WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.161 --> 00:00:03.716
Now, let's take a closer look at 3-D printing technology.

2
00:00:04.100 --> 00:00:09.761
Now, it's made headlines this week after that shocking announcement from a Texas-based company called Defense Distributed.

3
00:00:10.239 --> 00:00:16.394
It claims that it has successfully fired the world's first gun that was made using a 3-D printer.

4
00:00:16.961 --> 00:00:23.268
Now, this video posted on the group's Web site appears to show the weapon being fired and a Forbes writer witnessed the event.

5
00:00:23.362 --> 00:00:26.320
So, what exactly is 3-D printing?

6
00:00:26.594 --> 00:00:31.640
Well, instead of using ink like regular printers, 3-D printers use materials like plastic.

7
00:00:32.010 --> 00:00:36.181
They take a digital image that you can create using modeling software on a computer,

8
00:00:36.200 --> 00:00:42.148
and then print it out by building up layer on layer of material to create complex solid objects.

9
00:00:42.347 --> 00:00:51.730
Now, car parts, prosthetic limbs, even human tissue had been 3-D printed by manufacturers and doctors who have been using this technique for decades.

10
00:00:52.320 --> 00:00:58.562
And thanks to cheaper 3-D printer models, the technology is now available to anyone with around $1,000 to spare.

11
00:00:58.677 --> 00:01:06.088
And for more, let's bring in our regular contributor, a senior editor at the NewYorker.com, Nicolas Thompson, who joins us live from New York.

12
00:01:06.149 --> 00:01:07.630
And Nick, let's back up a bit.

13
00:01:07.934 --> 00:01:12.243
For years now, product designers have been using 3-D printers for prototyping, right?

14
00:01:13.070 --> 00:01:17.565
Absolutely. I mean, people who design houses, for example, have been using 3-D printers for years.

15
00:01:17.831 --> 00:01:20.795
People who design airplanes, people who design any sort of complex system --

16
00:01:21.078 --> 00:01:26.065
the precision that 3-D printing allows and the ability to have flexible designs to change and to say,

17
00:01:26.109 --> 00:01:29.232
"Wait, what if I make this part slightly differently, what will it look like?"

18
00:01:29.576 --> 00:01:32.843
-- they've been the early adopters of 3-D printing. They've pushed this technology forward,

19
00:01:33.054 --> 00:01:39.103
and they've helped push it from something on the... you know, something minor, something on the fringes, to something that's now becoming ever more mainstream.

20
00:01:39.866 --> 00:01:41.776
It's gonna change a lot of manufacturing.

21
00:01:42.085 --> 00:01:45.808
There are certain things for mass production, for example, where 3-D printing doesn't work.

22
00:01:46.093 --> 00:01:50.239
3-D printing doesn't really give you great economies of scale. You have to do the same thing each time.

23
00:01:50.509 --> 00:01:52.343
Injection molds give you great economies of scale.

24
00:01:52.547 --> 00:01:57.064
So there are lots of things where huge companies will still make them in huge factories using the traditional methods.

25
00:01:57.374 --> 00:02:01.801
However, for small intricate things, it's gonna become vastly, vastly more efficient.

26
00:02:02.160 --> 00:02:05.376
And it's gonna shake up industries, sometimes for the good and sometimes for the bad.

27
00:02:05.730 --> 00:02:07.100
So let's talk about jewelry for a second.

28
00:02:07.556 --> 00:02:11.464
It's great, right, because you can design your own things. Somebody in their own house could make their own jewelry.

29
00:02:11.485 --> 00:02:12.658
Suddenly, you have all these start-ups.

30
00:02:13.167 --> 00:02:17.757
But there's also this problem where you see an earring you really like and you can rip it off,

31
00:02:17.834 --> 00:02:20.458
so it suddenly makes IP much harder to protect.

32
00:02:20.706 --> 00:02:24.967
So there's legal concerns with possible IP theft. But there's also something else.

33
00:02:24.998 --> 00:02:30.148
And going back to that printed gun, that 3-D printed gun, it's leading to a lot of worries in Congress.

34
00:02:30.340 --> 00:02:32.557
So should 3-D printing be regulated?

35
00:02:33.392 --> 00:02:35.058
That's an extremely hard question, right.

36
00:02:35.080 --> 00:02:40.456
So we do have a 3-D printed gun, and there's a whole community of people who believe that in the era of bitcoin and 3-D printers, you know,

37
00:02:40.506 --> 00:02:43.183
we'll be able to [be] self-sufficient anarchists.

38
00:02:43.476 --> 00:02:48.678
And you don't really want to encourage or enable that crowd, but what happens when you start to regulate it?

39
00:02:48.707 --> 00:02:54.562
Well, you get a whole bunch of problems. It's very hard for Congress to regulate an emerging, fast-changing technology.

40
00:02:54.918 --> 00:02:59.065
It's also something there... it's very important to the United States to be strong in 3-D printing, right.

41
00:02:59.098 --> 00:03:01.889
China is becoming very... you know, growing very quickly in 3-D printing.

42
00:03:01.927 --> 00:03:05.451
There is a story in The Economist about 3-D printed airplane parts in China right now.

43
00:03:05.764 --> 00:03:09.730
Barack Obama in the State of the Union mentioned 3-D printing as something where he sees real hope for America.

44
00:03:09.772 --> 00:03:12.386
So, you don't want to cut if off with intrusive regulation,

45
00:03:12.667 --> 00:03:19.840
but you do want to make sure that you protect intellectual property and you prevent the creation of terrible things like homemade weapons that can't be regulated.

46
00:03:19.890 --> 00:03:22.151
So, very tough choices for Congress right now.