'2040 The “Universal Replicator,” based on nanotechnology, is perfected: any object, however complex, can be created – given the necessary raw materials. Diamonds or gourmet meals can, literally, be made from dirt.' —Arthur C. Clarke

Created by gwern on 2010-10-26; known on 2041-01-01

• gwern estimated 0% on 2010-10-26
• gwern said “http://www.arthurcclarke.net/?scifi=3” on 2010-10-26
• TheScholar estimated 0% and said “Not going to happen.” on 2010-10-29
• kallman estimated 0% and said “Fancy idea – way too energy expensive. Artificial diamond, sure. By nano-assembly? Probably not.” on 2010-11-22
• anonym estimated 1% on 2010-11-27
• gimpf estimated 1% on 2010-12-12
• JoshuaZ estimated 5% on 2011-01-01
• Anubhav estimated 0% on 2011-10-12
• themusicgod1 estimated 18% and said “Patents on 3d printing techniques from 2020 will only just then be expiring. We’ll be too busy suing eachother and locking down tech to get this far by 2040” on 2016-10-07
• pranomostro estimated 10% on 2019-01-08