How 3D Printing is Changing the Way We Solve Problems | Andreas Bastian | TEDxVilnius

3D printing is changing the way we make things -- we're in a time of rapid change in both our ability to make and shape the world around us. Like every tool we as a species have used, 3D printing is changing the way we think about the design and structure of our built world. The printing press shaped what people wrote. The cotton gin changed how we made cloth. The assembly line changed how we manufactured nearly everything. Many of these technologies evolved as people applied them to real problems. Today, all over the world, many children are born missing parts of their fingers, hands, and arms due to a variety of congenital birth defects. As these children grow up, there are few options for prosthetics because just like shoes, they outgrow them quickly. And 3D printing might be a solution for that.
Andreas Bastian is a designer, engineer, and artist who develops and applies cutting edge 3D printing technologies. By being a 3D printing research scientist at Autodesk, he studies both novel and established additive manufacturing technologies and their role in the near future.
More about Andreas Bastian: bit.ly/1EXendY
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx

[@MarcGough]

This Is the positive side of crowd sourcing - distributed intelligence and resources, cracking difficult problems for the benefit of everyday people, rather than the more common use we see, just to try to cut costs so that one person can make more money. The democratization of production, on top of the democratization of publishing we already have, will enable an exponential growth in the speed of both innovation and distribution of the benefits of innovation. The third piece of the puzzle will be distributed energy production and that is close also. What a wonderful world.

[@edkalski2312]

Reason and critical thinking are what make tools possible.

[@PacoGumm]

I'm honestly amazed that humanity has come this far. We started with nothing, and now have 3D printing. I am honestly excited for the future!

[@eifelchinchillas]

Patents and capitalism are holding humanity back from getting even further even faster. Open source is the opposite of patents and capitalism.

[@PacoGumm]

@@eifelchinchillas don’t forget about religion

[@e7lggames99]

@@PacoGumm Religion is one of things that differentiates humans from animals, which gave us objective values, morals and a purpose in life. Most of our advancements today were built by many figures who were religious. I think what's truly holding humanity back is Humans themselves. Instead of just blaming ideologies for our shortcomings how about holding people accountable for their own actions. Who's causing all the misfortunes, inequality, wars , poverty, crimes etc...?? Greed, selfishness, totalitarianism that's what's holding us back.