Specifically, a device that scans an input object, creates a “model” including every subatomic particle within the object, and then draws subatomic particles out of another object (say, a boulder), which it uses to form a perfect copy of the input object.
Obviously, the worst thing you could do at this point would be to release the information. Terrorist organizations could turn a gram of enriched uranium into an indefinite supply, and the global economy would be demolished due to a vast increase in materials like gold. This device could be used for flawless human cloning, which might make you uncomfortable. So what would you do?
Honestly, I would probably just create a bunch of gold and platinum and such and then destroy my notes and the machine.
By the way, a similar question could be asked regarding an invention like a time machine.
That would not be a cloning device, it would be a matter-replication device, like the replicators in Star Trek: The New Generation. Cloning is a completely different process, distinguished from the other by being possible in the present day.
Sell it to Hewlett-Packard for a metric ton of money. Also, maintain a percentage of the ownership for myself and my heirs, as opposed to selling it flat outright. Think of the revenue stream!
(Well, except that the entire economy collapses into free-goods socialism. Oh, well…)
There is no money in cloning/replicating machines because once you have one, you can have a million. No, the real money will be in energy sources. Buy up lots of land, fill with solar panels, buy up land around rivers for hydro damming, buy up land which can be used for geothermal/etc. so while the world goes mad building a million Alessandra Ambrosios and machine guns and what have you, I will be rolling in the sale of electricity to run these devices… and dating the one, the true original Alessandra since I will be rich and powerful enough to show up on her radar.
Well, I can be my own best friend and I can send myself for pizza so I say:
I think I’m a clone now,
there’s always two of me just a-hangin’ round,
I think I’m a clone now,
'Cause every pair of genes is a hand-me-down.
-Weird Al
If I could invent one of these devices, then someone else could as well. But I’d take advantage of the interval where I had the only one, by creating shitloads of precious metals and gems, selling them, and using the proceeds to buy up plenty of real estate, which after all won’t be replicable, and so should be one of the few things to hold its value in a world where any physical object can be replicated.
Unlike FordPrefect, I wouldn’t use the land as a means to generate electric power. I’ve got a machine that can replicate any physical object, including those electricity storage gizmos known as batteries. When everyone has a replicating machine, everyone can wire their house to run off an array of batteries and a few solar panels to make sure at least one’s fully charged (to make copies of, as needed).
All I’m saying is I’d go on a quest for the perfect peach, and scan that sucker in and make myself perfect peaches whenever I darn well chose.
Also probably a slow trickle of $20 bills to spend. Just whatever I happened to have in my pocket now and then. Nobody’ll notice a few duplicate serial numbers in the system and they’d otherwise be completely legit.
I might think about duplicating my car parts for when my car needs fixing, but I’d feel better about being able to do the repairs myself, so I’d have to learn how. Less people to nose in that way. I can always say I got the part from a junkyard but eventually someone’d probably check up on that if I kept bringing parts to my mechanic.
I could also use it to make some duplicate clothes and food now and then to give to shelters without any skin off my back.
Store my husband’s glasses so if he breaks them we don’t have to pay for a new pair. Do the same thing for all the expensive things in our house (computers, fridge, etc) until we want to upgrade.
There’s a lot of really mundane things I can think to do with this, honestly. I don’t need to go on some elaborate criminal scanning spree to make my life a lot better. The hard part is and always will be, you think you have self control but the machine quickly causes you to expose yourself by being stupid and greedy. “Just another $20” you say…
ETA: I mean, buying real estate with duplicated gold and such is obviously the smart thing to do, but I’m not really of a mind to become a real estate mogul. The bigger you try and get the more you’d have to cover up and hide. I don’t want to be a nervous wreck over this machine.
