Physics Genius Plans To Make STAR TREK Replicator A Reality

(From The USA Today -- By Kevin Maney)

"This machine makes every man self-sufficient. It takes the stickum right out of society."

That's a quote from a 1958 science-fiction story, BUSINESS AS USUAL, DURING ALTERATIONS, by RALPH WILLIAMS. It's about a machine called a DUPLICATOR, which aliens drop off on Earth as a test for humans. Put anything on the duplicator's tray and the machine makes an exact copy.

People go nuts, making duplicate duplicators, then making jewelry, clothes, food and money, rendering all products and cash virtually worthless. It's both a dream machine and a nightmare machine, giving everyone what they want but threatening to wreck the economy and the underpinnings of civilization.

So, of course somebody is really inventing one today.

And not some loony in a garage who thinks he's DICK VAN DYKE in CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG.

This is NEIL GERSHENFELD, director of MASSACHUSETTS INSTITITE OF TECHNOLOGY's CENTER FOR BITS AND ATOMS and a certifiable physics genius. He's got backing from the NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION. He's got interest from THE PENTAGON, venture capitalists and foreign governments. This week, he's in SOUTH AFRICA, where he's setting up one of his creations in PRETORIA.

He calls his machines FABS, and he's just published a book about his work, FAB: THE COMING REVOLUTION ON YOUR DESKTOP -- FROM PERSONAL COMPUTERS TO PERSONAL FABRICATION.

Gershenfeld's ultimate goal is to invent home fabrication machines that will be as common as HEWLETT-PACKARD INK JET PRINTERS. They will be able to make anything -- custom BARBIE clothes, MP3 players, cow-shaped cream pitchers, BARRY BONDS baseball cards from the 1980s when he looked skinny -- you name it.

"We're aiming at making THE STAR TREK REPLICATOR," Gershenfeld says, referring to the machine on THE USS ENTERPRISE that could conjure up a cup of coffee or a toenail clipper on command.

Physics Genius Plans To Make Star Trek Replicator A Reality