Philosophy Commons^™

The Risks Of Revolution: Ethical Dilemmas In 3d Printing From A Us Perspective, Erica L. Neely

Philosophy and Religion Faculty Scholarship

Additive manufacturing has spread widely over the past decade, especially with the availability of home 3D printers. In the future, many items may be manufactured at home, which raises two ethical issues. First, there are questions of safety. Our current safety regulations depend on centralized manufacturing assumptions they will be difficult to enforce on this new model of manufacturing. Using current US law as an example, I argue that consumers are not capable of fully assessing all relevant risks and thus continue to require protection any regulation will likely apply to plans, however, not physical objects. Second, there are intellectual …