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Yeah, CNC. There is a machine that the same folks that did the printable gun have developed. Its pretty beta, but will mill a receiver. Cost is about $1000 IIRC. Moore’s law kicks in, you’ll be buying them on ebay in a few years. Not just for guns, but say you need a part for your dishwasher. We are getting very close to the point where your local group home will be doing this. Oh and by the way, that sort of renders the Chinese advantage moot. Six weeks plus shipping or six minutes in your workshop

There was some legislation on printable guns, but I don’t think it passed. No matter. The genie is out of the bottle.

As for the economics. I went to a debate between Gordon Liddy and Timothy Leary must’ve been 25 years ago. Tim had a very good question as to what do we do with the people whose jobs are rendered nonexistent due to technology?

Oh and printing more FRN’s is not a winning strategy. Sooner or later the bill comes due.

That's very good news on the mill. There will be heavier ones, too. Whole machines are being designed (open source), built and tested in early production.

"Tim had a very good question as to what do we do with the people whose jobs are rendered nonexistent due to technology?"

I did machine work for a living during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Monkeys can be taught to be machine operators for a community, but many of the overpaid regulators and other government employees of today? I'm not sure.

;-)

Transportation will continue to become more expensive. The oil for fuel is there, but it will be increasingly expensive to get. Some power plants and trucking businesses are being switched to natural gas, and liquid natural gas is being exported.

East Asia and other areas will continue to see more drivers--probably hundreds of millions of them around the world during the years ahead. High production rates in small shops for communities won't be needed or desired for most operations, although increased automation in small shops will be welcome. Most transportation routes for products will be shorter, and smaller loads will be more common.

Those are natural consequences for long periods of unemployment for many people. Many will become more determined to work for more dependable employers: themselves and others like themselves.

The future probably won't be without all kinds of problems. But there's nowhere else to go, unless the end of days and World to Come are just ahead. And productivity won't be for everyone, but the build-it-yourself means will be there for those who want to produce.

Could a major disruption occur? Yes. Maybe nuclear exchanges or something as destructive? Maybe a terrible epidemic? We already see a likely default, repudiation and government shrinkage process ahead, which would certainly slow a "service economy" to a snail's pace. But even such disruptions can have unforeseen consequences that would lead to more self-sufficiency and freedom for many.

"We are getting very close to the point where your local group home will be doing this."

You were right about that after all. ;-)

Try to grasp the consequences of putting even more fear into those most influential constituents in the shadows, though. Here's an example of what really happens to someone snagged by an anti-Second-Amendment law.

The Emerson Case

Nearly all of the Republicans in Congress voted in favor of that law, by the way.