Check this video out and then scroll down and catch up with me:
[tentblogger-youtube rej9n3CDtRY]
Ready to move on? Ok. Cool. I’d heard that this was coming a while back, and I wondered how long it would take for the mainstream media to catch well. Today, it seems they have.
CNN has posted a video of a working 3D printed guns.
Read that sentence again and realize how crazy anti-gun/pro-gun people are going to go in the US. And then, realize how this could change everything.
Worse than Guns
What this tells me is that our feeble attempts to legislate morality, to protect each other with laws written on paper isn’t going to work anymore. Technology has a long history of going beyond, behind the law and make the illicit easy (Napster, anyone?). As technology increases, the power of the law to reign in human behavior diminishes. Not to sound too doom and gloom, but this does not bode well for order, society, etc. Today, we can print guns. I don’t know what will come next, but I’m sure that worse, more dangerous items will be thought up in a matter of time.
The Next Battle
Based upon what I’ve heard/seen from others, I think the next battle will be over the definition of life and what it means to be a human. Why? It won’t be long before 3-D printers will be able to use amino acids, proteins, etc to build living tissue (I’ve “heard” that it’s already possible, but you can’t trust everything you hear). I was in sixth grade when Dolly, the first cloned animal, was unveiled to the world. Immediately, a host of protest was presented to prevent human cloning. I don’t think that such protests would erupt today.
3-D Church
What’s the end game here? Why cover this? Because the Church needs to engage culture on this issue. Not with angry protests that make us look irrational and irrelevant but with carefully constructed, scientifically-reasoned arguments. Technology needs an injection of pure, clean theology. If we’re not on the forefront of science and technology our theology will be quickly and quietly ignored. The Church has a long sad history of missing the mark when culture shifts. If we miss this one, our ability to speak into the cultural dialogue regarding these major moral issues will be severally limited.
If you had a 3-D printer, what would you print?
Is this really an issue for concern?
Speak your mind...