The technology of fabrication and the means by which it can improve lives.
After writing the last few blog posts, which I hope in some vague way covered some of the basics of new and emerging systems of fabrication, I guess I’m left wondering where the actual future lies. Those who champion the virtues of the next big thing are always going to be somewhat utopian in their vision. The steam engine, electricity and nuclear power, aside from their often irrational detractors sadly also had an equal number of irrational advocates. While these advances in technology have yet to definitively destroy the earth, neither did they end poverty, famine or cure all known diseases and make a three day work week standard. For all that technology often inspires dreams of a better future, those visions need to be bound by what is actually possible. When the initial discoveries about electricity were being made there was an eruption of ridiculous claims about its power, the novel Frankenstein was in many respects a kind of summary of these crackpot theories. More interesting though are those claims that lie within the boundaries of what is physically possible and yet never see the fruition their champion’s desire. With the advent of nuclear power as a means of generating electricity, there some who believed there would soon be a day when every home might possess one. Practical issues, and subsequent discoveries about its danger meant we would never see a micro reactor replace the gas boiler. While the link between nuclear power and nuclear warfare meant applications in a civilian context would have to be limited. Many of the nuclear reactors built used a design that enabled them to yield nuclear material meant for nuclear weaponry.

Nuclear power is something of a red herring for this blog, which concentrates on technology available to the typical consumer, but it does highlight what I want to discuss today. Were it not for the demand for materials suitable for nuclear weapons, nuclear technology could have developed very differently. There is certainly no question that the world we live in has benefited because of nuclear technology in general. Alas, the legacy of nuclear weapons have left us with nuclear reactors far more dangerous than they needed to be. There is reason for guarded optimism, new designs offer nuclear power that is more efficient and far less toxic. For instance serious research into Thorium molten salt reactors. Thorium, a heavy metal far more common that the materials required for current reactors and with a much shorter time span during which waste materials are dangerous, could offer a new generation of nuclear power, not only less hazardous but incapable of being used to produce materials necessary for nuclear weapons.
This leads us back to my point about the way in which scientific discoveries and new technology, while they may have any number of possible applications, in the end enter a marketplace that will have a profound effect on the way it is used. It was the necessity to build large arsenalsa of nuclear weapons that led to the design for reactors most common today. In much the same way, mass production has shaped the kinds of technology we can possess. We live in an age where we can have something cheap provided millions of people can have and afford the same thing too. This means that if you want something unique, bespoke made just for you it will cost far more than the equivalent manufactured item. For all practical purposes what you can get that is unique is somewhat limited too. For items like household electronics and other devices, it is impractical regardless of budget to have machinery built just for you. There is at least one good reason for this, aside from the cost of developing the next big thing, be it faster computer processors, better vacuum cleaners or more efficient light bulbs there is no need for many of these items to be custom made. Once they are designed, manufacture reduces these goods almost to the level of undistinguishable commodities. There may be people who want a particular product to be customised to their own aesthetic tastes, but the internal components of the resulting machine or device are likely to be little different in form or function than the equivalent item bought at bargain basement prices. A good example are personal computers designed for the professional computer game players (yes, such people exist!). These computers are a far cry from those most people would experience in their home or workplace and considerably more powerful. All so that those enjoy the PC as a gaming machine can squeeze a few extra frames from their set-up. You might think spending a few hundred euros for a PC is sufficient but the truly dedicated player can easily part with several thousand. The architecture is the same, but the individual components are all top of the line and from the perspective of design, they sure look pretty(Take a look at this set-up from Alienware).
So there is a market for those who want to put their own stamp on the items they own, but will the technology to do so lowering in price and availability will there ever be a real demand for it. Will the demand for product differentiation ever get to the point where the typical consumer will expect there device to be unique. I doubt it, part of the reason for the success of mass production is that not only are devices cheap, because they share so much of the same functionality; learning to use one such device means using others like it is so much easier. There is a point to be made about psychology too. Ownership of these goods is often a declaration of what kind of person you are and which groups and communities you have an affinity with. Macs versus P.C.s being a good example. There is a desire among consumers to forego customisation to declare loyalty to communities that favour certain goods over another, sometimes at the expense of quality, value and utility (The strange decisions supposedly rational consumers make really is a puzzle for those who study the marketplace). If the advances being in made in fabrication are going to enter the marketplace in a big way, I suspect that something approaching a revolution is needed. If it doesn’t happen in this little corner of the planet, could it happen somewhere else?

To be continued...