Technology is advancing at an exponential rate and as a result, we are inching closer and closer to a world that is more akin to one shown in sci-fi movies.
It is true. In the coming 50 years, the world will change so much that we would barely recognise it as our own. In fact, why go 50 years ahead, just observe the present. If a person from 50 years back were to visit today’s world, he couldn’t recognise it either.
There are so many technologies that are being developed and are in their infancy that will have profound effects on the way we live life and do just about everything. One of them is 3D printing.
The name suggests a lot but let me just explain quickly what it is. It is the ability to print real life objects/things. Currently it is limited to its applications but in the future, you won’t believe what we will be able to do with it. Lets take a look.
1. Print Your Organs
I’m not kidding and yes you read that right. In the future, you will be able to print your organs be they internal or external. This will revolutionise the field of medicine and will increase humans’ life spans by quite a bit.
Today, when somebody’s internal organs get damaged, they have to wait for a donor. It costs a lot and the person has to wait a long time. Also, there are risks involved that the organ may be rejected by the body.
All that will change though however, as researchers are working on ways to print your organs with your own stem cells so that it will cost less, you won’t have to wait and it will be totally safe. This is still a good 20 years away though.
2. Print Your Houses
The housing market worldwide is getting more and more expensive every year. It is being progressively more difficult to get an affordable house that is just right for you.
This can change dramatically as in the future you will be able to print your house. That’s a sentence I thought I would never say. Anyways, this is already being done in China by a company that can build 10 houses in a day costing about $5000 using 3D printing.
So, in the future you’ll be able to download a design from the internet and employ a construction company who would then “print” your home, with much less cost, time and wastage of materials than today.
3. Print Your Food
Printing your own food, whenever you want, whatever you want. Now that sounds like a distant dream, doesn’t it? Not any more. We are rapidly gaining this ability to print actual edible food. More and more dishes are added to the ‘printable’ list every year.
A company called 3D systems has developed a printer that can print chocolates and candies, that too in beautiful shapes like the one in the photo. And for the really great news, there is a company whose printer can print pizzas and ravioli.
If that doesn’t scream future, I don’t know what does. I mean print pizzas? I would get fat in a week! But jokes apart, there are so many practical applications for this including making more kinds of food available to astronauts, getting food to people who don’t get to eat even two times a day like in parts of Africa and other places.
4. Print Your Clothes
This one is another very practical application of 3D printers. How many times have you seen something on the internet that you just wanted on a T-shirt? Well in the future, it will be possible to just print clothes of any design, color, shape all from the comfort of your home.
Don’t have anything to wear for that party tonight? Just download a design and print one! It’s that simple. This is still in the future however so you’ll have to wait before going on google to search for t-shirt designs!
You would no longer need to shell out thousands of dollars for a custom designer who would design clothes just for you. You could do it yourself through various softwares just like you edit a photo today!
5. Revolutionise Education
This is perhaps one of the most important on this list. Education will be just revolutionised with 3D printing capabilities in the classroom. No more would children be limited to the texts in their books.
They would be able to learn faster and understand the concepts better if they could hold the objects they are learning about in their hands.
It will be a great deal in design schools where you could transform your creations on a screen into a real life object. The same goes for engineering students who could bring their work to life so easily. Mathematics students could understand the different geometrical shapes and the laws and equations behind them better if they can actually hold them.