The future is apparently now. Jetsons-styled food is almost here. Ice cream, however, remains a problem.

I used to think that the greatest failing of the modern world is our inability to invent a Jetsons-like push-button food machine. I was wrong.

Apparently we are a lot closer to a Jetsons-like food machine than I thought:

As part of a project at Cornell University, a group of scientists and students built a 3D printer and began testing it out with food. The device attaches to a computer, which works as the "brain" behind the technology.

It doesn't look like a traditional printer; it's more like an industrial fabrication machine. Users load up the printer's syringes with raw food -- anything with a liquid consistency, like soft chocolate, will work. The ingredient-filled syringes will then "print" icing on a cupcake. Or it'll print something more novel (i.e., terrifying) -- like domes of turkey on a cutting board.

"You hand [the computer] three bits of info: a shape that you want, a description of how that shape can be made, and a description of how that material that you want to print with works," says Jeff Lipton, a Cornell grad student working on the project. Lipton is pursuing a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering.

This is great news. Push button food could be just around the corner.

As a result, I’d like to revise my opinion regarding to the greatest failing of the modern world (though it is still food related):

The greatest failing of the modern world is our inability to produce calorie-free ice cream. Just imagine how much happier the world would be if we could as much ice cream as we wanted.

I defy you to come up with a better idea.