Ethical Analysis of 3D Printing. John MacDonald IT February 10, 2017

Transcription

1 Ethical Analysis of 3D Printing 1 Ethical Analysis of 3D Printing John MacDonald IT February 10, 2017 By placing this statement on my webpage, I certify that I have read and understand the GMU Honor Code on and as stated, I as student member of the George Mason University community pledge not to cheat, plagiarize, steal, or lie in matters related to academic work. In addition, I have received permission from the copyright holder for any copyrighted material that is displayed on my site. This includes quoting extensive amounts of text, any material copied directly from a web page and graphics/pictures that are copyrighted. I or any other student has not used this project or subject material in another class. Finally, I certify that this site is not for commercial purposes, which is a violation of the George Mason Responsible Use of Computing (RUC) Policy posted on web site.

2 Ethical Analysis of 3D Printing 2 Introduction A new technology emerging onto the consumer market is new compact 3D printers. Once a thing too large and expensive for the average person is now entering a new market as parts become smaller and technologies become cheaper. Home 3D printing has great potential for people to get creative with all sorts of home decorations, home improvements, and who knows what the online 3D printing will come up with in the future as things become even more widely available. On the other hand, with talks in government policy turning towards limiting people s ability to own assault style weapons a thing of the past; some code designers had drawn up assault style weapon parts and have made them open source for people all over the world to download and 3D print. These parts are plastic, which limits strength and yet cannot be detected by metal detectors, and lack serial numbers, which the government uses to register guns under a person s name. The government is blind to these weapons, also called ghost guns, and can be very scary since you do not know who might have an unregistered weapon. It is illegal to make firearms parts with a 3D printer at home, but with downloadable files online for free it can be a hard thing to get control of. Background Three dimensional printing (3D) or additive manufacturing is the process of layering thin sheets of plastic little by little until a complete three dimensional object is created. This technology has the ability to make all sorts of designs and geometric shapes. Some manufacturing companies to generate product prototypes use large-scale printers. Another cousin of this technology are computer numeric control (CNC) machines, which also move on an XYZ axis, but instead of laying down layers of plastic they use very precise drill bits to carve objects out of solid metal as well as other materials. Overtime these technologies have become more

3 Ethical Analysis of 3D Printing 3 available to everyday people. Now anyone can have a small CNC or 3D printing machine in his or her own home where the applications seem to be almost limitless from someone producing their own jewelry to compact 3D printer designed to go in space. Some are calling this new technology the biggest thing to happen to manufacturing since the assembly line. After one college campus put 3D printer in the library they reported Because of the popularity of 3D printing in the Library, we are looking toward purchasing more 3D printers to keep up with demand as well as expanding our makerspace to include other types of experimental and creative technologies and objects (Nowlan, 2015). Soon consumer will be able to customize products online to suit their exact need and companies can rapidly prototype new products faster than ever before. A whole community of home 3D printers has started online where people share files freely for others to print at will. Judging by the way things are going, the printers will just get cheaper and more available; which in turn will bring new people into the community. Potential Benefits Potential benefits for this technology are great as it becomes more affordable; this allows more people to get their hands into additive manufacturing and bring new ideas with them. Artists are becoming a large part of this field, creating a myriad of files fellow 3D printers can make. People have begun experimenting with fantastic looking prostatic limbs that can be customized online and printed in a person s home, if their 3D printer is big enough to support it. Whole industries can take part in the boom as well; like dentistry. For example, the dentist may wave a digital wand in your mouth to scan your teeth and a digital file to a printer in the office or a dental lab, where your parts will be 3D printed in FDA-approved materials directly to fit your mouth (Webster, 2017). Additive manufacturing puts production into the hands of small companies and personal inventors, giving them the power to create and innovate new products

4 Ethical Analysis of 3D Printing 4 that startups are built on thus opening the door for them to bring their ideas to fruition. Some go as far as to say we will be able to receive goods in digital form and 3D print them and turn them into physical objects (Kaur, 2012). One example of the potential benefits is a prostatic beak made for a bald eagle whose beak was shot off by poachers, this eagle would have certainly died without the help of this new technology. This is only the tip of the iceberg for what this type of manufacturing is capable of and as time goes on it can only touch more of our lives. Personal manufacturing will also change the way companies prototype 3D printers can be used by architects to show detailed models to the users (Kaur, 2012). There is currently an arms race right now for companies to make the most compact, affordable, and easy to use printers on the market, which is great for us consumers waiting to become a part of this exciting field. The future looks bright as 3D printer gain momentum and product development relishes in a new era of speed. Security/Ethical Concerns With compact 3D printers being such a new thing it is hard to predict exactly what people might use it for. Unfortunately, some people in the 3D printing community have other ideas for this new form of at home manufacturing. With the recent rise in mass shooting, there has been a spark of national debate as to whether people should be able to own assault style weapons. This has sent gun owners into a frenzy has they feel like their assault weapons might be taken from them. Fearing a world where the federal government has the upper hand, some people have started to try to use these very printers to manufacture key components of assault weapons. These ghost guns have no serial numbers and are undocumented to the government; there is no way of knowing how many exist. One company, Defense Distributed, started an online campaign to make files that anyone could get access to and effectively print working firearms components.

