Green Futures Tuesday: 3D printing: the end of consumerism? #gfstu

This event in the Green Futures Tuesday series was arranged on the 17th of January 2012, at 6pm GMT, by the Department of Green Innovations and Solutions.

Tweeter Anna Simpson	Room #gfstu
6:00PM Here we go! 15 tweets by @annasimpson on ‘3D printing: the end of consumerism?’ #gfstu
6:00PM 1. 3D printing could turn out to be an insanely disruptive technology. #gfstu
6:01PM 2. What is 3D print? It’s when a machine builds an object by placing tiny amounts of raw material in layers to a digital template. #gfstu
6:01PM 3. This idea has sparked scientists’ imagination since 1986, when Charles Hull patented ‘stereolithography’. #gfstu
6:02PM 4. Now we are printing human tissue… http://t.co/mQCuSkFt …bones http://t.co/ozBelGOI … and even violins http://t.co/We3cYiW1 #gfstu
6:02PM 5. …and MIT is looking into digital gastronomy to print perfect meals, every time! http://t.co/AaBZaSwX #gfstu
6:02PM 6. Next: 3D-printing is coming home. Makerbot has put its Thing-o-Matic on the market for $1,299. #gfstu
6:03PM 7. Thing-o-Matic uses threads of plastic as its raw material, which it heats and places in neat rows, acc to a digital template. #gfstu
6:03PM 8. Thanks to opensource software Meshlab, almost any product can be scanned and made into a template for reproduction. #gfstu
6:04PM 9. Just imagine the implications! Today’s consumer economy is premised on inefficient mass manufacture, often overseas. #gfstu
6:04PM 10. But 3D printing means consumers can build their own products, cutting out waste, packaging and air/shipping miles. #gfstu
6:05PM 11. Makerbot CEO @Bre calls his mission “profoundly subversive” #gfstu
6:05PM 12. Soon, before popping round to Tesco or Wal-Mart for a new breadbin, people will ask if they can make it themselves… #gfstu
6:06PM 13. What’s next? Researchers are looking into printing buildings and houses – in no more than a day! #gfstu
6:06PM 14. Help me think how 3D printing could change the future… What would you build? #gfstu
6:07PM 15. What do you think it will mean for consumers? How could it change your own business, or the way you do your job? #gfstu
	6:07PM @SiliconSaxony RT @SvTwuni: 10. But #3D printing means consumers can build their own products, cutting out waste, packaging and air/shipping miles. #gfstu
6:07PM Read more about 3D printing @GreenFutures: http://t.co/zNBhuZkX #gfstu
	6:11PM @ed_dowding I wonder if we’ll get Jevons’ s paradox? Renewable ‘inks’ pls >RT @SvTwuni: 15. What do you think 3d printing will mean for consumers?#gfstu
	6:08PM @Sustaination @SvTwuni @GreenFutures Great reading on this in Cory Doctorow’s Makers: http://t.co/PbEAHkLS #gfstu
6:13PM Always a question… but if you can print what you need at home, you’re less likely to wander round shops being distracted by offers #gfstu
	6:14PM @MartinFutures Is there any danger of a reverse ‘economy of scale’ I wonder? I.e. could 1million little printers use more energy than 1 big factory? #gfstu
	6:13PM @ed_dowding Imagination #fail. Erm… RT @SvTwuni: 14. Help me think how 3D printing could change the future… What would you build? #gfstu
	6:15PM @ed_dowding @SvTwuni and if I didn’t have twitter I’d not spend so long browsing.. and when links = objects… neat Klein flask! #gfstu
	6:15PM @x1sjh The future? This is a concept to get you thinking! “Read more about 3D printing @GreenFutures: http://t.co/9Cu7ezmb #gfstu” via@SvTwuni
6:15PM @ed_dowding Try this: your Gran makes the perfect crumble, scans it and you just print it off at home #gfstu
	6:16PM @jacobchr RT @SvTwuni: Here we go! 15 tweets by @annasimpson on ‘3D printing: the end of consumerism?’ #gfstu
	6:17PM @ed_dowding @SvTwuni but then it’s not my Gran’s crumble. I’d like to keep valuing human creativity. (I appreciate this is an expression of that.)#gfstu
6:19PM @MartinFutures – I’m sure a million printers could use more energy than a factory – so what about a community printer, in the pub? #gfstu
	6:50PM @jstefani RT @ed_dowding: Everything I can think of I’d just make out of wood. #simplelife #gfstu
	6:50PM @MartinFutures @_annasimpson You can’t help but wonder what Hockney would make of it. A mini-3D springtime Yorkshire wood?! #gfstu
	6:34PM @ed_dowding @_annasimpson yep @MartinFutures thinks better than I do (Though rayon is wood fibre..) #gfstu
	6:23PM @MelissaSterry @SvTwuni @MartinFutures I second that @SvTwuni #3D printers in pubs… post-offices, libraries, schools and universities too! #accessibility
	6:27PM @_annasimpson RT @MelissaSterry I second that #3D printers in pubs… post-offices, libraries, schools and universities too! #accessibility #gfstu
	6:36PM @_annasimpson I find the medical applications very exciting: a new bone for our broken cyclists, new lungs for inner city asthma sufferers #gfstu
	6:23PM @monki @SvTwuni @MartinFutures Agree. 3D-printing makes more sense on a community level than a personal level
	6:23PM @monki @SvTwuni @MartinFutures At least given our current level of complexity of material environment.
