does anyone else see the tremendous possiblities that a 3D printer that could print on the Atomic level will have? I've heard scientist talking about this, as if it will happen soon.

That's really a stupid question. If we could 3D print on the atomic level, virtually all of the worlds problems would be solved. We could print food, we could print gold, we could print living tissue, we could print anything we want to. Of course there are tremendous possibilities. No ifs, ands, or buts.

[trevarthan]

That's really a stupid question. If we could 3D print on the atomic level, virtually all of the worlds problems would be solved. We could print food, we could print gold, we could print living tissue, we could print anything we want to. Of course there are tremendous possibilities. No ifs, ands, or buts.

I know I'm reviving an old thread here, but I really don't think this is far fetched. The cells in our bodies are already 3d printers. They take DNA, use it to make RNA, then build proteins from constituent parts using an assembly line of Transfer RNA "worker bees". You can see the whole process here: http://youtu.be/D3fOXt4MrOM

Now, I'm not an expert, but these are molecules you're looking at in that video. Collections of atoms. And that process is absolutely a 3d printer.

I think we're less than ten years away from being able to use DNA as a programming language and cells as genetic compilers. But THAT has serious, serious implications. The world's problems would NOT be solved instantly. For every problem we solve, we'd be creating three more. Sure, we'd be able to make a form of grass that never needs cutting for our lawns. Hell, we'd even be able to hijack photosynthesis to generate electricity. We could make a plant that doubles as a cell phone. We could even make houses that you plant as seeds.

But what about the hackers of the world? Suddenly, viruses are as easy to design as anything else. What if one of those new species we create starts killing off the existing species. The world will become infinitely more dangerous over night. I'm a little disturbed that we're on the doorstep of this capability, yet we haven't yet diversified our species to other planets. All it will take is one screw up by a programmer, and we're all toast. As a programmer, I know how often we screw up. It's a scary thought.

The scientist in me wants to try anyway.

[Feign]

Well, if you're talking about printing proteins from basic hydrocarbons, then yeah, biology is absolutely the way to go with manufacturing. Making gold out of some other substance or oxygen out of carbon or the like requires manipulation on a subatomic level, and at that point, we aren't even anywhere close.

It would definitely be a strange culture that really embrace genetic manipulation to the point where they are growing their technology from super enhanced seeds. Of course, they'd just better be sure that there's a lot of conductive metal ore in the soil they're growing from. By definition, such technology even if let to grow wild would only thrive on places where excessive metals have been dumped into the earth. By the time people have learned to hack viruses out of nothing, they will also have learned how to enhance the immune system with similar expertise. Such a world is one of those who can afford to get themselves upgraded and those who suffer the consequences of whatever superbug the next nation over decides to make.

But again, a virus that manufactures more of itself out of thin air or cellphones that grow in regular soil displacing existing fauna are impossible without subatomic assembly processes. Even in nature, the only subatomic manufacturing process is the Sun and other stars.

[trevarthan]

Well, if you're talking about printing proteins from basic hydrocarbons, then yeah, biology is absolutely the way to go with manufacturing. Making gold out of some other substance or oxygen out of carbon or the like requires manipulation on a subatomic level, and at that point, we aren't even anywhere close.

It would definitely be a strange culture that really embrace genetic manipulation to the point where they are growing their technology from super enhanced seeds. Of course, they'd just better be sure that there's a lot of conductive metal ore in the soil they're growing from. By definition, such technology even if let to grow wild would only thrive on places where excessive metals have been dumped into the earth. By the time people have learned to hack viruses out of nothing, they will also have learned how to enhance the immune system with similar expertise. Such a world is one of those who can afford to get themselves upgraded and those who suffer the consequences of whatever superbug the next nation over decides to make.

But again, a virus that manufactures more of itself out of thin air or cellphones that grow in regular soil displacing existing fauna are impossible without subatomic assembly processes. Even in nature, the only subatomic manufacturing process is the Sun and other stars.

There are some animals that contain metals, so there's nothing out of the ordinary there. I do understand what you're saying though. I think preparing the soil or air or whatever beforehand with the correct mixture would be a small price to pay for something that assembles itself. We're already considering it with these CO2 hogging tobacco plants: http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20141909-26205.html

This would be no different than loading a program from multiple floppy disks in the 1990s. Please insert 20g of gold and press the button to continue.

Also, houses could be grown from CO2 in the atmosphere. Trees are made out of air after all.