Because you are moving molecules, not electrons and the cost of mistakes can range from financially crippling to causing a company to go bankrupt to killing people.
Example: Takada Airbags.
Do you really think it matters one iota if they had better rapid prototyping or a better version of Proto Labs or a better CAM software package?
Or, how about manufacturing a VW car? How many billions are they losing because of software? How significant do you think eliminating the machinist (or whatever) might have been in this case?
Or how about these issues:
The resistance you are seeing is from people who exist well outside the echo chamber you are in. I mean, listen to yourself, you are comparing Moore's Law to manufacturing? Again. Are you fucking kidding me? Please get that out of your head.
Funding? Funding means nothing. Funding doesn't mean an idea or a product is good or will be successful. It just means you were good at selling what you wanted to do to investors. And, in some cases, absolutely clueless investors (not saying that's the case here). That's it.
Again, you are in an echo chamber. Funding means nothing. Fan boys mean nothing. Here's a list for you:
https://www.cbinsights.com/blog/biggest-startup-failures/
Many more like that one.
Look, where you lose someone like me is when you start to spew this nonsense about Moore's Law and manufacturing or the software engineering process and manufacturing.
> It's like the cab drivers complaining about Uber.
Another nonsensical example.
And, yet again, this betrays your lack of understanding of the problems faced in real product manufacturing. And your other comments showcase your disdain towards those who, unlike you, have been busy making real progress in a range of industries, from consumer electronics, to brick manufacturing to medical, aerospace and everything in between.
Manufacturing is always progressing because it is often the largest portion of the cost of getting a product to market. And so, the motivation to optimize manufacturing for cost, speed, efficiency, reliability, throughput and quality has been there for centuries. One could not be competitive to day with the processes and tools used 20 years ago.
Yet you somehow reduce the totality of the manufacturing problem to "we need to CNC machine prototypes as fast as software teams iterate code". Who gives a fuck? Really? That problem is solved, to a large extent, by both technologies and companies.
I can 3D print complex parts in metal while I sleep. I can have a complex 5-axis parts machined perfectly and in my hands in three days and at a reasonable cost. You are creating a solution for a non-existing problem.
I just don't see it.
Want to solve a real problem? Solve all the nagging friggin problems in 3D printing plastics. From speed to quality to dimensional accuracy and repeatability and more. There are real problems that need solving in that industry. The other stuff, what you are talking about, is a waste of time and money.
Anyhow, we obviously disagree. I wish you the best.