>And then continue on to give tinkerers the same engineering access for tools for making things: CNC lathes and mills, etc. Then your "whoever you are ... you can do just about anything" part becomes even more powerful. My 2c.
We're close. Between home CNCing and 3D printing, both subtractive and additive machining processes are available and becoming more readily accessible for home production.
I've been excited about home manufacturing for a long time. It really has the potential revolutionize so many things in the world. The advancements in material research related to this has been pretty awesome over the last decade.
A world where any individual can produce most of anything they may need, using what will hopefully be more and more biodegradable and reusable materials.
Between that and small scale agriculture and power generation, this is where I really hope the direction the future goes.
A society built on small scale local first production that branches out further and further to a connected global grid. It gives power back to local communities, allows a trade network based on actual necessary commodities starting at a more local scale and scaling to a global scale seamlessly.
Something that puts the least pressure on the world while still allowing the benefits of a globally connected world.
So much amazing technology is available today to allow a smaller and smaller level of independence that can contribute back a lot to local society. Things that were out of reach 30 years ago or so are now within the reach of nearly anyone with small amount of resources and the willingness to learn and try.
To address some of the other comments here too. Educating enthusiasm to the general public is the best way to start. Whatever someone's interests are, there's a chance computers can be included in some way. Teaching people about how computers can help them with things they already enjoy will help them along the way to becoming enthusiastic about computers in general.
We're close. Between home CNCing and 3D printing, both subtractive and additive machining processes are available and becoming more readily accessible for home production.
I've been excited about home manufacturing for a long time. It really has the potential revolutionize so many things in the world. The advancements in material research related to this has been pretty awesome over the last decade.
A world where any individual can produce most of anything they may need, using what will hopefully be more and more biodegradable and reusable materials.
Between that and small scale agriculture and power generation, this is where I really hope the direction the future goes.
A society built on small scale local first production that branches out further and further to a connected global grid. It gives power back to local communities, allows a trade network based on actual necessary commodities starting at a more local scale and scaling to a global scale seamlessly.
Something that puts the least pressure on the world while still allowing the benefits of a globally connected world.
So much amazing technology is available today to allow a smaller and smaller level of independence that can contribute back a lot to local society. Things that were out of reach 30 years ago or so are now within the reach of nearly anyone with small amount of resources and the willingness to learn and try.
To address some of the other comments here too. Educating enthusiasm to the general public is the best way to start. Whatever someone's interests are, there's a chance computers can be included in some way. Teaching people about how computers can help them with things they already enjoy will help them along the way to becoming enthusiastic about computers in general.