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jwhildeb t1_j1z83p8 wrote

Not remotely in our lifetimes, if ever, but Star Trek replicators and transporters would be that kind of huge shift. Energy-to-matter conversion with subatomic control.

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ovirt001 t1_j1zcsc4 wrote

3D printers are primitive replicators. Scientists have managed to make ones that print on the nanoscale so we really aren't terribly far off from true replicators.
https://engineering.purdue.edu/ME/News/2021/no-more-jagged-edges-nanoscale-3d-printing-that-is-fast-smooth-and-repeatable

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jwhildeb t1_j1zlczc wrote

Kinda, but aside from scale the fundamental difference is that 3D printers can only make things out of the substance they're fed. Replicators eliminate basically every type of scarcity, globally and locally. THAT'S the fire-like paradigm shift.

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