January 20, 2026
Nanofactories – theoretical matter printers, like Star Trek’s Replicators – will be revolutionary once they exist. Any material thing can be printed at will, by anyone. But we don’t need to wait until that future to draw great use from them. Even as conceptual models in thought experiments today, they provide deeply interesting value.
That is what this blog is about: Considering the Cultural Effects of Matter Printers.
Note that I am emphasizing the cultural effects. We could speculate about the actual mechanics of Nanofactories, but I’ll leave that for someone else’s blog. I am more interested in the Science Fiction approach: where future technology is used as a conceptual tool to help us thi…
January 20, 2026
Nanofactories – theoretical matter printers, like Star Trek’s Replicators – will be revolutionary once they exist. Any material thing can be printed at will, by anyone. But we don’t need to wait until that future to draw great use from them. Even as conceptual models in thought experiments today, they provide deeply interesting value.
That is what this blog is about: Considering the Cultural Effects of Matter Printers.
Note that I am emphasizing the cultural effects. We could speculate about the actual mechanics of Nanofactories, but I’ll leave that for someone else’s blog. I am more interested in the Science Fiction approach: where future technology is used as a conceptual tool to help us think more effectively about realities today.
By the time Nanofactories actually come around, we will also know that we’ve considered the cultural effects deeply and widely, and can utilize what we’ve learned.
And so, I welcome you to join me on this journey through Thoughts on Nanofactories.