Attached

Ethics of 3D Printing Student’s Name Institution Course Number and Name Instructor’s Name Date Ethics of 3D Printing One of the technologies bound to revolutionize the 21st century is 3D printing, which has been adopted in many industries, including construction, engineering, automotive, and medical device manufacturing. One of the key benefits associated with 3D printing is the reduction of labor. The construction industry is perhaps one of the industries impacted the most by the growth of 3-D printing as construction companies seek to reduce labor and production costs. While 3D printing offers significant benefits to companies, there is a concern that it reduces employment rates. A key utilitarian question, in this case, is whether 3D printing ensures greater good for society than the harm in form of high unemployment rates. 3D printing is ethical because the benefits, which include efficiency, safety, and sustainability, outweigh the costs. 3D printing offers significant benefits to society primarily because it ensures efficiency in quality, cost, and time. According to Kanyilmaz et al. (2022), 3D printing in combination with a digital manufacturing platform ensures that quality is maintained in every stage of the manufacturing chain, allowing for "first time right" approach. When it comes to cost efficiency, 3D printing reduces not only the cost of construction elements but also the cost of storing and transporting materials (El-Sayegh et al., 2020). 3D printing also ensures time efficiency in the sense that the speed of construction is way faster compared to traditional approaches. According to El-Sayegh et al. (2020), 3D printing allows for the construction of a house within 24 hours. Given the efficiency in cost, quality, and, time, 3D printing has the potential to solve housing crises and consequently address homelessness, which is one of the biggest challenges in the world. In this case, the benefits of 3D printing, which include solving homelessness, mean that it is ethical as per utilitarianism. Apart from efficiency, 3D printing also ensures the safety of professionals in key industries such as manufacturing and construction. According to Phillips (2023), there were more fatalities in construction than in any other industry sector in 2022. Specifically, the number of professionals in the construction industry who died while working...