Nonsense discussion: dreaming up new technology

[Brad Knowles]

At 1:58 PM -0400 2003/07/27, Bill Moran wrote:

>  So.  Am I the first to imagine such a thing?  How close is the
>  technology to actually doing it?  What does everyone think about it?

	This sort of thing is already under development.  They already 
have electronic displays on paper (they're already in use at stores 
like Wal-Mart as re-usable large sale display posters).  They're 
working on printing more complex electronic circuits on the paper, so 
that it can be used as a re-usable newspaper (just get it 
recharged/reloaded at your local newsstand).

	The primary problem with them right now is slow response times of 
the displays (on the order of a few seconds for the display to 
update, much too slow for a computer display but fine for "static" 
signs or virtual newspapers).


	There are already other technologies in use that function as 
ink-jet printers for other types of "ink".

	Certainly, there are already 3-D manufacturing technologies using 
laser sintering or liquid polymer solidification that all you to 
"print" three dimensional objects.  IIRC, the new Ford GT (re-make of 
the old Ford GT-40 from the 1960's) used this sort of technology 
extensively for their prototypes -- making new transmissions, 
u-joints, etc....


	In short, this sort of stuff is already well under development. 
Check old issues of _Popular Science_, _Popular Mechanics_, _New 
Scientist_,  _Scientific American_, _American Scientist_, etc....

-- 
Brad Knowles, <brad.knowles at skynet.be>

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
     -Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania.

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