by Sixstrings » Mon 26 Jul 2010, 01:48:15
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('efarmer', 'I') suppose that the Food Printer will be almost a giveaway. The cartridges will break your heart in short order though, and you will try buying some cheap cartridges but they won't have the flavor of the good cartridges. After toying with the technology, you will see the machines sitting on ab exercise gadgets and particle board furniture at garage sales for $2, and every time you pick one up everyone will tell you that they no longer make the cartridges to fit that model and to pass on it.
Yeah I can just see it now "sorry sir, we don't stock onion paste for your HP printer anymore. Really, that food printer of yours is obsolete -- if you like onions, how about this model.." And then, fifty years from now, somebody smart will figure out a way to save money on cartridges by growing their own darn onions and re-filling old cartridges. And then after that we'll come full circle and it will occur to somebody to just eat the onion in the first place.
And what about power outages? So I guess the power goes out and everyone stands around dumbfounded wondering how they'll eat if they can't print food.
Seriously though, in view of peak oil this thing is silly. I've read about the micro-nutrient craze before, think I saw a show about it on one of those "food science" shows on NatGEO or History. Basically, the food industry and even chefs are very interested in this stuff because of the opportunity to create new textures, flavors, and complete dishes that otherwise could not exist -- it's like inventing new food.
Not saying I agree with any of that, just pointing it out.