The Future of the Future

Wandering around Slashdot I saw a link to the RepRap project.Essentially a project with the goal of creating a machine that can create copies of itself and can also create other things. The fundamental idea being that if anybody has one of these machines, they could give away a copy of the machine to a friend if the friend gives them the materials. Sort of open source for atoms instead bits and software.

There's a lot to think about if you posit the ability for anybody anywhere on the globe to be able to make anything. For starters, the gating economic factor becomes energy, if you assume that materials are all commodities and are more or less available for free.