"The galaxy's most resilient BitTorrent site" doubles down on the Thingiverse.

The Pirate Bay -- alternately bemoaned and celebrated as "the galaxy's most resilient BitTorrent site" -- wants to take digital sharing to the next level...with physical sharing. In a blog post today, the site announced a new torrent category: Physibles. As in, data that can feasibly become physical.

"We believe that the next stop in copying will be made from digital form into physical form," TPB declares. "It will be physical objects." Three-dimensional printers and scanners are just the first step toward a sharing environment that will be characterized above all by fluidity between atoms and bits. Or: "You will download your sneakers within 20 years."

It's a self-conscious, and strategic, evolution for The Pirate Bay. "Today most data is born digitally," the site explains.

It's not about the transition from analog to digital anymore. We don't talk about how to rip anything without losing quality since we make perfect 1 to 1 digital copies of things. Music, movies, books, all come from the digital sphere. But we're physical people and we need objects to touch sometimes as well! 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. Data objects that 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.

There's a whimsical -- and defiantly impractical -- flavor to the items available for download so far: a model of a tabletop wargaming robot, a portrait of Chris Dodd emblazoned with the AACS encryption key. Oh, and -- yep -- a model pirate ship.