As predicted, 3D printing is now enabling the sort of disruption of traditional businesses we saw with IT and file sharing. There are people (myself included) who have not bought a CD or DVD for years because of the fact that modern information technology makes it possible to copy media and store it for virtually no cost at all. Now manufacturing technology is making it possible to replicate physical objects for a fraction of the cost required to buy it from mass producing factories... The first businesses to feel the heat will be those that make plastic objects that readily fit inside the printing bed of a common 3D printer. But in the future, as these printers grow in size and the materials they are able to handle, all businesses will eventually suffer similar fates ... from electronic companies to car companies... How to stop this? You cant. Its called post-scarcity and it is inevitable. Consumerism is an endangered species that will inevitably go extinct. The only way to escape consumerisms fate is to evolve beyond consumerism and embrace this future of post-scarcity. Those that are able to resist the endless litigation and clinging to their antiquated business models will survive and even thrive as we make this transition. For companies like Games Workshop - they have a huge universe, they have many story tellers - while plastic games have been their bread and butter, they have been disrupted. Will they bitterly fight the inevitable? Or evolve and capitalize on their other strengths? 3dprintingindustry/2014/10/31/redditor-3d-prints-warhammer-40k-army/
Posted on: Sun, 02 Nov 2014 00:46:13 +0000