Self-assembling and self-replicating machines?

Part of the discussion about 3D printing was the possibility of self-assembly and self-replication. And as if by magic, this video of MIT research Skylar Tibbits just popped up in my subscription feed. It’s only 6 minutes, and shows that MIT is already well on the road to self-assembling machines possessing computational power…

Watching this also makes me wonder what I would have done if projects like this were being shared via Youtube when I was still young and in education? As much as I love and adore what I do for a living, I do wonder why no-one shared the equivalent projects with me at a time when I was as knowledgeable about Physics and Mathematics as English and History.