You wouldn't download a car, the Internet meme predicted. But if The Pirate Bay has its way that action will be a reality in the years to come. In preparation for this world-changing day, the world's biggest torrent site has just premiered a new section containing the plans for physical items that can be downloaded then printed out. Today its a plastic pirate ship, but one tomorrow in a decade or two it may well be a car.

Hundreds of years ago, before the advent of any type of electrical communication, the horseback delivery rider clutching an important letter destined for a location 4 days trot away must’ve longed for a better day.

But if you told him back then that you could deliver that letter before he could saddle his horse, he would suspect that either witchcraft or alcohol were at play.

In the 20th and 21st centuries we became more open to the notion that amazing things can be achieved without magic, but occasionally we still fall short in our predictions for the future.

Downloading digital media is so last decade now, even your grandmother can do it, but just a handful of years ago “You wouldn’t download a car” gained traction, a lighthearted meme that took the notion of Internet file-sharing to an intentionally ridiculous level. Several years later, however, it’s not looking quite so outrageous.

Soon, the interest in digital files will take a new direction, not because they transform into music, movies or books, but because they will possess the ‘genetic’ code for physical objects.

“We believe that the next step in copying will be made from digital form into physical form. It will be physical objects. Or as we decided to call them: Physibles,” says The Pirate Bay as they announce a new 3D printing section of their site.

“Data objects are able (and feasible) to become physical. We believe that things like three dimensional printers, scanners and such are just the first step. We believe that in the nearby future you will print your spare parts for your vehicles. You will download your sneakers within 20 years,” they add.

Although free sneakers in two decades sounds intriguing, creating physical objects from digital files is a reality now, as pointed out by 3D printing site Shapeways.

“Being able to download product files is not new, Shapeways has had downloadable models for years, as has Thingiverse and Google Warehouse, but let’s see how this affects the 3D printing IP debate,” the company says on its blog in response to the TPB announcement.

That’s right. The ever-looming copyright bogeyman, just waiting to throw his spanner in the 3D printer works.

In the future, however, instead of Hollywood taking action against 3D object pirates (although Paramount did actually do that in 2011), they could well be outnumbered by just about every major product manufacturer in the world – possibly even some 3D printer manufacturers themselves, since they can already print themselves.

But as pointed out by The Pirate Bay, there are huge potential benefits to be had.

“No more shipping huge amount of products around the world. No more shipping the broken products back. No more child labor. We’ll be able to print food for hungry people. We’ll be able to share not only a recipe, but the full meal. We’ll be able to actually copy that floppy, if we needed one,” they conclude.

So, when the writers at TorrentFreak are (more) old and gray, the children of today’s readers might be browsing The Pirate Bay III wondering which car to download. Or, as the coincidentally relevant (slightly NSFW) SOPA protest song embedded below suggests, even a boat. Or a cow.

Copyright wars? You ain’t seen nothing, baby.