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.