Umm, yes it's possible, intact its necessary for life. Michio kaku described the rybosome as a molecular assembler.
So much comes from molecular assemblers, but so much comes before them also. The world will be a completely different place long before we have molecular assemblers and probably are post scarcity before hand.
Shopping and restaurants will have the same place that they have today, more of a social interaction. we can get most things online cheaper these days so the high street has become more about the experience, that won't change much I don't think.
Real molecular assembly exists for a long time and is called biology. Remember that guy's name is Gene Roddenberry! But getting genetically modified bacteria to produce custom materials and structures is difficult. Maybe there will be some progress as protein folding is nearly solved now.
By the time we have replicators, all of the other tech mentioned will either already be obsolete or will become obsolete with the invention of the replicator.
3D printers were supposed to eliminate some aspects of retail and distribution. They've not turned out as successful as my optimism when I was younger suggested, because multi-materials and resolution is difficult. Theoretically though yes, a molecular level assembler would do everything you say.
sumane12 t1_is87til wrote
Umm, yes it's possible, intact its necessary for life. Michio kaku described the rybosome as a molecular assembler.
So much comes from molecular assemblers, but so much comes before them also. The world will be a completely different place long before we have molecular assemblers and probably are post scarcity before hand.
Shopping and restaurants will have the same place that they have today, more of a social interaction. we can get most things online cheaper these days so the high street has become more about the experience, that won't change much I don't think.