Do you know the guy who has the room in his basement with enough baked beans and chili to last a decade?  Commonly referred to as “preppers”, there’s a group out there who actively prepares for emergencies causing disruption in our modern lifestyle.  I saw this great read from 3D Printer Chat about a 3D printer for your bomb shelter and it made me think that a 3D printer really should be in every bunker. In many ways the benefits of a 3D printer in a bunker are similar to any remote area with limited storage like the space station or aircraft carrier.  Of course it’s a lot more grim to think of the end of the world as opposed to space exploration, but there are way more survivalists that astronauts.  Just like there are seed banks should a plant species become extinct, one could imagine a database of basic survival items to go along with a 3D printer. Perhaps even a central location could even house files to help rebuild a planet should conventional manufacturing facilities be destroyed?

If you ever find yourself in Las Vegas you can venture a mile or two off the strip and find the Atomic Testing Museum.  It’s a high quality and fascinating place that will educate you about the nuclear weapon testing and development that happened in Nevada.  With a little research you can also find out how as a world we’ve come shockingly close to ending ourselves a time or two related to nuclear weapons. All I’m saying is the whole world should be celebrating Stanislav Petrov Day every September 26th (go read more if you don’t know the story)!  So I guess throw your favorite phrases here, “hope for the best, but plan for the worst”, “be prepared”, etc. and maybe 3D printing can be part of the modern day survivalist movement.