Deep in my nature I seem to have the desire to design mechanical gadgets of all sorts. I've done this since very early age starting in the "ancient times" where the web wasn't around yet. Thats the first of several routes towards my interest for 3D printing.
Some people need to create something physical to feel productive. I'm probably one of them. Thats another one of several routes towards my interest for 3D printing.
Some people need to create something long lasting to feel relevant. I'm probably one of them. That's why I'm interested in (for all practical purposes) unchanging "facts" like the ones in physics, math, computer-science and the little known field of exploratory-engineering.
At least today programming 3D-models is also much more long lasting than the "normal" immaterial software development that usually suffers rapid bit-rot and thereby makes programmers the to slaves of their own permanently decaying creations.
My two main areas of interest: advanced forms of manufacturing and advanced forms of programming have deep lying connections with each other. Those connections may not be obvious at first sight. Advanced forms of manufacturing and advanced forms of programming are the two components of the glue that we will needed to close the rapidly increasing rift between the physical world and the virtual world - the web. Advanced 3D modeling is what lies smack in the middle of the two.
With time I realized that beside just feeling right for me the things I pursue actually mesh together and may have significant value for humanity as a whole. I now have high confidence that with future gem-gum-factories virtually all of the currently most pressing civilization problems could be solved. Not to say that no other problems will pop up. (I've identified some potential candidates).
I feel l have the capacity to make a difference for future generations.
Actually I think that today all the the people that are fortunate enough to not being bound by the clutches of extreme poverty have the capacity to make a difference. I think so because in general in this new age of the the informationally interconnected world ideas do not get "used up". They continuously accumulate. Thus no matter how small our individual contributions are they stay around and they potentially count. Examples of the new power/influence of individuals (both positive and negative) are already countless and those stories are accumulating at an increasingly faster rate.
One should be aware though that the value of one's creations usually does not grows proportional to the work one invests. Like when assembling a puzzle the accumulated work often needs to reach a certain amount at which pretty suddenly all the ends connect together at once (like a percolation threshold - wikipedia)
Valuable work is often met with silence or even malice but if it makes sense and one keeps going (for decades) eventually something big may happen. In regards to that I like this philosophy: If one not even ties to make a difference one is almost certain to make no difference.
Created Friday 10 March 2017