Neeyik, please explain. My brain hurts. :(

[K.I.L.E.R]

http://www.betterhumans.com/News/news.aspx?articleID=2005-03-18-4

What the hell?
Is this fraud?
This doesn't make sense, how does it 'work'?

 

[Frank]

Yes, 3D printers. But the self-replication isn't going to work. There is more to those machines than plastics.

 

[Guden Oden]

I'd expect the major part of them to actually be metal, then there's all the electronics they need, cabling, servo motors and gears etc etc. And isn't there a laser integrated too? So add that as well to the list of components this so-called self-replicating machine can't replicate.

 

[epicstruggle]

Yes, 3D printers. But the self-replication isn't going to work. There is more to those machines than plastics.

I think its feasible, maybe not today but in the near future. Another similar problem: write a program that outputs (prints) the contents of the program so they match. If you can do one the other seems likely too.

epic

 

[WhiningKhan]

Another similar problem: write a program that outputs (prints) the contents of the program so they match.

Where's the problem with that? Replicating exact information is completely trivial. Applying this to real life objects isn't.

In some scale it should be doable at some point, but it would hardly be the most economical way to construct anything...