Electric Monkey Pants

Check out the above video. It’s just about the coolest thing I have ever seen. My initial thought was “this has got to be fake” but Zcorp is a real corporation and the process seems plausible, especially the way that simple models take several hours to “print” out.

I didn’t know such things were possible, but it looks like somebody found a way. I guess they took inkjet and laserjet technology and added a 3rd dimension to it (thus, the “Z”, as in the Z-axis), using some sort of plaster-like material to form the objects. I just think it’s so amazing that they got this crazy-ass idea to work. I bet it doesn’t come cheap, though.

What’s more, scientists are using similar technology to try and “print” organs (like, as in human organs) at the cellular level. Imagine a world where waiting for a liver transplant doesn’t involve waiting for a donor but waiting for the printer to finish. Of course, the error messages will get that much more annoying: “Out of BioInk. Please insert fresh flesh cartridge. Or you will die.”

I can only imagine that something this powerful would be insanely expensive. If this technology is going to come down to the masses we’re going to have to get the word out to the people who matter, the people who can really make a difference. Yes, that’s right: Pornographers. Once the porn industry gets ahold of this and starts making life-sized models in a big-ass printer the world will never quite the same.

Of course, you can already predict which organs will be the first to reach the mainstream. Just be careful what you ask for when you go to the printer.