I get what you mean and I agree that ultimately they'll likely fail miserably in their attempt at taking over the world essentially, and that as a result, a huge chunk of society/civilization will be lost, will all or in part collapse in the process. And we'll get the bill handed to us, as usual since thousands of years, don't count on them to own their mistakes. Same shit different day.
But I think you're underestimating the "environment" here, when you state:
>3d printing tech gets a little better and you can print most of them. Theres still some challenges here but i think potentially these machines will be able to print and assemble the electronic parts of items as well. Distributed mesh networks will become more prevalent with better wireless tech like 5g.
You're thinking/visualizing things from a "free and open" society standpoint
Now rethink the above, not from a US citizen POV, but from the POV of a saudi citizen for instance... "They" control the supply lines, "they" control the legal boundaries
It's not like we're living in a libertarian social order, to put it simply
For sure they will try to hold on to control for as long as possible and cause many peoples misery. I think in the long run though this kind of tech will become ubiquitous and impossible to control we sort of see that now with some tech like embedded computers, quadcopters, guns through 3d printing etc.. It will end up being as futile as the current attempt to eliminate illegal drugs.
All those must be shipped, all those go through customs... That is, for the legal way of obtaining them
If it's illegal, well it can warrant a death penalty on the spot, depending on the jurisdiction
Thats true but we can also see this strategy not working currently on other things that have been banned. These quadcopters and stuff you can really build out of a raspberry pi and brushless motors you can make your own speed controllers. Same for the 3d printers all you need is some 8020 and stepper motors. This stuff is ubiquitously available and there will be huge secondary consequences to trying to make those types of components illegal to posses.
(post is archived)