Will 3D Printing Lead to a Utopia?

[Brian_Krassenstein]

I wrote this article this morning pinpointing why I believe an Economically Utopian Society is very possible in the next 40-50 years or so. As the various, up and coming technologies, converge with 3D printing, we will be left with a society that is capable of printing out nearly everything they could ever need, at prices which are close to nothing. Here is the article:
http://3dprint.com/2430/3d-printing-...opian-society/

I would love to hear your opinions on this. I believe we underestimate what the future holds. I also believe in the following of trend lines. If you do this, by 2050-2060, we will have such incredible technologies at such low prices, that I really do thing the world will be a much better, safer, and economically friendly place. Of course a lot can happen by then to take us off this path...

[WildZBill]

An abundance of 'things' does not equate to Utopia.
Plus, as our printers get better and better, the wealthy will just enforce stronger control over raw materials, and pass laws to restrict their use.

[hiram]

Utopia will not exist on Earth, man is too greedy, lustful and prideful for it to ever happen.

[frederick78]

Utopia will not exist on Earth, man is too greedy, lustful and prideful for it to ever happen.

It's hard to say "never". Who knows where we will be in 1000 years from now. If you look at native american tribes, their lifestyles were based on almost no greed at all. This is philosophy that one day could return. May not be for another 1000 years but its certainly possible.

[hiram]

The nature of man has never changed, in Utopia, everyone would have to have the capacity to make their own moral decisions.

If man could make his own moral decisions, they would then be no need for government.

The laws and sizes of government prove that man is going backwards, technology has no bearing on man's morality.

If Man was moral, he would be able to obey all the old Testament laws as written in the KJV Bible, and there would have been no need of Jesus Christ who never sinned.

[Feign]

I think the phrase Brian was looking for is "Post-Scarcity Economy", which 3D printing could eventually help bring about... In 50-100 years.

There's still plenty of room for unhappiness in a post-scarcity economy, though it seems to require some creativity to find where it would stem from.

[hiram]

A "Post-Scarcity Economy" and a Utopia are 2 different things.
Man will never lead to Utopia because man hates his creator, and mans selfishness and pride believes that he can create for himself a better god than the one that he already has. When man has created the god that he wants, he will reap the fruits of his labor because his god will see him as a problem and decide that the answer is man's destruction.

You see, man is not able to create a machine that can love.Only the real God can love and define it. No other god in history has done ---->

Joh_3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

[Feign]

Hiram, I'd say you're getting off topic... But well, you aren't really. The word "Utopia" brings up all kinds of other sticky subjects right from the beginning that probably didn't need to be discussed on a technology board in the first place.

In general, I find the concept of a Utopia to be anathema to morality. If there is no choice that can be made but the "right" one, there is no longer a choice being presented. Without the freedom to make a wrong choice, one cannot give value to making the right choice, they instead become automatons. By comparison, a post-scarcity economy still requires choices to be made, skills to be developed, and work to be done, if only of the creative variety. People would still have drama, but the likes of which make our current First World Problems look daunting by comparison.

As for mankind hating God... Well, I can't speak for anyone but myself when I say that the more I learn about the universe through science, the more I love the mysterious force that who brought it all into being. If someday we solve every mystery, science will not make the god you fear so much, but it will find the same one you believe in.

[atoff]

I wrote this article this morning pinpointing why I believe an Economically Utopian Society is very possible in the next 40-50 years or so...

40-50 years is very very optimistic. It's interesting that people so often think changes in technology will be so vastly different in such a short time span. The same things were being said 50 years ago about flying cars and whatnot. I'd give it more like 1000-2000 years before anything truly exciting occurs, if even then. But honestly, I couldn't care less, because I won't be here for it (and I think that's why most people are so optimistic in their timelines).

[hiram]

Technology will never lead to Utopia. The end of this age is less than 1,000 years away, probably only a generation off at the most.