

RepRap replicates itself - eru
http://reprap.org/bin/view/Main/WebHome

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alex_c
This is so cool.

 _what the RepRap team are doing is to develop and to give away the designs
for a much cheaper machine with the novel capability of being able to self-
copy (material costs are about €400). That way it's accessible to small
communities in the developing world as well as individuals in the developed
world. Following the principles of the Free Software Movement we are
distributing the RepRap machine at no cost to everyone under the GNU General
Public Licence. So, if you have a RepRap machine, you can make another and
give it to a friend..._

Open-source hardware in itself is interesting, but viral machines? Too cool.

It reminds me of the olden days of bringing empty cassettes to a friend's
place to copy some of their music.

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swombat
"But it can't make steel rods, so it's not a true replicator."

... who cares about steel rods. However:

"The next version of RepRap will be able to make its own electric circuitry -
a technology we have already proved experimentally - though not its electronic
chips. After that we'll look to doing transistors with it, and so on..."

But... it can't make electric circuits?

So now the extended phenotype includes the brain and vital organs too?
Basically, all it can make without externally manufactured materials is the
plastic joints?

I'll tell you what it can make without any extra help: overblown, undeserved
hype.

~~~
ericb
They are iterating. Mock it while you can. It's a good time to say things
about how this will never be more than a hobbyist's toy. What they have so far
_is_ impressive, and the hype is not undeserved, especially down the road when
people realize its significance.

~~~
swombat
Fine. I have a blog, and I have every intention to write books at some point
in my life (and even some concrete options to do so in the near future). I
fully intend to keep on iterating until I am a famous author.

Would you not find it dishonest if I introduced myself as a famous author
today, rather than 30 years from now when I've actually done it?

~~~
nertzy
The distinction is that anyone (and lots of people) have blogs. So having a
blog is itself unremarkable.

So regardless of how their accomplishment is being presented, they did
actually do something of great merit.

I guess the headline is unfortunate because rather than celebrating the
technical advancement of hobbyists who share their ideas with the general
public, we're having semantic arguments over whether this accomplishment fits
a particular connotation of the word "replicate".

~~~
eru
Sorry, I went for the link-bait-headline instead of a serious one.

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manny
1st step towards von Neumann Probes!
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von_Neumann_probe#Von_Neumann_p...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von_Neumann_probe#Von_Neumann_probes))

