To me, your definition would suggest that lasers are little more than focused light
No. The main property of laser beam is coherence that gives it all other important properties, including incredibly low divergence you absolutely could not achieve focusing light.
I was thinking additive manufacturing
Additive manufacturing is known from ancient times. Humans build houses with additive manufacturing since the beginning.
3D printer really just automates that process, that is why I mentioned far-stretching. Of course it is not a real breakthrough or discovery, but at least it is some noticeable advance in a technologies of making things. Especially interesting that today 3D printer was perfectly possible with only pre-70s technologies of CNC. But for some unknown reason it was brought to life only in 90s.
No. The main property of laser beam is coherence that gives it all other important properties, including incredibly low divergence you absolutely could not achieve focusing light.
Additive manufacturing is known from ancient times. Humans build houses with additive manufacturing since the beginning. 3D printer really just automates that process, that is why I mentioned far-stretching. Of course it is not a real breakthrough or discovery, but at least it is some noticeable advance in a technologies of making things. Especially interesting that today 3D printer was perfectly possible with only pre-70s technologies of CNC. But for some unknown reason it was brought to life only in 90s.