It’s possible that Science Fiction inspired the creation of 3D Printing; we’ll never know for sure. That inspiration continues today, as we recently listened to Starship Sofa’s rendition of Bruce Sterling’s amazing short story, “Kiosk”. Published to the web in 2008, this story follows the career of Borislav, a street-savvy Belgrade entrepreneur who somehow gets his hands on an illegal Polish 3D “fabrikator” capable of printing pretty much anything in indestructible carbon nanotube material.
The astonishing tale takes place in a near-future world of industrial collapse, over-regulated product regimes, utter poverty and magical devices. We won’t give away the entire story here, but we’ll say that fabbing technology has a somewhat dramatic effect on society, quite reminiscent of our thoughts – except a bit more violent. It’s well worth the listen. If you wish to read the story, you can find it embedded in the 25th Edition of The Year’s Best Science Fiction by Gardner Dozios.
Sterling’s story begins at approximately 10:30 into the podcast. Enjoy!
Via Starship Sofa
