What the hell is wrong with you people?

Emeritus Prof. John Hogg OAM*

There is something of the sublime and ridiculous about the latest headlines surrounding 3D printing. While this apparently isn't new stuff as I learned to my mild surprise on National Radio this morning, it is at the cutting edge of various technologies. The first announcement from the University of Wollongong was that within a decade we will have the technology to use a 3D printer to create custom made human organs suitable for transplants. This is science at its finest: endeavour at the very forefront of human ability for the betterment of humankind as a whole. Last year I was privileged to make the acquaintance of a friend of my wife's family, foundation Dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Wollongong, Professor John Hogg before he succumbed to cancer a few months ago. Ever the gentleman, John's chest would have swelled with pride at the thought that the department he created had taken an idea and developed it for the good of all mankind. The current shortfall in usable organs for transplant is a headache the medical profession has been helpless to address in the past. It has been hamstrung by the reluctance for people to come forward as donors and also by the fact that in most cases the donor has to already be dead. Couple this with issues surrounding genetic compatibility and you have a problem of excessive curliness. If the researchers are correct this is a breakthrough of wide-ranging beneficial implications.

The 'Liberator'. What the hell are you liberating
with that?

For every step forward though, there is some (brilliant) nutter intent on abusing the new technology. John's head would have shaken sadly had he known of the other piece of news that a law student in Texas had developed a plastic firearm capable of being downloaded and printed on a 3D printer. I am surprised that the primary outcry has been that as the only metal component is the firing pin, which is a common household nail, the firearm is almost undetectable at airports. Hang on a minute, that's the only worthy issue arising out of this? Admittedly, the current cost of a 3D printer makes it much more cost effective to make your own firearm out of old tractor parts yourself in the shed, or at least more cost effective to go and buy one somewhere. Surely the worrying issue is the greater proliferation of firearms to a population that isn't mature enough to use them? The inability for the United States to rein in its gun nuts has become a source of incredulous mockery (and here) and rightly so. It is ridiculously easy to point to the sheer number of incidences of serious gun crime in the US, especially in a week where 19 people were shot in a Mother's Day parade. Honestly, a Mother's Day parade. What is also bizarre to think is that this is a country which is not widely regarded as being in a state of civil war when so many people are shooting at other people. To me the argument that the second amendment right to arm bears holds less water than a small child with a bottle of fizzy drink on a long car journey but others make better arguments for imposing gun control in the United States. My incredulity stems from the notion that 3D printing is an amazing advance and has enormous capability for the good of all, but some schmuck can smell a dollar in it and wants to use it to sell some guns. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why we're all fucking doomed: greed will be the power that will eventually undo us as a species and steward of the planet and a plastic firearm that you can download from the internet is symptomatic of that. I believe it's called the thin edge of the wedge.

* John and his wonderful wife Lindy got their gongs for their immediate and selfless actions following the Bali bombings. They were very nearly victims themselves but kept their heads to set up a makeshift triage to tend to the mutilated and disabled. Without their efforts dozens more would have died. John died at the start of the year from a particularly virulent strain of cancer and is dearly missed by everyone who had the good fortune to know him.