5 Ethical Analysis of 3D Printing 5 By December 2012, DD began prototyping more durable rifle receivers for the popular AR-15, a fact not missed in American gun politics after that month s Sandy Hook Massacre (Denio & Wilson, n.d.). This is a huge problem as seemingly anyone with a large enough printer will be able to print out an assault style weapon and these firearms can get into the wrong hands. Since their first posting, Defense Distributed has uploaded files for a second weapon onto the Internet for anyone with the right 3D printing equipment. On May 5, 2013, DD released the files for the Liberator pistol- the culmination of the Wiki Weapon Project (Denio & Wilson, n.d.). Ethically speaking, the government is not trying to take away anyone s guns and there are no really good reasons for someone to own military grade assault rifles. It s impossible to know where that mission will end, but just as it s clear that 3D printing is set to boom, it s clear that Wilson and company have changed the boundaries of what that boom will bring (Carr, 2013). The problems do not stop at weapons as people are pirating company s merchandise. Already consumers can obtain free graphics files for characters from the Disney's movie Frozen online (Scholes, 2015). Designers trying to make firearm files and pirating copyrighted materials should stop and think about how this could negatively affect the industry. Conclusion In the end, this is a great new form of creativity that has the ability to really help people in the world. It is a shame that some people want to be selfish and take a chance at ruining it for everyone. As of right now, no damning policies have been made to stop 3D printing from becoming more available to the public. This newer form of manufacturing is already changing the faces of some industries and is projected to continue to do so. From students collaborating to medical science and beyond, the positive possibilities in 3D printing definitely outweigh the negative. Personal manufacturing has a good potential to change the way everything we come in

6 Ethical Analysis of 3D Printing 6 contact with is made. No industry is without its problems and this one surely has some that will need to be addressed. As 3D printing becomes more available, an eager public is ready to meet it with new ideas and experiments. It is unclear how our lives will be affected, but one thing is for sure that 3D printing will change some industries forever. Whether it is rapid prototyping, customized braces or prostatic, to interior decorating everyone can benefit from personal manufacturing. Computers brought people closer together in a two dimensional way, 3D printing is set to bring us even close and clear into the next dimension. We will soon be closer than ever, bringing new ideas into reality and designing at an increasing rate far faster than before.

7 Ethical Analysis of 3D Printing 7 Bibliography: Carr, E., L. (2013, March 25). Click, print, gun: The inside story of the 3D-printed gun movement. Motherboard, retrieved from Carr s article for Motherboard serves as a great background for my paper into the dangers of a 3D-printing future. This article chronicles the story of one college graduate determined to lead a movement of ghost gunning. Where, behind the governments back, people can arm themselves with serious weapons in case the government ever tries to take total control. Wilson was able to do this by uploading a file to the Internet for free that anyone with the right equipment can use to print out his or her own weapon parts. Wilson and a partner have since moved on to start a company with the same intent in mind. Denio, B. & Wilson, C. (n.d.) DD History. Defense Distributed: Anti-monopolist Digital Publishing. Retrieved from In the summer of 2012, a couple of friends started a company to bring 3D printed weapons to the American people and people worldwide. With fears that the federal government will come to take their assault weapons away, they act to keep the fight fair; if there would come a day when the people would have to overthrow the powers at hand. As 3D printing becomes more accessible to people it is important to take into consideration the problems that this might bring. Here is a source leading the way for people to make their own ghost-guns at home. This could prove to be a huge threat to the fledgling technology if policy makers deem it too dangerous. Kaur, S. (2012). How is "internet of the 3D printed products" going to affect our lives? IETE Technical Review, 29(5), doi: This source is interesting since it takes a look into what this technology could mean for various people in the future. Kaur defines 3D printing as the latest technology to emerge from computing after social networking and various machine technologies. 3D printing opens a whole new door of how companies can connect with consumers in their own homes. The author goes on to develop ideas in what the future might hold for this promising frontier. Kaur outlines many possible progressions this technology could take in the near future. Nowlan, G. A. (2015). Developing and implementing 3D printing services in an academic

8 Ethical Analysis of 3D Printing 8 library. Library Hi Tech, 33(4), Retrieved from This article chronicles the trials of a library implementing new 3D printing technology on a college campus and reporting their findings. This article shows the growing presence of 3d printing, but also outlines some problems new users might face. This foreshadows a day when public 3D printers might be widely available. This creates a new dimension of creative thinking and collaboration for college students in engineering as well as many other fields. This source accurately shows the need for this sort of technology in the education department. Scholes, C. (2015, 04). The criminal underbelly of 3D printing. Australasian Science, 36, Retrieved from This source aims to take a look into realistic concerns with personal manufacturing technology and what this could mean for the future of 3D printing. Sholes draws a grim picture of what personal manufacturing could mean by making the comparison that children could use it to make toys, but in the same way criminals could make replica weapons for committing crimes. The article also take a look at the technologies ability to make counterfeit products that could be very close to the real thing. All of these reasons are very troubling and will have to be kept in mind as 3D printing becomes more available to the public. Scholes also outlines the process of 3D printing from acquiring the file to a little about how the machine works. Webster, S., A. (2017, February 9). 3D printing technology transforming dentistry. Huffington Post, retrieved from The Huffington Post published an article showing the potential of 3D printing technology and what it has been able to accomplish for the dental industry. With the use of 3D printing technology, dentists have been able to more quickly generate customized prototype prosthetics for patients. The dental market is huge and this means big money for any company who comes out on top. 3D printing is making a splash with new equipment changing the way dentist/orthodontists do their things. It even gives the US a chance to take jobs back from Asia where previously only they could make these products at an affordable cost.