3d Printing Technology Essay Example for Free

3d Printing Technology Essay Legitimate Concerns Facing 3D Printing Technology Executive Summary This research journal article discusses how 3D Printing technology may effect federal firearms regulations. The focus of the article is that, due to the development of 3D Printing technology, individuals, even people without technical expertise, now have the ability to use the new technology to produce guns at home much more easily than they ever have before. This behavior might bring great harm to society. However, if a comprehensive prohibition on using 3D Printers to manufacture personal weapons were implemented, it might defy the 2008 District of Columbia v. Heller Supreme Court decision. In fact, the increasing popularity of 3D Printing means lawmakers must decide soon whether or not to allow 3D Printing of weapons. 3D Printing either should only be allowed to produce things that cannot be used as lethal weapons. Or, secondly, it can be used to produce a physical, working gun. The second option might achieve advances in 3D printing technology and promote the development of firearms design. However, developments in 3D Printing technology are creating concerns that not only legitimate consumers but also criminals are able to â€Å"print† firearms at home. If the law doesn’t allow individuals to use 3D printers to manufacturer personal weapons like handguns, it might be illegal according to the Second Amendment of the Constitution, a provision which protects the right of individuals to possess firearms under the law. Specifically, under the 2nd Amendment individuals may have the right to create their own firearms for self-defense, and the right to the manufacture firearms technology and materials. Analysis and Critique In fact, 3D Printing technology is not brand new. This technology has been undergoing development for more than a decade. The reason it became more popular recently is because of decreasing usage costs, so more and more individuals have the opportunity to own 3D Printers for personal use. In my analysis and critique of this journal article, I will focus on three different areas: how well does it deliver information to the reader, how the product will evolve in the future, and what is my opinion of concern about 3D Printing technology relate to firearms production after reading this journal article. First of all, this article is well organized and divided into four parts. The first part introduces what 3D Printing is, and how it is possible to produce firearms using the technology. The second part explains why the sale and production of firearms are limited under federal regulations, and provides an overall outlook of the firearm industry. Part three includes explanations of how 3D printers may change firearms production. Finally, Part four describes the constitutional right to bear arms, and it also analyzes the extent to which Heller’s case may limit prohibitions on 3D Printing. Moreover, this article provides other critical information to explain key points. It is a very valuable introduction for a reader without a background in the subject who might not be very familiar with the IT industry or with the relevant legislation. Based on the data and supporting details provided by the author, readers will have a basic idea of the fundamental issues concerning the intersect ion of 3D Printing and weaponry. As a result, it relates the technology to big concerns about public security, and the author gives great examples of the various legal arguments on the topic. Therefore, I think this article is a valuable qualitative article that can expand people’s knowledge on the subject. Secondly, besides concerns about guns, there are no other disadvantages to the improvement of 3D Printing, which will make the operating cost of the technology increasingly cheap. Jensen-Haxel explains how 3D Printing actually works in his article: The process begins with a digital 3D model created using Computer Added Design (CAD) software. The software automatically slices the model into a stack of thin horizontal cross-sections about 0.1mm in height. The, 3D printer then builds the physical model by depositing material layer by layer. At the same time, 3D Printers are getting smaller and smaller, which will make it easier for consumers to have their own machines at home. This changes the old production model. Nowadays, people are allowed to produce whatever they want using a 3D Printer, all they need are the required data and materials. In fact, because of the development of the Internet, it is easier than ever for people to find these resources online. Evans states that: The quickest way to get started with 3D printing is simply to find models online that others have already created and shared on the Internet. The online 3D printing community is growing all the time, so more and more things are being shared every day. Therefore, the limitations of self-production have shifted from hardware difficulties to software or materials issues. The technology is becoming simpler to use, but it might harm light manufacturing industries because some designers may be able to use their own 3D Printers to produce a sample instead of finding established producers that use traditional manufacturing methods. Because of these improvements, the potential for 3D Printing is bright, but the light manufacturing industry might be negatively affected by it. Finally, the author argues that the rapid improvement of 3D Printing and the increasing convenience for individuals to produce things with it is both a major concern and a tremendous possibility. Should individuals receive the right to do whatever they want with 3D Printing technology, even the ability to â€Å"print† firearms? The topic of gun safety has become especially relevant since the school shooting in Newton, Connecticut last year. More and more people are arguing about if the government should make some changes to firearms regulation. Jensen-Haxel wrote in his article that: â€Å"As the power of production passes from industry to consumer, many areas of the law may be caught unprepared.† (P.448) Concerns about the rate of technological progress outpacing regulations are not limited to 3D Printing. Because of the relentless improvements to technology, more and more challenges will occur as regulators try to manage new technology. The fact is, in most cases, laws only change after a new problem occurs, which means that new products will often exist in a legal gray area before rules can be changed. How the government deals with this issue might be a big concern in the following decades. To sum up, this article first introduces 3D Printing technology, and gives an example how 3D Printing has been used to â€Å"print† a firearm. As a result, the author relates this new technology to a regulatory concern. Within his argument, he provides lots of legal information, and then tries to point out a fact that some gray areas exist because regulation usually develops slower than a new technology can. Back to this article, is seems like the future of 3D Printing technology in unclear until the government resolves the legal issues concerning manufacturing weapons with this technology. Reference Evans, B. (2012). Practical 3D printers: the science and art of 3D printing. New York: Apress. Jensen-Haxel, Peter (2012). 3D Printers, Obsolete Firearm Supply Controls, and the Right to Build Self-Defense Weapons Under Heller. Golden Gate University Law Review; May2012, Vol. 42 Issue 3, p447-496, 50p

