# Summary of #hplusroadmap IRC Discussion (Oct 18, 2009)

* Discussion of the MultiMachine, an open-source all-purpose machine tool that can function as a lathe, mill, drill press, saw, and more, built from discarded vehicle parts and requiring minimal tools, with video evidence of a working prototype shared at opensourcemachine.org.

* Kanzure and Anna Salamon proposed a theoretical experiment to perform 40,000 generations of selection on human stem cell lines, allowing accelerated evolution without waiting for actual human generations, though concerns were raised about cell deformation after multiple passages.

* A recent Nature paper "Genome evolution and adaptation in a long-term experiment with Escherichia coli" (published October 18, 2009) was mentioned as relevant to long-term evolutionary experiments.

* Participants discussed fatigue testing software that can predict where engine blocks will fail based on electron microscope data, which could potentially be integrated with SKDB (skill database) to enhance its capabilities.

* Open source hardware development was mentioned as an area of interest, with references to projects like crabgrass.riseup.net and a community resource at we.riseup.net/opensourcehardware.

* Book scanning technology was discussed, with Kanzure noting the high cost ($100k) of commercial automatic book scanners and exploring alternatives like industrial paper cutters combined with pass-through scanners.