Even as we debate the question of whether a world of abundance can be achieved, whether scarcity can be eliminated once and for all, the revolution continues:

These days, most people in the developed world run a professional-quality print works, photographic lab and CD-pressing plant in their own house, all courtesy of their home PC. Why shouldn't they also run their own desktop factory capable of making many of the things they presently buy in shops, too?

The possibilities are endless. Now, people can make exactly what they want. If the design of an existing object does not quite suit their needs, they can easily redesign it on their PC and print that out, instead of making do with a mass-produced second-best design from the shops. They can also print out extra RepRap printers to give to their friends. Then those friends can make what they want too.

Anyhow, that's how Adrian Bowyer sees it. It's a bit more optimistic an assessment than he provided when he spoke with Stephen back in 2005 (in an interview that looked all the way ahead to the year 2009!) and declared that the probable impact of his research was zero.