Now on to the question of making physical objects into bits.
Let's assume that you can only transmit an abstraction.
Can we include instructions on the other side that will lead
the recipient to the manufacture of a replica?
Right now I am leaning toward the transmission of 2D slices
as graphical objects representing the presence or absence
of material. In the binary encoding, this would mean a
uniform material content. In a multiple value method, each
numerical value would represent a change in material based
on a legend transmitted at the top or bottom of the file.
For example, the Octavo replica of a rare book binding
would require a tomographic cross-section with thread and
paper tagged separately.
However, for self-replicating materials like DNA, this is
a brute force approach. It will suffice for Rodin's "Thinker"
but not for Rodin.
Tom Ditto