Analysis of the Jurors in 12 Angry Men :: 12 Angry Men, Reginald Rose

In all criminal cases presented in the courts of the United States, a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt. The law requires the jury to release the defendant unless it is fully convinced of the defendant's guilt. Many times it may be difficult for a jury to come to such a significant conclusion. This is clearly evident in the movie 12 Angry Men. At first, each juror is convinced of his verdict except one. Yet of those who are convinced that the boy on trial is guilty, all change their vote except one. A precise example of this would be a comparison between Juror 3 and Juror 6. Both jurors have heard the same case and have studied the same evidence. Yet of the two, Juror 3 does not understand why anyone would consider the defendant not guilty. By taking a closer look at this character one may be able to understand why he seems to have no compassion towards the young boy. At first, Juror 3 appears to be a successful businessman who owns a messenger service. Yet as time goes on, one may see him as a sour and unhappy man. He wants to base the case solely on the evidence presented at the trial. Throughout the meeting in the jury room, Juror 3 disregards all other evidence brought up by Juror 8 and the others. He says that the evidence revealed may not be accurate or true. Therefore, it should not be taken into consideration. As time goes on he becomes more and more passionate and seems to be somehow personally involved with the case. At one point, he tells the other jurors about an argument between him and his son. Juror 3 and his son had an argument which made his son run away. When his son returned to apologize, Juror 3 hit him for leaving the first time thus leading him to run away once more. He has not seen his son in two years and this has left him somewhat bitter inside. His anger toward his supposed ungrateful son is projected toward the young man on trial. Juror 3 has no concern for the life of the defendant. He makes it clear that he would have been an executioner and would have pulled the switch on the boy himself. His personal troubles have imposed on his ability to come to a verdict.

