I have lots of opinions about the "Maker" culture of the 2010's but I think the one that comes up the most in my day to day life is how they failed the concept of 3d printing.
3d printing had the potential to change so much about how everyday people interact with stuff. I mean stuff like a technical term, items, things, whatever. The ability to make whatever, rapid prototyping, fabricate spare parts, etc. It could have changed so much. People are used to buying a thing, using it, and replacing it when it breaks. Nobody knows how to do preventative maintenance, and no one knows how to fix anything. If you can make spare parts in your own house in a matter of hours, it puts so much power back in your hands
But a majority of the people who got into 3d printing are also the kind of people to collect Funko Pops and the culture around it became much more focused on gadgetry. Most people's interactions with 3d printing now are fidget toys and those stupid 3d printable dragons you see at every convention. It's mass produced boring plastic slop.
Honestly I think the people closest to using 3d printing to its full potential are the 3d printable firearms enthusiasts. That's the tip of the spear when it comes to putting the power of fabrication back in the hands of people. And of course there's legislators trying to get eyes in every 3d printer to somehow detect if the thing you're making is a gun. Which won't ever work, there will likely always be some way around it, even if it's just building your own printer. It would hamper the more casual hobbyist from getting into it and force anyone participating to be very paranoid about who they talk to about it. But the point of that isn't even guns. I don't think it's any wonder that this stuff is cropping up today, given that 3d printable whistles have been mass produced and distributed to be used against ICE. The point of that kind of legislation is to let the NSA look at what you're making. They don't care about guns, the guns are a cover story to get liberals to vote for it. The ability to near-autonomously print off hundreds of something has the potential for a revolution of thought and action on par with the printing press of the 1400s. They want to know what you're making in case it's something you can use against them. Whistles, guns, whatever.
So yeah the maker culture of the 2010s tarnished the reputation of 3d printing and might have squandered the one chance a culturally redefining technology had before the government locked it down on fidget toys and dragons.
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