	6:49PM @MartinFutures RT @_annasimpson: Q. What will 3D printing mean for #art? #gfstu
	6:19PM @monki @SvTwuni Though you browse thingiverse printing crap instead
	6:20PM @ed_dowding @SvTwuni @MartinFutures Potential for relocalised & resilient mfring is HUGE as cost of production & retooling falls #gfstu
	6:32PM @_annasimpson @ed_dowding Haven’t actually read it yet but heard lots, can’t wait… A wooden suit? Like the bespoke clothes idea @MartinFutures #gfstu
	6:47PM @_annasimpson Q. What will 3D printing mean for #art? #gfstu
	6:20PM @monki @SvTwuni Seriously though, what’s your proposed solution to the printing crap problem. Would love recyclable prototyping print material
	6:42PM @MartinFutures @_annasimpson Absolutely: raises intriguing poss of having templates ready and waiting to produce instant replacement fingers, eg… #gfstu
	6:28PM @roger_musing @SvTwuni @MartinFutures Community-owned? If we did owning communally not individually, we wouldn’t need 3D prinitng to tackle consumerism…
	6:33PM @ed_dowding RT @MartinFutures: Could 3D printing turn everyone into their own fashion designer producing perfect fit clothes from old threads? #gfstu
	6:37PM @_annasimpson Bespoke is even more important inside our bodies than out… #gfstu
	6:30PM @ed_dowding Everything I can think of I’d just make out of wood. #simplelife #gfstu
	6:44PM @_annasimpson You simply scan your other (healthy) lung/finger/hand, reverse the image, and print off a matching one… #gfstu
	6:26PM @ed_dowding @_annasimpson @SvTwuni @MartinFutures Brilliantly I suspect. You’ve read Makers? Whole future planned out there #gfstu
6:52PM Please use #gfstu for the 3D printing debate!
6:54PM Yes it would be great if you could melt down your work and reuse the raw material RT @monki Would love recyclable prototyping print material
	6:56PM @_annasimpson RT @MartinFutures: @_annasimpson You cant help but wonder what Hockney would make of 3Dprint. A mini-3D springtime Yorkshire wood?! #gfstu
6:56PM RT @monki: @SvTwuni @MartinFutures Agree. 3D-printing makes more sense on a community level than a personal level
6:56PM RT @roger_musing: @SvTwuni @MartinFutures Community-owned? If we did owning communally not individually, we wouldn’t need 3D prinitng to tackle consumerism…
	7:01PM @MartinFutures So what’s most likely to be the breakthrough app that takes 3D printing right into the mainstream? Buildings? Toys? Spare parts? #gfstu
7:03PM RT @MartinFutures: So what’s most likely to be the breakthrough app that takes 3D printing right into the mainstream? #gfstu
	7:04PM @MartinFutures @ed_dowding Intriguing idea – a man with van and a 3D printer could be a whole new neighbourhood repair service! #gfstu
7:05PM RT @MartinFutures: @ed_dowding Intriguing idea – a man with van and a 3D printer could be a whole new neighbourhood repair service! #gfstu
7:06PM @monki 3D print repair services – a good answer to the ‘printing more crap’ problem #gfstu
	7:08PM @ed_dowding @@SvTwuni “Print the [landfill item] you’ve just seen on xfactor by pressing the red button now” > breakthrough app for 3D printing #gfstu
7:08PM And what about luxury goods? Can we print the things we can’t afford? #gfstu
	7:10PM @ed_dowding @SvTwuni some time projections on 3d printing capabilities would be useful. Anyone know? Shapes (now) but food and fingers? #gfstu
	7:10PM @MartinFutures RT @SvTwuni: And what about luxury goods? Can we print the things we cant afford? #gfstu
7:14PM It’s a question of scaling up infrastructure, mostly in labs at present: bit more here http://t.co/AaBZaSwX http://t.co/ozBelGOI #gfstu
	7:16PM @monki @SvTwuni As long as the luxury is in the form imposed from outside. Luxury in the form of material, function or something grown is different
	7:22PM @MartinFutures @Sustaination Printed food? It would have to taste delicious to overcome ‘unnatural’ image… #gfstu
	7:19PM @_annasimpson @Sustaination Same as you feel about fast food? Or will the first printed food restaurants target the high-end gastro market? #gfstu
	7:16PM @Sustaination How would you feel about printed food? http://t.co/pSPDJrT2 #gfstu #foodtech #locavore
	7:16PM @_annasimpson RT @ed_dowding “Print the [landfill item] you’ve just seen on xfactor by pressing the red button now” >breakthrough 3Dprint app #gfstu
7:23PM On that note, time to sign off for dinner. Thanks for joining in everyone. See you next week for more green solutions & innovations! #gfstu
	7:23PM @Sustaination @_annasimpson #FastFood = mass produced. So gastro, or for maybe medication delivery via augmented foods? #gfstu