Descartes’ First Trademark Argument Essay

Descartes argues that our idea of God is innate, meaning it is something inside us from birth, something that has always been there and will always be there. He believed that everybody has an idea of God being a supremely perfect being, and comes to the conclusion in his argument, that God himself put this idea there, he even said that our idea of God is like â€Å"the mark of the craftsman stamped on his work† – us being the work, the mark being our knowledge of God himself. For Descartes, the fact that everybody has this innate idea of a supremely perfect God is in itself, proof of his existence; and the fact that this is an a priori argument, makes this argument appealing for all rationalists, as it relies on knowledge, and not sense experience – which Descartes never trusted. The foundation for Descartes argument is the causal adequacy principle, this is the idea that something (for example, A cannot exist unless it is produced or caused by something else that contains formally or eminently everything that is found in A. Formal reality refers to the basic properties that a thing possesses. However, this alone would cause problems for Descartes argument, because God obviously does not possess all of the properties, of all of the objects on earth, take for example a stone, its properties are hard, round, rough. God is not these things. The way Descartes gets round this is by saying that something say again, a stone, can be caused by something that contains the properties eminently. To contain something eminently, means for the cause to not necessarily have the same properties as the effect, but to have a greater property. So God may not possess the qualities of a stone (say hardness) however he possesses a quality greater then this. In other words, the causal adequacy effects means the cause of something can be no less then the effect. Descartes then takes this principle, and believes he can apply it to ideas, in particular the idea of God as a maximally/supremely perfect being, the cause of this idea, must therefore must contain formally or eminently maximum perfection, so therefore the cause of the idea of God must itself be maximally perfect. Descartes then uses deductive reasoning to decide where the idea came from, he first asked, could he be the source of the idea? However concludes that he can’t be, because he himself is not supremely perfect, and therefore he can’t be the cause of a supremely perfect being. He then considers if the idea of a supremely perfect being could have come through his senses, however he decides this isn’t possible, as he knows he has never seen (heard, smelt, tasted) a supremely perfect being. He then asks if he could have imagined a supremely perfect being, again he concludes he couldn’t have, because his idea of God is too clear and distinct to have come from his imagination. He therefore deducts that the cause of the idea of a supremely perfect being, is actually an existing supremely perfect being who ‘placed’ this idea in his mind; so therefore, God exists. There are however, a number of criticisms to this argument, firstly, many philosophers have raised doubts as to whether the causal adequacy principle is actually true to real life, as there are a number of examples in everyday situations where the cause at least appears to be less then the effect, for example, a match causing a roaring bonfire, or a whisper causing an avalanche. Further examples include chaos theory – the idea that a flutter of a butterfly’s wing can cause an earthquake. If indeed causal adequacy principle isn’t true, Descartes’ whole argument is flawed, as if the cause can be less great then the effect, then Descartes indeed could have created him himself. The second criticism is David Hume’s argument, that you cannot know a cause a priori, but only by experience. He says you cannot determine the cause of something, simply by using reasoning, for example, if a window is broken, you know it must have been something big enough to produce enough force to break it by our past experiences, not by using a priori reasoning. He concludes that you have to have to have observed the cause and the effect to truly know what happened, and therefore the cause must be in existence. The third criticism questions whether we can actually have an idea of a supremely perfect being, Thomas Aquinas doubts our imaginings of God, because he is too great, and that it is impossible for us to understand some of his qualities, particularly the idea of God being infinite, as it is beyond out understanding to understand what such qualities actually mean, and therefore we don’t have a genuine idea of God. The forth criticism of Descartes’ argument is that the idea of God is incoherent, there are attributes which appear to be just plain contradictory, for example God is both immanent and transcendent. There is also doubt raised over Gods supposed omnipotence, can he make a rock so heavy that he can’t lift it? It seems either way his omnipotence will be compromised. There is also the problem of evil, if God is all good, omniscient and omnipotent, then why does he allow suffering in the world? It would therefore seem that the idea of God is unclear, and if so it is likely the cause isn’t that great, and so would make sense that the cause could in fact have been Descartes himself. Another criticism is that the idea of God is not universal, as many other religions do not have an idea of one all powerful God, and therefore the idea of God cannot be innate, as if it was, it would be inside all of us. Also, it is put that the idea of omnipotence cannot be divine, as it can be traced back to having historical routes as tribes fought over who had the greatest God, they would start with ‘our God is powerful’ until one tribes got to ‘our God is maximally powerful’ – and therefore cannot be beaten by the other tribe. Descartes would argue that the fact other religions don’t acknowledge one maximally perfect God does not mean the innate idea is not in us, it just means they have chose to ignore it, or haven’t been made aware of it. He compares it to maths, in the way that we may not have used its truths and laws (i. e. that a triangles interior angles add up to 180) however they are still truths none the less. The last criticism is the empiricists account for the idea of God, that we have experienced attributes such as power, knowledge and goodness in people around them and simply extended them to the idea of God, therefore the cause is less great then the effect, and the idea is not innate. One thing it has in it’s favor, is that it is an a priori argument, and therefore uses reasoning, something rationalist would find very appealing, it means that if the premise can be accepted that it can give 100% certainty. Overall, I feel Descartes’ argument has too many valid criticisms for it to be considered as a successful argument, and its foundation- casual adequacy principle, is itself flawed, leaving the whole argument to fail.

