At the turn of the 21st century the Raelians captured the world's attention with the suggestion that human cloning was being attempted within their ranks. The notion that we can reproduce the precise DNA of another being, has inspired great science fiction, real scientific discovery, and a lot of controversy. The world of design now has its own cloning story: enter the RepRap 1.0 (short for Replicating Rapid prototyper), designed by Adrian Bowyer to produce the majority of its own component parts. Bowyer's RepRap 1.0, nicknamed "Darwin," evolved out of the desire to realize John von Neumann's mid-20th century proposal for a "universal constructor" -- that is, a machine that could copy itself. While the RepRap only reproduces its component parts, still requiring human assembly (leaving the dream of self-assembly yet to be realized), Bowyer points out that humans are themselves excellent assembly machines. (more...) ...
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At the turn of the 21st century the Raelians captured the world's attention with the suggestion that human cloning was being attempted within their ranks. The notion that we can reproduce the precise DNA of another being, has inspired great science fiction, real scientific discovery, and a lot of controversy. The world of design now has its own cloning story: enter the RepRap 1.0 (short for Replicating Rapid prototyper), designed by Adrian Bowyer to produce the majority of its own component parts. Bowyer's RepRap 1.0, nicknamed "Darwin," evolved out of the desire to realize John von Neumann's mid-20th century proposal for a "universal constructor" -- that is, a machine that could copy itself. While the RepRap only reproduces its component parts, still requiring human assembly (leaving the dream of self-assembly yet to be realized), Bowyer points out that humans are themselves excellent assembly machines. (more...) ...