The Past Speaks

Last November, 3D Revolutions posted this map showing the locations of 3-D printers around the world.  The source of the underlying data wasn’t given, but if we assume that this map is an accurate representation of where most of the world’s 3-D printers are, it raises the question of why there are so few in East Asia relative to the importance of that region as a manufacturing powerhouse. Japan and South Korea obviously have high GDP per capita similar to Western Europe, but they’ve got relatively few 3-D printers. Is language or culture a factor?

What do my readers think?

P.S. I’m posting Salon‘s now iconic image of 3-d printing (actually, it’s not a real 3-printer, just a regular printer with a hand gun in the output tray). A picture of a real 3-D printer is below.