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Could you get a 3D printer to print a 3D printer?

By adamg on Tue, 10/15/2024 - 9:42am

MIT News reports researchers have figured out how to 3D print "semiconductor-free logic gates" that can be assembled into something that could do computations - work they began in the pandemic days, when semiconductors suddenly became scarce. Current polymer-based 3D printers will never be able to reproduce state-of-the-art chips (with circuits close enough to spark concern about quantum effects), but then, not everything needs that kind of CPU, they say.

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Comments

By CopleyScott17 on Tue, 10/15/2024 - 10:11am.

Then I'll be impressed.

By cybah on Tue, 10/15/2024 - 1:50pm.

I anticipate nothing good coming from this. Now we're gonna be inodiated with poorly made electronics. Even more so than we are now.

Let alone the nefarious uses for this. Think small circuit boards used for bombs and such. Now it all can be printed in the privacy of your own home.

By Jeff F on Tue, 10/15/2024 - 3:21pm.

Everything one might need to create a very powerful ied, a military grade gun or even nastier devices has been affordably available to even the non-handiest for years now.

If this research eventually results in electronics that are safe, inexpensive and more sustainable, then it will be a very good thing for us and the planet. But I suspect there’s a long way to go - the article makes it sound like this has come about in just the last couple years and is on the verge of commercial viability, but people have been working on printable electronics since the late 90s (eg Jacobson’s group at the MIT Media Lab).

By WalkingTheDog on Tue, 10/15/2024 - 3:03pm.

the 3D printers don't gain self-awareness.