There are a couple of things that are a little troubling about this sort of thing.  The fact that you can print yourself a weapon that is not registered or otherwise noted is startling enough.  Add to it the simple fact that you are pretty much wiping out several industries with this invention is something else entirely.  Jobs will go by the wayside and things will cease being a big deal if you can “print” them rather than go out and spend hard earned cash buying the genuine article.

Now, some of you are saying that something like this is only a fad and it really won’t take.  I wonder if that is possible, given that this is now in the hands of individuals.  Let this continue forward as most technologies do, getting more refined and cheaper as things go along and you have the makings of a revolution in the working world.  No longer will people be needed to produce certain things.  Instead 3D printers will take care of things while you go do something else.

Industry is taking surprising turns and has over just the last 10 years.  How many of us envisioned something like a smart phone in our lifetimes, let alone right now?  How many of us thought that the internet would play a role that is so essential in our lives?  It was a fad 15 years ago.  Now, it is a necessity, much like the home phone was so many years ago.

While all of that is certainly encouraging, it is a discouragement that we are in a place where many people with skills that they have had most of their lives will now no longer be skilled enough to be a part of the working world.  Indeed the media industry, a field that I have spent 20 years in, is changing so much that many are getting out while they can, since we are now all members of the media through Facebook, Twitter and so many other outlets.

Change is coming, whether we like it or not.  Time to be looking at how to adapt to it, rather than how to be left behind by it.