Sabine
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3D Printed Rockets & We Might Be Getting Dumber
🕑 Added 2023-03-15 19:15:01 +0000 UTCNew Data Visualization App From Google & The U.N.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has partnered with Google to produce earthmap.org, an app that lets you overlay regional data for changes in agriculture and climate on a map of the earth. If nothing else, it serves to illustrate how coarsely grained the existing data is and why I keep preaching we need to reach higher resolution to better understand local changes. Paper here.
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3D Printed Rocket Didn’t Fly
The launch of the world’s first 3D-printed rocket was cancelled on March 11 after the company, Relativity Space, couldn’t resolve a pressure problem in the second stage during the 3-hour launch window. The rocket, named Terran 1, is 110 feet (33.5 metres), has a diameter of 7.5 feet (2.2 metres), and was 85% printed from metal alloys. It would have been a test flight that should have entered Earth orbit to collect data about how well the systems perform. More here.
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We’re Getting Dumber
A new study suggests that IQs in the USA have been dropping for the first time in almost a century. They analysed the results of IQ tests taken from 2006 to 2018. Changes were particularly pronounced among those with less education in the age group 18 to 22. It’s difficult to interpret exactly what that means because the definition of “intelligence” is extremely controversial, but it’s probably not a good development. Paper here. Summary here.
Comments
There is a step-function when lots of folk can play. You get a lot more creativity. After buying a couple low-cost (not low-effort) 3D FDM printers, had to learn enough CAD to create models. Then had to re-arrange my mind a bit to realize what you could do with additive manufacturing was in some respects radically different than what was practical in past. The range of practical possibilities changes. This is a real thing. Yes, there is too much hype. Just as there was too much hype in the late-1990s dot-com bubble. At the same time the transformation wrought by the internet and the web is very real.
Max Eliaser
Working at Make Magazine about 10 years ago, I was on the ground floor of that hype. In my experience it's because the technology got into the consumer/hobbyist price range and there was an opportunity to market these things to a mass audience-- the premature hype was/has been a marketing strategy aimed at individual consumers rather than business procurement departments, and that explains the increased BS factor in the messaging. I always thought laser cutters were more practical for most people anyway. Nonetheless, there is still something real here; 3D printing tech may not be new, but its repercussions and applications still haven't been fully explored. The real innovation these days is not so much the mere existence of 3D printing but the discovery of more applications for it, and the evolving economics of 3D printing (as machine prices come down and existing machines get amortized, it can be applicable to more situations.)
3D printing was a curiosity back in the 80’s and useful in the early 90’s, not sure why it is hyped as new tech now.
TIN CAN
Yes, we have taught poorly. FB et al are brain poison. I can't wait until we can remove old infrastructure like buildings and bridges by laser and use the debris to 3D print. We will be long dead, if we actually do die. I worry about NOT dying!
