RepRap replicates itself
reprap.org
reprap.org
what the RepRap team are doing is to develop and to give away the designs for a much cheaper machine with the novel capability of being able to self-copy (material costs are about €400). That way it's accessible to small communities in the developing world as well as individuals in the developed world. Following the principles of the Free Software Movement we are distributing the RepRap machine at no cost to everyone under the GNU General Public Licence. So, if you have a RepRap machine, you can make another and give it to a friend...
Open-source hardware in itself is interesting, but viral machines? Too cool.
It reminds me of the olden days of bringing empty cassettes to a friend's place to copy some of their music.
... who cares about steel rods. However:
"The next version of RepRap will be able to make its own electric circuitry - a technology we have already proved experimentally - though not its electronic chips. After that we'll look to doing transistors with it, and so on..."
But... it can't make electric circuits?
So now the extended phenotype includes the brain and vital organs too? Basically, all it can make without externally manufactured materials is the plastic joints?
I'll tell you what it can make without any extra help: overblown, undeserved hype.
Would you not find it dishonest if I introduced myself as a famous author today, rather than 30 years from now when I've actually done it?
So regardless of how their accomplishment is being presented, they did actually do something of great merit.
I guess the headline is unfortunate because rather than celebrating the technical advancement of hobbyists who share their ideas with the general public, we're having semantic arguments over whether this accomplishment fits a particular connotation of the word "replicate".
What would they announce in the future, that it made its first complete working replicated copy, oh, but more complete than last time?
I looked at the list of materials and there was no way they were making half the parts (chips, transistors, metal rods).