You've got the wrong burr up your butt.

The money we give to large corporations though 'incentives', policies, military support, unneeded contracts and a host of other subsidies makes all of those 'welfare queens' that you're so worried about less important than a rounding error.

Let the little stuff slide. Deal with important things first.

And look at where you are now. Sunday morning. Slashdot.

Seems like you've gone downhill there, old boy.

What's even more heartwarming is the AC techs kind and gentle transplanting of live ants into the warm and cuddly confines of the electrical boxes.

My comment was pointing out that 3D printing has yet to change much of anything and starting down the road to seriously legislatively restrict the technology because of some ill founded fears isn't very useful (except perhaps to Government who wants yet another handle to control folks).

You can already obtain ceramic / plastic composite weapons. You can already make a zip gun out of heavy plastic tubing without the stupid 3D printer. It's really a straw man argument.

You could make one with a 3D printer.

OK. So we have a world where people can sneak around with .22 caliber one shot pistols that are not visible to metal detectors. I mean, everyone will want one, no? This changes the entire security dynamic, no?

Lions and tigers and bears. Oh. My.

Plastic gun printing changes absolutely nothing. The current stamping and seizing about this is simply panem et circenses.

Enjoy, citizen.

Where's the kaboom? You call that an earth shattering kaboom?

Oh. Wait.

I

It's relatively easy to get a small amount of highly radioactive material, say Cobalt-60, used in medical isotope generation. A little goes a long way if you're just trying to upset people by making a Geiger counter go nuts. Break into some decommissioned Russian hospital, some third world facility with poor security or steal it in NYC. A couple of sticks of dynamite, a timer and panic time.*

* For instructional and entertainment use only. Not to be taken as an endorsement or plan.

Yeah. Like Cessna 172s. I'm not sure why this is so different from flying around in a single engine prop plane - the kind you can rent for a couple of hundred per hour. Or buy for a small multiple of a drone cost. And it comes with a pilot so you don't have to worry (too much) about crashing.

"Yep, that guy! Over there! Jump him, he's a terrorist!"

"Who me? I just got my thyroid irradiated, give me a break."

Talk about adding insult to injury.

That's all they can do. Put you up on a stand and make you answer silly questions. They can't shoot you. They can't even put you in jail (unless you don't show up, that's Contempt).

Besides, Washington is beautiful this time of year.

But the government isn't going to get out of the way, no one has built a production machine and it's a little silly to predicate the biggest change in human civilization since civilization began on an experimental technology.

If it were that good, somebody in another country (you know, the rest of the world has smart people too) would be working on it. India is apparently working on commercial Thorium cycle reactors - if any country needs cheap energy it's India, but they don't seem to advertise a working unit just yet.

You didn't capitalize it correctly. That's the kiss of death.

That would work IF people could think. Most people can't think (very far). Certainly not enough to get PhD in some wonderful field or follow their intellectual horizons. This is the biggest issue (aside from the little problem with energy). Most people have achieved something close to their maximal potential. They aren't going to write that next novel, paint that picture or direct that symphony.

Sure, freeing up the relatively few people who can do that will potentially allow for some neat things, but you still have that enormous hoi polloi to deal with.

But those 'gift' societies were hardly egalitarian paradises. In fact, they often made European feudal culture seem benign. Forced warrior class (which was the popular method of birth control), slavery and a large priest caste made it a great place for the chosen few. The rest of the community not so much.

Now, the biggest reason for that was, wait for it, limited resources. The Pacific Islanders often got into trouble overreaching their local environment. To solve those problems, they either started a war with a neighboring tribe or encouraged some folks to talk a long ride in a small canoe. Same with mainland tropical cultures. What appears to be a cornicopian paradise always has limits to growth. Always.

Now, until you get unlimited energy you will have these issues, robots or not.

All wars are resource wars.