[1460] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
End Of The World, Part I
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Michael S. Hart)
Mon Oct 12 18:54:56 1992
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1992 17:10:52 CDT
Reply-To: Project Gutenberg Email List <GUTNBERG%UIUCVMD.BITNET@mitvma.mit.edu>
From: "Michael S. Hart" <HART@vmd.cso.uiuc.edu>
To: Multiple recipients of list PACS-L <PACS-L%UHUPVM1.BITNET@mitvma.mit.edu>
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Part 2 of Part I
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
COPYRIGHT 1992 PROF. MICHAEL S. HART, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
THIS MESSAGE MAY NOT BE COPIED WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION
Of course. . .Replicator Technology(TM) will be moving into these
future scenarios, too. The result will be that very exact copies
of three dimensional objects will be inexpensively available, and
won't have to be borrowed and returned either; this will probably
begin with objects so thin as to be nearly two-dimensional; stuff
like paintings, for instance.
At the end of 2001, Project Gutenberg intends to unveil the three
dimensional aspect of its Replicator Technology(TM) program, with
the scanning and reproduction of paintings. This will not be any
different than current scanner technology, except that the scans,
such as they are, will not be just of the surface of an object.
With advances in CAT and MRI scans, and X-ray fluoroscopy, three-
dimensional objects of a thin nature such as paintings will be as
easily reproducible as color xeroxes today, and not all that much
more expensively, after a few years for the prices to settle down
a little. Once the painting has been scanned, say at a hundredth
of an inch for the ten layers of a painting a tenth of an inch in
thickness, then the printer will lay down ten layers of paint/ink
to build up an exact three-dimensional replica of the paintings--
right down to the first layer the artist put on the canvas. This
will allow art historians to peel off layers of a painting to see
what technique was used to create the translucent effects of that
age known as Impressionism, for instance. It will also allow the
art historians to solve raging controversies about Pablo Picasso,
whether he painted the Old Guitarist (Blue Period) over another--
or whether the woman whose outlines can be seen in the background
is the lost love the Old Guitarist is dreaming of. Myself, being
an old romantic, am rooting for the latter.
Surface scans, printed in one layer only, but on material carved,
or burned out by laser, will, of course, be even less expensive--
but will lose a lot of the translucent effect, and will not be of
value to the art historian.
Stereographic lithography, though still in very expensive stages,
allows for this kind of reproduction in thicker three-dimensional
distances. This process allows any three-dimensional object. . .
real or imagined. . .to be created to these same exact tolerances
by inserting lasers into a liquid of long-chain molecules much as
those described in "The Man in the White Suit" (1950's movie with
Alec Guiness). These molecules then solidify under the influence
of the laser light, and form the three-dimensional object created
by the computer program.
Once printers are developed that can handle more than paint/ink I
described above. . .well. . .they sky is the limit. . .my example
has been to fax someone a pizza. If the printer can handle dough
and cheese, along with tomato sauce and your choice of toppings--
WHY NOT?
=====================================================
Thank you for your interest,
Michael S. Hart, Professor of Electronic Text
Executive Director of Project Gutenberg Etext
Illinois Benedictine College, Lisle, IL 60532
No official connection to U of Illinois--UIUC
hart @uiucvmd.bitnet or hart@vmd.cso.uiuc.edu
=====================================================
Thank you for your interest,
Michael S. Hart, Professor of Electronic Text
Executive Director of Project Gutenberg Etext
Illinois Benedictine College, Lisle, IL 60532
No official connection to U of Illinois--UIUC
hart @uiucvmd.bitnet or hart@vmd.cso.uiuc.edu
COPYRIGHT 1992 PROF. MICHAEL S. HART, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
THIS MESSAGE MAY NOT BE COPIED WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION
