On the popularity of DSLR cameras. Why they are not very popular? First of all, let’s analyze what kinds of devices a typical person uses most of the time. Computers? Yes, definitely. But in the case of the smartphone, they are using the screen most of the time, not so much the camera. So there you have it. You know which of those two devices an average user is willing to put more money into. Hence the tiny cheap smartphone cameras are good enough for most people, no need for the glorious huge SLR camera lenses and sensors.
And the other thing? Why are 3D printers more popular than 3D scanners? Well, a similar reason is going on here too. Lots of people spend lots of time at a computer, but how much time are they spending building real-world objects in the physical world with their own hands? There you have it. We now know the mentality of the major user. The purpose of a 3D printer is to readily integrate with the exist built-world inside the computer, not the other way around. As it turns out, the thought process runs in only one direction. Sorry, no two-way communication going on here.
So, as you may have figured, the 3D scanners are out of the business too. But this raises yet another important question. What about the 3D printed objects? What is to become of those if the people in question don’t really spend much time or care in the physical world compared to the digital world? Well, go figure. The 3D printed objects will eventually become neglected and forgotten. The user will loose interest in them much faster than they loose interest in their computer device. So, there’s another point in hand here. 3D printing, for most people, is only useful for frequently used tools. Like, a smartphone mount, as we know the user by definition will be spending a lot of time on their smartphone.
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable
one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore
all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
– Maxims for Revolutionists (1903), George Bernard Shaw
20180613/https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Bernard_Shaw
Indeed, this is very distinctively the truth when it comes to the reality we observe in consumer merchandise and products. Most people don’t care so much about observing the world as it currently is as they care about.
And indeed, it could also be interpreted as this in practice: most “consumers” are, in fact, unreasonable.