MIT faculty and researchers offer their thoughts on potentially life-altering technologies that lie just around the corner.
Neil Gershenfeld
Director, Center for Bits and Atoms
The most significant coming technology is the digitization of fabrication, the impact of which will be analogous to the digitization of communication and computation. Like those earlier revolutions, the consequence will be personalization, in this case, allowing anyone to make almost anything, anywhere. Coupled with digital video and digital libraries, this means that the formerly scarce resources (facilities, books, people) of advanced technical institutions (such as MIT) can become much more widely accessible.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on May 21, 2008 (download PDF).
