Comment by peteforde | Hacker News Reader

Comment by peteforde | Hacker News Reader

I'm genuinely conflicted on whether this is brilliant or a gimmick. I absolutely want people to be able to access a large percentage of museum holdings - ideally, 100% - but this seems like a problem of discovery and digitization. It's not clear what this gadget truly solves that wouldn't be better served by, for example, an augmented reality app.

The only interesting point they make to chew on is that holding a physical object might help people forge stronger bonds with an these artifacts. However, the people most likely to be impacted by this is small children - the same ones that put things in their mouths. Montessori schools are all about manipulatable objects, ideally made of natural materials like wood.

I dunno, this seems noble enough and I don't want to shit on such a clever project. I just fret that 3D printed objects are expensive, breakable, likely to be stolen (accidentally or otherwise) and well, I can't help but feel like all of this is going to end up on the same garbage ship to Liberia some day.

Please, bring me to the other side! I want to love this.

I think it helps if you think of it as a project with two sides to it: a production/creative side, and a consumption side.

The positive thing about the 3d printed objects is that kids can choose and print them themselves. This has the benefits that the kids (a) get some hands-on 3d printing production experience, which is a fast gateway to wanting to make your own 3d models, which is a useful and empowering skill and (b) I have found that 3d printing a cultural artifact creates an incentive to learn more about it -- consumer 3d printers are so slow, it gives you plenty of time to ponder the item being printed, as well as the post-processing/finishing step, it builds an intimacy with the object you wouldn't have just walking by it in a museum. It might be hard to buy into this idea, but I have personally experienced it when printing scans of sculptures like the Pieta from the Vatican or Rodin's Thinker -- it motivated me to dig in and learn more about the background and nature of these works of art.

But yes, there is the issue that at the end of the day you are just pushing more plastic waste into the world. My adult daughter kind of hates my 3d printer for that reason, and I can identify with the angst. I wish there was a better story for PLA recycling.

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