The physical limitations of silicon for computer chips are close to being reached or so I have read.
I guess they can put massively parallel processors in your desk top tower to keep increasing computer power but the silicon chip is close to reaching it’s limit as far as speed is concerned.
Moore’s law does not necessarily translate to manufacturing.
Moore’s law is the observation that, over the history of computing hardware, the number of transistors on integrated circuits doubles approximately every two years. The law is named after Intel co-founder Gordon E. Moore, who described the trend in his 1965 paper.[1][2][3] His prediction has proven to be accurate, in part because the law is now used in the semiconductor industry to guide long-term planning and to set targets for research and development.[4]
While the home based cheap machine market may not accelerate from now on like it has, research is ongoing into the technologies. The ultimate goal is atomically precise manufacturing, and we still have a log way to go to be able to perform that.
And if we look at the effect that the technology has on the manufacturing industry and commerce, we are just getting started and will see many leaps in productivity and cost effectiveness.
I started my career in the early 70s as a contract mechanical designer with only one class for one semester at a trade school. You either passed or failed. The teacher had a very good reputation and his comment on my certificate was “He can do it when he wants too”. That got my foot in the door.
I loved working with the old farts and would go to them with any questions on how to do something. They were happy to help.
I thought about becoming an engineer, some companies even offered to pay for my schooling. But engineers were being used as salesmen and I liked being creative and made more money.
I worked with some amazing people, all with their own obsessions and hobbies. I could never figure out how the self-taught technicians could be so under paid and so skilled in what we all accomplished together, but it was what they wanted to do.
What I’m getting at is that we were all garage smart. We started very young taking things apart to see what made them tick, and then putting them back together. We could fix or make just about anything.
As contractors, we would get a new job and it was like a reunion with some of your old friends, everyone was happy to see you walking in for an interview.
That all changed in the late 90s with the influx of H1-B people. I was still able to get the jobs but I was working with degreed young people that saw me as a threat. People without the aptitude. They would get upset when the boss would give me the fastest computer and the most challenging jobs.
I quit working 10 years ago; I just didn’t like the environment and I started doing house plans out of my house.
Just as it was in the late 80s with us going to computer swap meets buying parts to build our own computers for $3,500, this 3D printing will again let the creative be creative. We won’t be restricted by employers, we will all collaborate, the obsessive programmer, technician, the mechanical designer, the guys that are into model trains and airplanes, transportation, energy, Arduino, all of us, and we will do it because it is our passion.
I have already seen the excitement at my local 3D printing store’s monthly meeting. Nice people, friendly people, people like the old guys that loved to help me when I was young.
So yes, I see 3D printing growing by leaps and bounds.
I bought DDD and SSYS hoping it pays off as the next big tech stock. So far its working. But I’m keeping it for at least 5 years hoping it will be the next Microsoft or apple.