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Monolith One Giant Industrial Metal 3D-printer
Imagine being able to simply print something as large as an entire car, or a rocket parts, as Divergent Technologies has done - actually, Philip K. Dick did imagine it in his 1956 short story "Pay for the Printer":
Imagine being able to simply print something as large as an entire car - actually, Philip K. Dick did imagine it in his 1956 short story "Pay for the Printer":
— Bill Christensen (@Technovelgy) June 19, 2026
🧵 https://t.co/3BLEGmIFuz
Unlike typical 3D printers used for prototypes, this machine is built for serious, high-volume production. It can print large, complex aerospace and defense parts in aluminum, titanium, steel, and nickel alloys and it roughly doubles the output of current systems.
In the story, all manufacturing capability on Earth was lost after WWIII. The Biltong life forms were aliens that could reproduce an original item using materials from the ground and from their own flesh.
Place an original item in front of it, even something as large as a car, and the Biltong would print from itself and the earth a duplicate.
When the Biltong started to die off, the problems started:"I was driving back home when my car began to break down. I looked under the hood, but who knows anything about motors? That’s not our business. I poked around and got it to run as far as the Standard station . . . the damn metal’s so weak I put my thumb through it.”
What happens when the Biltong life form starts to die, and no longer creates perfect copies? When a printed item began to break down, or was improperly printed to begin with, it's substance was described as being "puddinged". Have you ever encountered a 3D-printed object that was starting to break down?
“What the hell is this?” Untermeyer squatted down in front of a vague shape discarded under a tree. He ran his fingers over the indistinct blur of metal. The object seemed melted together like wax — nothing was distinguishable. “I can’t identify it.”“That’s a power lawn-mower,” a man nearby said sullenly.
“How long ago did he print it?” Fergesson asked.
“Four days ago.” The man knocked at it in hostility. “You can’t even tell what it is — it could be anything. My old one’s worn out. I wheeled the settlement’s original up from the vault and stood in line all day — and look what I got.”
By the end of the story, it becomes clear that people have gotten far too dependent on simply "printing" articles that they need, and have completely forgotten the millennia of techniques and tools, and the tools to make tools. How much will we forget in the rush to embrace 3D-printing?
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 6/15/2026)
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