Designing Reality: How to Survive and Thrive in the Third Digital Revolution

That's the promise, and peril, of the third digital revolution, where anyone will be able to make (almost) anything

Two digital revolutions -- computing and communication -- have radically transformed our economy and lives. A third digital revolution is here: fabrication. Today's 3D printers are only the start of a trend, accelerating exponentially, to turn data into objects: Neil Gershenfeld and his collaborators ultimately aim to create a universal replicator straight out of Star Trek. While digital fabrication promises us self-sufficient cities and the ability to make (almost) anything, it could also lead to massive inequality. The first two digital revolutions caught most of the world flat-footed, thanks to Designing Reality that won't be true this time.

Neil Gershenfeld has been called the intellectual father of the maker movement. He leads MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms, and is the founder of the global network of over 1,000 community fab labs.

Alan Gershenfeld is president of E-Line Media and former chairman of Games for Change. He is currently working with the Center for Bits and Atoms and Fab Foundation on a DARPA funded game to fire the imagination of a generation around the future of digital fabrication.

Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld is a professor at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University and former president of the Labor and Employment Relations Association. He is a pioneer in high performance work systems and has led U.S. and global mapping of stakeholder alignment around digital fabrication.