The Influence Of Advancement In 3D Printing On Society
The process of 3D printing has become a global phenomenon that is commonly practiced all around the world today. From 3D printing prosthetic limbs to guns, people have found a wide variety of uses for the technology. The device is typically used to create a three dimensional tool or item made by material that is feeded into the printer. Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plastic, along with other durables such as resins and nylon are typically used for products. Since its first creation, the capabilities of the 3D printer have improved greatly. Marcus and Thierer (2016) have explained how the 3D printer has evolved far enough in that it has been able to use almost any type of material, from wood and metal to the tiniest human cells. Scientists have discovered ways to print models of organs to study while others have mapped blueprints to build their own gun. People have started to use the 3D printer as a means of adapting to new ways of production. The utilization of the 3D printer has changed the way society approaches and builds new ideas, where designers will continue to be dependent on it to create objects driven by the idea of technological determinism.
The miracles that arrive from the technological device never started as the 3D printer that is seen today. Back in 1986, Charles Hull patented the earliest version of a 3D printer. Called the stereolithography machine, it soon became the core model for all other 3D systems. He did it to commercialise his new way of producing objects, where hundreds upon hundreds of thin layers of plastic lay on top of each other to form a three dimensional object. He built an industry for his machine, and over the past three decades his idea has transformed into a more detailed and intricate version used by the working people today. As Chuck Hull explains how his machine operates in an interview with Industry Week, “you don’t need a mold… you just need to send it your files and you can start producing parts… from 20 to 50 times as fast as the current typical stereolithography system”. It breaks away from the idea of a traditional printer. The 3D printer gives anyone the opportunity to build a plastic part with the right file.
The 3D printer can be used by almost anyone with the desire to create a plastic part. The capabilities of the technological device also cause it to be high in price. In one research, it was found that only 15% of people were willing to pay for a higher price for a 3D printer, a price higher than $299. Not just individual consumers desire the machine, but businesses and industries find use for the printers’ services. From models to final products, manufacturers are able to use 3D printed objects to teach consumers, entrepreneurs, and clients about various companies. There is no limit to what the 3D printer is capable of doing. In today’s era, 3D printing has been used in revolutionizing medicine and other treatments. Several developments have helped save the lives of many who suffer from minor ailments to those with missing limbs. As stated by Birrell (2017), experts have, “developed 3D-printed skin for burn victims, airway splints for infants, facial reconstruction parts for cancer patients, ” and more with the new technology. In one such case, a child in South Africa had been born without fingers in one of his hands. The mother asked for a prosthetic hand for the child. However, as a child with a small hand, the size of the prosthetic hand would have to increase over time. With the use of 3D printing, it would be possible for a hand to be reprinted with larger proportions over time so that it may fit. In turn, it is costly and will still appear slightly robotic. In such cases, 3D printing has given young people an opportunity to grow up as healthily and normally as possible. Doctors have approached treatments differently with the 3D printer. As a result, society has allowed tools like prosthetic limbs to create a social structure that is relied upon, which is a key in technological determinism.
Perhaps the most outrageous thing that has ever been planned to be 3D printed was the world’s first plastic gun, the Liberator. Despite recent controversy in August of 2018 over the plastic gun, the blueprints have been online for a long time. Cody Wilson, who runs an organization called Defense Distributed, first distributed the gun blueprints online back in May of 2013. Wilson first attracted a lot of publicity and attention in 2012, when he founded Defense Distributed and started the Wiki Weapon Project, whose goal was to formulate a feasible plan to produce a 3D printed gun and then publish them online. Over the first two days, the plans were downloaded over 100, 000 times. Soon enough, the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) of the United States Department cracked down on Wilson’s case. Marcus and Thierer (2016) found that by the State Department’s logic, “publishing 3D printing schematics qualifies as exporting arms secrets”. They demanded Wilson to remove the files, with threats of prosecution cited from the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). Over five years later, Wilson has finally won the lawsuit claiming a violation in the right of free speech by the First Amendment. His blueprints for the liberator are now available online in 2018, sparking issues and concern all over the internet.
3D printing has made it easier for doctors to save lives and for people like Wilson to print guns from plastic that no one could have ever imagined before. With personal manufacturing, as Bharat and Matias (2015) stated, “consumers are filling a market need on their own… they do not need to wait for a company to prototype…”. It is becoming a mainstream piece of technology, and the government has started to notice. Newer emerging technology eventually replaces jobs, manufacturers and big businesses to slowly crumble apart, and the government falls along with it. People who once relied on such jobs are soon replaced by machinery, losing their source of income. Printing also disrupts those who try to patent or copyright their original idea, as it can be easily recreated into another plastic model. After all, there is a unseen shady side of 3D printing. Not only do the machines use a lot of energy and may poze hazardous threats, but not enough research has been done on them to observe their political, social, and environmental impacts. 3D printing may appear like it solves most of society’s problems, especially in the medical field, but there are still a lot of unforeseen effects that are still overlooked.
3D printing has gone a long ways since its first creation. Now, society depends on it for printing tools and objects to assist people with needs in society. From skin tissue to keychains to plastic guns, people depend on the 3D printer for a variety of uses. It has changed what people used to take for granted. Those with a 3D prosthetic limb rely on it to go about their daily life. In the case of plastic guns that are 3D printed, the gun’s presence increases the person’s chance of picking it up and using it to shoot. Driven by technological determinism, guns cause the social phenomenon of people killing others. This belief falls into the idea of technological determinism. Technology is shaping the structure of society’s social and cultural values. While society’s nature is that of to continue to adapt to this new form of society, it can pose a dangerous threat. As mentioned, governments do not overlook emerging technologies. They can pose a threat to big businesses, and without businesses or people a government cannot function. In the meantime, people of society will continue to innovate by continuing their ways of changing society. The 3D printer has helped guide many down that path, and more emerging technologies will continue to drive the structural and cultural values of society.
Ultimately, 3D printing has transformed the way society thinks about printing ideas and objects. From the very first tangible object produced by the 3D printer, to the first artificial limb, to the very first plastic gun, it has changed the way society views 3D printing; who should use it, what its uses are for, and if it is socially acceptable amongst anyone who owns a 3D printer. Driven by technological determinism, however, people may use it to save or harm each other. Inevitably, people will continue to use the technology to develop their ideas. However, nobody can predict where 3D printers are headed in 10 years from now, or even 100 years, as people will undeniably continue to use it to innovate or ultimately abuse it.
