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How is 3D Printing Posed to Benefit Society and What Implications does it Create?
I work on cars a lot and often times, parts are hard to come by due to manufactures discontinuing specific parts needed to repair or modify a vehicle. It would be great if I could download a code or scan/copy a part so that I could essentially print out an identical replacement. How about those times where you accidentally break an oven knob or need a bottle opener? Wouldn’t it be great if you could press, “enter” on a keyboard and have it print? Imagine the applications and technological advancements that this idea could create. A world full of consumer manufacturers that could cut out the middleman and print products at home reducing the cost and time takes to drive to the store only to find out the product you want is out of stock.
Imagine no more. This technology to print 3D objects is called additive manufacturing (AM) and became available for an expensive price to manufacturers back in the 1980’s. Wikipedia sources explain that during this time, AM technology was specifically used for “product development, data visualization, rapid prototyping, and specialized manufacturing”. The Advanced Manufacturing Portal of www.manufacturing.gov explains that AM “is being applied in a wide range of industries, including defense, aerospace, automotive, medical, and metals manufacturing”, and this is just the beginning. 3D printing has made significant advancements since then, and AM machines have increased in sales and have become more affordable. The opportunity has come where I can print parts from my home, and not only can I print car parts, there are biological, consumer products, and other objects that can be printed from a consumer’s home. Machines loaded with raw materials can print any scanned object or objects with a preloaded code. This is all fine and dandy when it comes to us consumers, but how does these impact industries that provide medical, manufacturing, and food services?
Numerous sources online show that 3D printing has many methods for processing and printing items. Laser Assisted Bio-printing (LAB) gives us the capability to print human organs. With Hydrocolloid Printing and Solid Freeform Fabrication (SFF), customized food can be programmed for a print out of your favorite dish. Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) uses heat to melt down plastics that prints objects from bottom to top in layers. There are many other forms of 3D printing; some are available for consumer homes, while others require the skills, training, and specialized raw materials, such as skin cells, in which you wouldn’t find in the average home.
In 2013, Organovo Holdings Inc, a 3D human tissue development company, successfully bio-printed the first functional human liver. This technology is on the frontier of providing 3D printed organs for patients suffering from injuries and disease, and it’s progressing at a fast pace. Vladimir Mironov from the Medical University of South Carolina states, “Organ printing, or computer-aided layer-by-layer assembly of biological tissues and organs, is currently feasible, fast-evolving and predicted to be a major technology in tissue engineering”. This is exciting news when The American Transplant Foundation reports that “More than 122,344 people in the United States are currently on the waiting list for a lifesaving organ transplant”, and “On average, 18 people die every day from the lack of available organs for transplant”. Easily anyone can see the benefits that this technology can provide to society, but what implications does this create. People would live longer and our mortality rate would decrease dramatically. With a growing cost of living and unemployment rate that promotes crime, starvation, and homelessness, wouldn’t this technology rapidly increase these critical effects in overpopulating our society? How do we weigh the moral benefits of saving lives against our economical and employment condition?
Articles on Bio-Printing
I have a couple of friends that carry the combination of being a fulltime employee, single parent, and fulltime student. With limited time at home dedicated to preparing meals, cleaning, and studying, there’s not much room for entertainment or spending more time with their children. One of the listed tasks above is being challenged with a 3D food printing technique called Solid Freeform Fabrication. While researching 3d food benefits, I ran across a supporting article written by a 3D printer enthusiast, Damon Kayzee, stating, “in order to make a meal one only has to load the ingredients, select the desired food, and click print. This expedited process will surely save people tons of time when they would otherwise be cooking”. Author D. Southerland explains, “instead of just using handmade ingredients and purees, this system would utilize the use of hydrocolloid liquid ingredients allowing complete control over the food and it’s nutritional and behavioral properties”. This concept sounds great, so now my friends can spend more time with their families and less time cooking. However, the cost of the new special ingredients may increase due to demand combined with non-FDA regulated machines that will cause affordability and health concerns. Is this technology worth pursuing if it’s not cost effective?
What about ending world hunger? The much bigger picture is that this technology can help combat our global society’s issue with starvation. Action Against Hunger states that “At least 1 million malnourished children die every year because they lack access to the necessary treatment”, but if we can find a way to make resources and the machines affordable/available to third world countries, we’d save lives and give these countries a fighting chance in developing their environments. However, this also could pose the same risk as overpopulation that bio-printing presents combined with the high disease rates those third world countries has. Increasing food supply to counter starvation could increase the need of medical support for new starvation survivors, which has always been a scarce resource to these impoverished areas. How would we balance these support systems so that these starving and disease stricken populations are assisted most effectively? How does one know when to use morals to combat these conditions?
Car manufacturers move on to bigger and better automobile projects along with new part productions while discontinuing parts for older cars. I work on my car whenever it needs a repair, and because it’s 8 years old, parts are sometimes hard to come by. When calling up to an auto parts store to check availability for certain parts, I’ll find that sometimes it will take up to three business days for me to take delivery. That can mean three days without transportation in some cases. E. Palermo, a live science contributor states that the commercialized Stratasys “FDM printers use a thermoplastic filament, which is heated to its melting point and then extruded, layer by layer, to create a three dimensional object”, allowing me to print almost any part I need. If I broke the knob on my radio or if I lost my gas cap, I can sit down at my computer, load the program codes for both products, press print and within minutes I can be back on the road jamming to my favorite songs. This technology exists today, but how will it affect manufacturers and stores when the consumer becomes the manufacture? What’s to stop me and other 3D printing enthusiast from putting Autozone or Wal-Mart out of business because we can print our own products at home? Will manufacturers start building products with higher-grade raw materials for better quality, lower their cost of goods to be competitive with consumers, or will it be regulated where consumers will have to pay to print?
Sources for Images Above
3D printing has been an ongoing innovation that has recently flourished thanks to its dawning of consumer manufacturing. With hopes of improving the quality of our lives through medical, nutritional, and consumer product technological advancements, we’re able to bio-print human organs, save time cooking and fight starvation with hydrocolloid food printing, and provide availability to limited parts and products through fused deposition modeling. Unfortunately, good news is always accompanied with bad news. The long term effects of organ bio printing can result in an overpopulated society were poverty and crime rates are increased due a higher unemployment rates and resource consumption. The morality behind saving and prolonging lives with newly printed organs can quickly create the separation between the lower class from the upper class, limiting health care and further organ transplant only to the wealthy, similar to the movie Elysium. This is the only way I can see society controlling this technology from getting further out of hand if it gets to that point.
World hunger is also a big issue, and with cheap and easy to obtain food resources, hydrocolloid printing can feed starving countries and assist in developing their environment. However, with starvation eradicated, the results will replicate the same overpopulating consequences bio-printing presents, combined with the rampant disease and the medical support (which is minimal) needed in those regions. With a healthier population from decreased starvation, health education and good hygiene practices can help control diseases with more people being able to learn and share their teachings.
The war of manufacturing between consumers and big companies is imminent. When the day comes where every home has a 3D printer and consumers have the capability to print and build their own products, big companies will react with proposed regulations and copyright laws prohibiting the printing and resale of certain items. Pirating will take on a whole new meaning now that 3D printers can print a 3D printer, and now that we can print our own car parts, our older cars can stay on the road longer, which will reduce new car sales. 3D printing will revolutionize the way the human race evolves. This is just the beginning of the journey this technology is starting. Who knows what other printing applications will be available in the next ten years?