Better Than Wolves Forum

Katalliaan wrote: There's a group that's released plans for a 3D-printed single-shot pistol and have also printed receivers for AR-15s and magazines for AR-15s and AK-47s. Granted, they took the files down after a request by the US DoD, but that's not going to stop people from uploading it to places like Pirate Bay.

Yeah, I've been following stuff like that as well, as much like with the technology being discussed here, it wasn't long after I heard about 3D printers that my mind turned to the dark side of how they'll potentially be used in the future :)

The magazine thing really isn't that big a deal as for something like an AR-15 they're just plastic spring-loaded boxes (or metal ones in the case of the AK...at least the ones I've handled in the past, modern variants may be different, and while I'm not all that familiar with the AR-15 itself I've handled M-16s a lot in the past, so same diff), and you can even do without one in a pinch.

If the tech advances to the point where it becomes relatively easy to produce the harder to get parts like the bolts, or rifled barrels, that's a whole other ball of wax, and essentially throws all forms of gun control out the window as they'll basically be untraceable and probably disposable as well.

Have no fear though! We can always just put up more cameras and more heavily arm the civilian police force to counter the resulting threat! ;)

It has always been possible for anyone with basic knowledge of machining to make a firearm with a quick trip to the hardware store. It may not be particularly good but making them at home is nothing new

DaveYanakov wrote:It has always been possible for anyone with basic knowledge of machining to make a firearm with a quick trip to the hardware store. It may not be particularly good but making them at home is nothing new

What is new though is the barrier to entry in terms of the skill involved, and potentially the time that would be required to print one out in a pinch.

Also, as you yourself point out there, there's a big difference between a Saturday Night Special and an M-16 in terms of overall quality and potential for destruction.

Hopefully we'll be able to print homes and buildings with that new Swedish soft armor based on ceramic pellets before the technology can make a reliable automatic weapon

DaveYanakov wrote:Hopefully we'll be able to print homes and buildings with that new Swedish soft armor based on ceramic pellets before the technology can make a reliable automatic weapon

Lol! That's the spirit! :)

I love the application of the historical approach to this in that the solution for better weapons is to develop better walls ;)

And here, because this conversation inspired me to use the term "Saturday Night Special" for the first time in many years, and thus immediately put the song into my head, have some Lynyrd Skynyrd to groove to:

I think we should think smaller with our wall. Maybe we'll all be having nano-tech ordinary looking bulletproof clothing...

Sarudak wrote:I think we should think smaller with our wall. Maybe we'll all be having nano-tech ordinary looking bulletproof clothing...

Don't make me get all "nanites running rampant and splitting all the water in our atmosphere into hydrogen and oxygen" on you ;)

Remember when my first version of the stone-termite style sliverfish had the bug in it where they started devouring overworld structures right before your eyes? Same thing :)

I love nanites! Nanites are my friends and they love me. The ones in my brain told me so.

I always feared the idea of nanites in your body. When the government or some corporation gains control and makes you pay to live. An Oxygen tax for example. Can't afford it? We'll just turn off your ability to absorb oxygen. And your children can't escape it, nanites will be passed down from mother to fetus. O.O I NO WANT THAT!

*opens a tinfoil hats shop*

I've never worried about nanites because we can achieve everything we wanted nanites for with meta materials.

By the way, if you're afraid of the hololens because the government may use it to control your perceptions, don't worry. The military is developing the invisibility cloak (light bending meta material), so they won't need hololens at all. ;D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3rbouMIx9E

For anyone confused by the above:

(spoilers for the metal gear series)
http://metalgear.wikia.com/wiki/The_Patriots

no need to be alarmed with the idea of being enslaved... once they get self-replicating nanites they won't have any need for slaves ;)