Evan Bossio
CAS283
When I first read that we would be
discussing the “dark side of online communication,” 3D printing did not cross
my mind once. I was only thinking about the downsides of communication in terms
of deception, stalking, and cyber bullying- the concepts we discussed in
lecture. I was very surprised by the “Click, Print, Gun” documentary that we
watched for very obvious reasons. Cody Wilson’s nonchalant attitude about his
deviance and anarchic views on America struck a nerve.
I was not aware that 3D printing is
as popular as it is currently, and that anyone with enough money can easily
obtain one. How is it that we have the technology that allows us to build
advanced objects that are normally constructed in factories, in our own homes?
It completely baffles me. Before watching this video I thought of 3D printers
as machinery that only the elite of the world could use and operate. Cody
Wilson succeeded in showing me that 3D printing has infinite possibilities.
Making gun parts, however, is crossing the line.
As I watched Cody’s process, I was
extremely impressed by the technicalities of it and the scientific and
technological milestones that he reached in the comfort of his home. I do not
think that 3D printing weapons should be protected by the second amendment. Gun
control issues are at an all-time high and if enough people have access to this
kind of technology with similar intentions to Cody, a lot of mishaps could come
about. Cody may not be attempting to make guns so that he can commit homicide,
but another person might. If they aren’t printing guns, maybe they will print
something else that could be detrimental to society.
I learned on techrepublic.com that
3D printing is being used for many objects that many may view as being worse than
guns. There is a researcher at the University of Glaslow that created a
prototype of “Chemputer” that can print drugs. Now this would revolutionize the
pharmaceutical industry, making it exceptionally efficient to gain easy access
to medicine. However, there are the people who will want to use this technology
to print harmful, illegal drugs (ie cocaine, meth, etc). What’s worse, guns or
drugs? I think it’s important that our nation succeed in regulating what can be
produced. In fact, we should also regulate the usage of 3D printing in general.
I also found on this website that
the printers are energy-hoggers. They use 50-100 times more energy to make a
mold of something than a machine in a factory, they emit billions of harmful
chemicals into the air that can be detrimental to a person’s health, they rely
on plastic which is a product that has proved very harmful to our environment,
and if items are printed that come into contact with food (plates, cups,
utensils), we are susceptible to the chemicals in the plastic. Do they
negatives outweigh the positives? I think that 3D printers should be used
small-scale and only in ways that can benefit our society. That means, no guns.
The lecture topics we discussed that
revolve around skewing personal identity and committing deviant acts from
behind a computer screen used to be what I thought of when someone brought up
the dark side of computer mediated communication. Now, however, my mind is much
more open to the world of possibilities. 3D printing is a phenomenon that will
continue to confuse and intrigue me.
No comments:
Post a Comment