Some time ago, I did a post about the advent of 3-D printers and the ability to make rudimentary, but functional, firearms via this method. This technology is advancing very rapidly!
The first link reports that cars built largely with 3-D printing technology will go on sale “in about a year for $18,000 to $30,000.” To think that manufacturers could soon be making individualized cars with “a few keystrokes!” The cars will, at least at first, still have such major components as “wheels, controls and powertrain[s]” made via standard methods. Incredibly, a 3-D printed car will have only 50 parts instead of “25,000 parts in some modern cars.” The 3-D printers are now going to be mainstreamed, as the tech giant, Hewlett-Packard, has announced they will be entering the field of making 3-D printers (second link).
I see some biblical connections in this cutting-edge technology. Remember the old Star Trek TV shows and movies where Captain Picard would ask a replicator in his room to make “Earl Grey tea, hot?” We are a long way from that technology now, but it is likely only a matter of time until such technologies become fact. In Genesis 11:6, the Bible records that God observed that mankind had reached such a high tipping point of knowledge accumulation just prior to his confusing the languages at Babel that whatever mankind then imagined they would accomplish (if God hadn’t brought it all to a screeching halt). Jesus Christ foretold the latter days would be like the pre-Flood world of Noah (Matthew 24:37), and the post-Flood generations after the Deluge were simply rebuilding the pre-Flood world’s technologies before God intervened to stop their ability to access any pre-Flood world documents or information stored in pre-Flood data devices written in the pre-Flood language. I believe our modern world is starting to reach the same tipping point where knowledge development feeds on itself so rapidly that anything modern mankind imagines, it will also eventually do.
When nations, companies, terrorists, individuals, etc. have advanced replicator technology in their possession, what will be beyond their reach? Will anyone be able to replicate a drone via a 3-D printer and use it for purposes either noble or nefarious? I wonder if counterfeiters are already planning to be able to counterfeit money using 3-D printers. Can explosives be replicated? Will we be able to build personal robots with 3-D printers? A wide range of weaponry could be made via 3-D printers. In the health-care field, 3-D printers could make very individualized hip and joint replacement inserts for each recipient rather than have to use “off the shelf” sizes from manufacturers. Will 3-D printing of cars eventually be so easy that assembly lines will be obsolete?
I wonder if some theorists in the health care field are already doing concept plans for using 3-D printers for building almost any kind of body-part to be able to prolong human lives and improve the quality of life. Back to Star Trek. The Star Trek replicators were not just 3-D printers which could make spare parts for the star ships; they could make food and organic items for crewmembers. Why couldn’t 3-D printers be eventually adapted to make organic products instead of inorganic items? Why couldn’t 3-D printers use amino acids, DNA and RNA to “print” 3-D soft-tissue body parts and food? Since “carbon-fiber reinforced plastic” can already be used to make cars and, presumably, any kind of non-organic objects, why couldn’t the elements of the earth be combined with DNA/RNA controls to make organic objects?
We are truly living in a world which fulfills the prophecy of Daniel 12:4 that “knowledge shall be [exponentially] increased in the time of the end of this age.” I’ll close with a biblically related thought. The book of Genesis records that mankind routinely lived for life spans of more than 900 years. Most Christians, myself included, have assumed this had to do with God’s programming these life-spans into human DNA, the existence of a canopy over the earth to shield it from harmful ionizing radiation, etc. What if there was another aspect to pre-Flood mankind’s long life spans which we hadn’t been able to even imagine until now when 3-D printers are being build and used? Given that the pre-Flood civilization possessed super-high technologies (which I believe we have yet to match), what if at least part of the reason for the long pre-Flood life spans was the ability to make all kinds of critical body-parts and organs via 3-D printers to create a form of medical immortality through technology. It is at least worth considering this possibility as mankind’s life spans did drop steadily after the Flood when the pre-Flood technologies were no longer accessible.
We are catching up with the ancient, pre-Flood technologies at a fast pace as we progress deeper into the latter days of our age. Who knows what technologies are already being developed and deployed, about which the public and media know nothing…yet. I think we are in for even more cutting-edge technological developments in the future. I think Genesis 11:6, combined with Matthew 24:37 and Daniel 21:4, guarantee we will learn of new technological “miracles” in the years ahead of us.
- http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2014/11/07/3-d-printed-car/18636105/
- http://www.computerworld.com/article/2841414/hps-move-into-3d-printing-will-radically-change-manufacturing.html
