Over the past two years, there’s been much commotion about Defense Distributed and the 3D printed firearms schematics they develop. The proliferation of 3D printing offers complex manufacturing capabilities to anyone with a few hundred dollars and a bit of computer savvy. While the benefits range from mere parts replacement to affordable prosthetics, the ability to print weapons has some critics arguing for regulation.
Regulation of what, exactly? The underground industry of homemade weapons manufacturing has flourished for as long as restrictions have existed; printed weapons are merely a new spin on an old idea. Defense Distributed founder Cody Wilson is often quoted as arguing for total second amendment freedoms, but the real issue is more fundamental: freedom of information access. Is it possible to regulate knowledge? Unlikely. If it were possible, what other repercussions could we experience?
Our real challenge as a global society is the understanding and acceptance of the vast possibilities afforded by the Internet, what physicist Michio Kaku calls, “a type 1 [civilization] telephone system“. As a species in evolutionary transition, there is no facet of order that can be isolated apart from the big picture.
Before addressing the issues of gun control and freedom of knowledge, we must first determine the type of civilization we aspire to become.
Cyclosapien 