What will be the next disruptive platform(s)?
Currently, the top news.yc story is Mitch Kapor speaking at a YC dinner. The main topic was catching the next wave, a disruptive platform. This set in motion a chain of random thoughts I’ve been having about the next disruptive platform, one of many possible: the personal 3D printer. Specifically, I am talking about the RepRap project and its “forks”, to borrow a software term.
I have been following RepRap development for the last year or so, and I’ve had a vaguely nice, warm, and fuzzy feeling about it. I keep thinking that in 3-5 years, the RepRap would become useful to average Entrepreneur Joes like me. However, after I’ve seen the latest posts about printing the motor, I’ve come to realize that the usefulness might happen a lot sooner (keep in mind that printing an instantly-functional circuit board has already been proven by the same people).
