| Title |
The Risks of Revolution: Ethical Dilemmas in 3D Printing from a US Perspective
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Science and Engineering Ethics, September 2015
|
| DOI | 10.1007/s11948-015-9707-4 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Erica L. Neely |
| Abstract |
Additive manufacturing has spread widely over the past decade, especially with the availability of home 3D printers. In the future, many items may be manufactured at home, which raises two ethical issues. First, there are questions of safety. Our current safety regulations depend on centralized manufacturing assumptions; they will be difficult to enforce on this new model of manufacturing. Using current US law as an example, I argue that consumers are not capable of fully assessing all relevant risks and thus continue to require protection; any regulation will likely apply to plans, however, not physical objects. Second, there are intellectual property issues. In combination with a 3D scanner, it is now possible to scan items and print copies; many items are not protected from this by current intellectual property laws. I argue that these laws are ethically sufficient. Patent exists to protect what is innovative; the rest is properly not protected. Intellectual property rests on the notion of creativity, but what counts as creative changes with the rise of new technologies. |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 108 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 108 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Master | 20 | 19% |
| Student > Bachelor | 18 | 17% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 10 | 9% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 8 | 7% |
| Researcher | 5 | 5% |
| Other | 14 | 13% |
| Unknown | 33 | 31% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Engineering | 23 | 21% |
| Business, Management and Accounting | 8 | 7% |
| Social Sciences | 8 | 7% |
| Computer Science | 6 | 6% |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 4 | 4% |
| Other | 21 | 19% |
| Unknown | 38 | 35% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 12. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 16 April 2019.
All research outputs
#2,865,963
of 23,911,072 outputs
Outputs from Science and Engineering Ethics
#240
of 947 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#38,940
of 276,860 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Science and Engineering Ethics
#6
of 18 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 23,911,072 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 88th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 947 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 12.3. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 74% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 276,860 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 85% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 18 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 66% of its contemporaries.