Looking around in
2045: A 3-D printed world

CONCEPT NOTE

In his interview, forecaster Peter Stamp raised a provocative issue that challenges the excitement surrounding 3D printing, highlighting serious concerns about copyright, authorship, and security. He noted, "While it's already a significant problem, I fear it will become even larger. One day, bio pathogens will be available to anyone. You can print guns with a 3D printer. Most of it can be made of plastic, with only a few metal parts. If you can download the product design from the Internet and have your printer produce a gun, that's not good. It's becoming too easy to do harm to others—even remotely, over the Internet."

This insight inspired me to explore a world where the paradigm of additive manufacturing goes rogue. In this scenario, we might see startups establishing themselves in low Earth orbit, escaping planetary jurisdiction and the constraints of gravity. This shift could lead to larger and more complex 3D-printed structures becoming a common feature in our built environment. My work envisions a future where widespread access to additive manufacturing becomes the prevailing norm, pushing this technology to its logical—and potentially extreme—limits.

The first patent that deals with a process much like 3D printing was filed by Johannes F Gottwald in 1971. He patented the Liquid Metal Recorder, (U.S. patent 3596285A), a continuous inkjet metal material device to form a removable metal fabrication on a reusable surface for immediate use or salvaged for printing again by remelting.

3D printing or Additive Manufacture has come a long way since then, with ever-expanding uses far beyond our imagination, and extending to scales beyond the purely desktop scale we are used to seeing.

Additive manufacture in the late 2020s played some role in almost every industry, from high performance medical applications to the conservation and architecture fields. Additive manufacture technology and processes were deployed from the smallest nano-scales to massive terraforming projects. As the investment grew, so did the use cases.

Two separate events in the US captured the imagination of the globe, pushing the limits of additive manufacture into bold new territory.

The Prosthesis Endurance challenge in Los Angeles 2045 featured a biohacking marathon supported by the biggest 3D printing factories creating a completely new format of man-machine hybrid runners. Global records were broken across almost all track and field events, with endurance races going on for over 1800 kilometres, more than 3 times the previous record held by Dean Karnazes.

He had held the record since 2005, running 560 km non-stop. It took him 80 hours and 44 minutes. The new prostheses allowed runners to complete the same run in 1/3rd the time.

The second event at almost the same time in San Francisco involved custom performative prostheses developed for Firemen and first responders, to endow them emergency super-human powers. Candidates who had lost limbs in service volunteered for custom fitted additive limbs that made them invaluable additions to the force.

With prostheses like welding arms and superhuman lifting arms that could lift loads upto a ton, the new additions remained to be tested. The floods of 2045 provided the ideal testing ground, with well documented search and rescue operations saving multiple lives, and ushering in a whole new generation of 3D printed add-ons.

3D Printed prosthetic Endurance races : Los Angeles 2045

First responder 3D printed Utility suits : San Francisco 2045

As use cases grew on the planet, more ambitious start-ups started emerging. The low orbit manufacturing facility startup from Chennai Vedika Astrolabs began with a single production unit specialising in making super high quality fibreoptics. The microgravity environment in low earth orbit allowed the production of high-quality ZBLAN (a type of fluoride glass) optical fibers, which vastly outperformed traditional silica-based fibers in terms of signal loss and bandwidth.

Microgravity allowed for the 3D bioprinting of tissues and potentially organs without the issue of gravitational collapse, enabling more complex and accurate tissue structures to be created. Metals and special alloys 3D printed in space were found to have more uniform compositions and fewer defects.

Off-planet 3D printing Factory Hub : Low Earth Orbit 2045

Delivery drones from Offplanet Manufacturing Hub : Low Earth Orbit 2045

At Nano scales, innovation in 3D printing was driven by huge advances in printing nano batteries for EVs. Several innovations focused on advancements in electrical technologies while others converged on nano-printing methods that utilised photochemical reactions including working with proteins glycans and genes.

AI driven tech paired with 3D Nano printers to print batteries in a manner that allowed electrons to pass through the entire cell at once, versus having to pass through from one side of the cell to the other. This created an almost 500X jump in the efficiency of charging EVs, powering the next generation of Nano Printing.

Nano assembly of Protein molecules : South Korea 2045

The Military was the biggest closet spender of 3D printing technology, pushing the size and scale of prints beyond imagination. The first generation of fully working zero supply chain tanks rolled off the factory floor complete in all respects, with metal and ABS parts being printed simultaneously.

Now that the technology has been established and made domestically available, a hacker based in Texas managed to get his hands on the print files and print his own version of the tank, adding multiple aerodynamic features to the base model, raising multiple dilemmas. He is currently using this tank to seed his fields, but future uses remain to be seen.

Military tank 3D printing facility : Ukraine 2045

Hobby tank printed over base model : Texas 2045

Additive Manufactured Military base : Texas 2045

About the artist

Ayaz Basrai is co-founder of The Busride Design Studio, a leading architecture and interior design firm in India. Busrai graduated in industrial design, specialising in product design, from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, in 2003. More recently, Busrai heads The Busride Lab in Goa, working with speculative fiction, heritage conservation, and their ongoing India Futures Project, trying to visualise and birth meaningful Indian futures.

Looking around in 2045: A 3-D printed world

About the artist

Looking around in
2045: A 3-D printed world