In the fourth section of Juggernaut, I proposed something called a ‘Materializer’ or what is called a ‘Replicator’ in science fiction as a tool that can provide independent individuals with resources and goods enough to make them self-sufficient. I used the science fiction term because to many this concept is exactly that–science fiction. But, as we have found in recent years, this revolutionary new technology is not as far off as it might seem.

Indeed, the future is nigh with what is called desktop manufacturing, desktop factories, or 3D printers. The idea is simple enough–take the technology of 3D modeling and combine it with precise manufacturing robots that can turn melted plastic into any shape you’d like–a miniature Empire State Building, Julius Caesar’s bust, a model of a 1965 Ford Mustang.

Currently, affordable technology is capable of producing any miniature plastic do-dad you can think of. But it doesn’t take too far a stretch of the imagination to envision the possibilities.

As John Rennie of The Gleaming Retort has recently written:

(The Gleaming Retort) With glorified inkjet printers that spray living cells, researchers can create replicas of body tissues or even whole organs, either by seeding the cells into a 3D matrix or by building up the living structures from scratch. Someday, such made-to-order grafts grown from a patient’s own cells could offer important relief from the perennial deficiency of transplantable organs. Last March at the TED conference, Anthony Atala of Wake Forest University wowed his audience by creating a model for a kidney on stage.

One wonders what could be the limit to this technology? Coupled with nanotechnology, fuel and molecular makeup of the output can all but be taken care of. Such machines as these Materializers could be capable of making anything. Only cynics could shrug off the prospects.

A fine video article about MakerBot‘s early iterations via Make: Magazine: