The
Victoria and Albert Museum in London, UK has acquired two models of the world's
first 3D-printed gun.
The
'Liberator' pistol is the invention of Cody Wilson, a Texan law student whose
company Defence Distributed caused a furore in May when it made blueprints for
its firearm freely available on the internet.
The V&A museum has two copies of the Liberator pistol on display as part of London Design Week. The two prototypes on display -- one extant and one disassembled to show its components -- are part of a new collection of 3D objects. According to the curators, the guns "represent a turning point in debates around digital manufacturing." The Science Museum in London also has a Liberator on display.
In an interview with CNN, Wilson said that he felt the museum's curators appreciated the Liberator pistol as a design object, but also appreciated the political ideas the weapon conveyed. "The curators of the museum's digital collection understand Liberator and our other pieces are first and foremost articles of political thought-practice," Wilson said.
Wilson says that in his view 3D printing is still in its infancy, and that it will become more significant in the future: "I see digital manufacturing playing a bigger role in our lives."
While he thought that the mainstream firearms industry is no longer as powerful as it once was, Wilson said he thought that the spread of weaponry will gradually increase, and that in future it will be easy for almost anyone to get a gun: "I think gun-making culture is on an understandable decline, but the barrier to entry to this culture will be lowered."
If you
ask me, this technology is quite scary and should not even enter this our
country. Else...
The
distribution of the designs led to wired magazine naming Wilson as one of the '15
most dangerous People in the World'. In theory, once downloaded, the designs
would allow anyone with access to a 3D printer to make their own gun.
A
few days after Wilson conducted his first successful test of the pistol, the
U.S. government forced Defence Distributed to take the plans down. Wilson
complied, but not before the design had been downloaded over 100,000 times.The V&A museum has two copies of the Liberator pistol on display as part of London Design Week. The two prototypes on display -- one extant and one disassembled to show its components -- are part of a new collection of 3D objects. According to the curators, the guns "represent a turning point in debates around digital manufacturing." The Science Museum in London also has a Liberator on display.
In an interview with CNN, Wilson said that he felt the museum's curators appreciated the Liberator pistol as a design object, but also appreciated the political ideas the weapon conveyed. "The curators of the museum's digital collection understand Liberator and our other pieces are first and foremost articles of political thought-practice," Wilson said.
Wilson says that in his view 3D printing is still in its infancy, and that it will become more significant in the future: "I see digital manufacturing playing a bigger role in our lives."
While he thought that the mainstream firearms industry is no longer as powerful as it once was, Wilson said he thought that the spread of weaponry will gradually increase, and that in future it will be easy for almost anyone to get a gun: "I think gun-making culture is on an understandable decline, but the barrier to entry to this culture will be lowered."
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your views please.
1 comment:
This is dangerous
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