Food Addiction - 1518 Words

Addiction is a dependence on a substance in which the affected individual feels powerless to stop. Millions of Americans have addictions to drugs, alcohol, nicotine, and even to behaviors such as compulsive gambling and shopping. Our recent studies suggest that millions of Americans are addicted to food, as well. An average American is bombarded daily with random propaganda to try to sell what some would consider perfection. Most American citizens try to emulate those fictional characters in celebrity magazines. The truth is a lot of those pictures are air-brushed and some of the individuals have had extensive cosmetic surgery and other medical procedures done to look that way. This media manipulation is the main cause for the many†¦show more content†¦This leads to forced vomiting, misuse of laxatives and fasting. The medical complications include cardiac arrhythmias, esophageal tears, electrolyte disturbances, gastrointestinal problems, and dental problems. If not treated these complications, like anorexia complications, could become life threatening. The treatment involved is not as extreme as for the anorexic because the patients are not as secretive. For this reason there is hardly a need for hospitalization, though if the binging and purging are at an extreme and patients experience other psychiatric symptoms like thoughts of suicide, it may be recommended. The first step is usually psychotherapy for counseling. A lot of the patients benefit greatly and fully recover from this treatment. It tackles issues like mood swings and substance-related disorders. Support groups have been installed to help the patients to overcome their disorders. If this treatment is not enough pharmacotherapy is used as well. Antidepressants have been successful in helping patients suffering from symptoms of bulimia. The third type of food addiction is Compulsive Overeating. The general compulsive eater consumes food for reasons other than hunger. The sad fact is American citizens are going through an obesity epidemic. In fact, one in every four American adults is obese. The main reasons for the epidemic are the consumption of unhealthyShow MoreRelatedFood Addiction Is A Real Addiction1793 Words   |  8 Pagesover indulgence in high caloric foods. The definition of addiction from the Oxford dictionary describes addiction as a condition of being habitually or compulsively occupied with, or involved in something. The word addiction usually brings to mind just drugs and alcohol. However, food addiction is a real addiction. It presents itself as a compulsive need to eat even if there is no physical need for food. Compulsive eating often referred to as â€Å"overeating† is when food is relied upon for comfort, anRead MoreEssay on Food Addiction in America1499 Words   |  6 Pages Addiction is a dependence on a substance in which the affected individual feels powerless to stop. Millions of Americans have addictions to drugs, alcohol, nicotine, and even to behaviors such as compulsive gambling and shopping. Recent studies suggest that millions of Americans are addicted to food, as well. An average American is bombarded daily with random propaganda to try to sell what some would consider perfection. Most American citizens try to emulate those fictional characters inRead MoreEvidence For Food Dependency And Addiction1040 Words   |  5 PagesEvidence for Food Dependency/Addiction Flora is feeling hungry, but she just ate. She walks around trying to forget about the urge to pick up a donut or a random snack from the cupboard. Flora can’t get the food out of her mind. She feels like the food is calling her from the kitchen saying, â€Å"Eat me, eat me!† Flora gets up and makes her way to the food. She picks up granola bar, and opens it. The granola bar tastes wonderful and she is content, but then the bar was gone, and a few minutes later sheRead MoreAddiction: drugs vs. food1632 Words   |  7 PagesWilliam Armstead Sociology 1301 11/23/13 Addiction: Food vs. Drugs Millions of people suffer from an addiction of some sort. A person can actually suffer from addictions to all sorts of things. It’s sad to say the first thing that comes to the minds of pretty much everyone when they hear the word addiction, is drugs. Controversy is at an uproar over whether or not food is addictive. As a matter of fact, food is the last thing on a person’s mind when addiction comes about. Though it’s hard to believeRead MoreObesity : Obesity And Food Addiction1644 Words   |  7 Pagesrecent studies, food can just be as addictive as any other drug out there (Gearhardt et a.,2011; Johnson Kenney, 2010; Deroche-Gamonet et al, 2004). 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The food industries strategy to optimize profits through mass produced and processed foods is creating physically addictive productsRead MoreA New Problem: Addiction to Unhealthy Foods853 Words   |  3 Pagesmind, but a new form of addiction is arising in the of the United States in midst the 21st century. The problem is the addiction to unhealthy foods. This will harm the diet of an average American and more. It is understandable that you get hungry we are human and we do need a form of energy but when that source bec omes abused it can be a pitfall. The problem that leads to the pitfall consist of the manufacturing of the food eaten. The American diet consist of processed foods, factors that contributeRead MoreEssay on Fast Food Addiction667 Words   |  3 Pagesï » ¿Fast Food is Our New Addiction Obesity is increasing rapidly because of the fast food. Showing and telling people how unhealthy to eat the fast food is extremely hard because it is now the popular culture for the societies those are dominated by the fast food industries. High profit and low cost is the primary reason why there are many Burger Kings and McDonald’s in the world (Kenway, â€Å"Junk food: The New Tobacco†). Yet some readers may challenge my view by insisting that the fast food industriesRead MoreFood Addiction Essay1032 Words   |  5 PagesThe addiction I chose to write about this week is a food addiction/compulsive eating. A food addiction is obsessive-compulsive relationship people have with food. Eating food is both vital and important in our everyday lives to give our bodies the nutrients, vitamins and calories that it needs. â€Å"Compulsive overeating, also referred to as food addiction, is characterized by an obsessive-compulsive relationship to food† (Karim, 2012 , p. 7, para. 2). When people overeat, they engage in episodes of uncontrolledRead MoreThe Neural Functioning of Individuals: Analyzing Food Addiction2587 Words   |  10 Pagescan be truly addicted to food in much the same way that some people become addicted to and dependent on controlled substances such as alcohol, prescription drugs, and illegal drugs. The literature points to parallels between the neural functioning of individuals who are obese and individuals who have demonstrated substance dependence. The literature further indicates that people with tendencies toward food addiction may respond to increased appetitive motivation for food when they try to implement