The purpose of this "Inven-toy" is to learn about Bucky Fuller and his works in a fun and exploratory way. I would be very interested in any feedback anyone has about using this in any way.
Contents:
R. Buckminster "Bucky" Fuller proudly called himself the "World's most successful failure." This "Comprehensive Anticipatory Design Scientist" influenced millions of people worldwide, designed "Geodesic domes" of which there are now over 300,000 (including the EPCOT CENTRE at Disneyworld). He designed a car, a bathroom, a rowboat, a new geometry (based on the real world, rather than abstract numbers), a new way of thinking and literally a new way of looking at the world--with the DYMAXION MAP. His description of the World as "Spaceship Earth" with its life-support system led in part to the famous "Biosphere 2". He proposed a learning system along the lines of the Internet over 60 years ago.
His goal was "To make the World Work, in the shortest possible time, through spontaneous cooperation, without ecological offence, or the disadvantage of anyone." He explored self-sustainable housing and ecological designs that are still being explored. He was and is a real role model to many. He was an environmentalist before it was cool. He sought to do "more with less" so we can share the World's natural resources all around the world. He forewarned of the dangers of depending on fossil fuels which we are exploiting everyday. He believed in following ones intuition and relying on yourself rather than other people's points of view.
This Bucky Fuller "Inven-toy" Info-Pack can be approached in many possible ways. Here are several possible ways:
This INVEN-TOY is meant to be a Journey of Discovery, so don't get frustrated or be in a hurry. You may want to take NOTES or OBSERVATIONS like a true scientist or discoverer.
R. Buckminster Fuller was born on July 12th, 1895 in Boston, USA. When he was born the car had just been invented and the airplane wasn't invented until he was 8 years old. The TV wasn't until he was 35 years old.
He was born cross-eyed and could only see things as vague shapes or large patterns. When he got glasses at 4 years old he could see well but always looked for Large patterns in all aspects of the world.
He was an inventive boy--at 10 he invented a way of pushing his rowboat that was faster and easier than rowing. His mind wandered and he had problems at school and was kicked out of University.
He joined the U.S. Navy during World War One and came up with a mechanical arm to extract seaplanes that had crashed. He got married to Anne Hewitt and they had two daughters; Alexandra, who was born with Spinal Meningitis and died when she was 4 of pneumonia, and Allegra who became a famous dancer. Bucky lost his business and a lot of his friend's money and was so upset he considered killing himself and wondered if he was more valuable to his family dead. He realized that he was valuable to Humanity and decided to live his life in a way to benefit mankind. He took an inventory of his life and realised he was only successful when he wasn't making money. "You can make money or you can make sense. Each is mutually exclusive."
"If I am to believe in myself and the validity of my own ideas, I must stop thinking as other people told me to and rely on my own experience."
He changed his approach to life, determined to reform man's environment, rather than people themselves. He decided to embark on "an experiment to discover what the little, penniless, unknown individual might be able to do effectively on behalf of all humanity." He called this experiment "Guinea Pig B". He set out to study principles and "Proof of Concept" artifacts which proved that you could do "More with Less." He designed a car that was super fuel-efficient and also very fast. He designed a World Map that showed the true relationship of the continents and from that he proposed a system that allowed sharing of the world's resources. This was expanded to the idea of the World Game. He developed a new geometry which he called "Synergy". He had 25 patent, wrote 28 books, circled the globe 57 times and was still working hard at his goals when he finally died at 88 years old in 1983.
They are:
Bucky always starts with Universe. This is his definition of it: "Universe is the aggregate of all humanity's all time consciously apprehended and communicated experiences."
The human is not an accidental onlooker "who happened in on the 'Play of Life,' but an essential syntropic function of Universe."
"Focus on new life. Since children are the hope of the future and 98% of the environment's positive or negative effects upon new life are wrought by age thirteen, it is obvious that effective work in advantaging life through environment can mainly be realized within the first thirteen years."
Teleology by Bucky's definition means "the intuitive conversion by brain and mind of special case, subjective experiences into generalized principles...which permit the individual to reform the environment...so as to provide ultimately higher advantages for men" and to inspire others to do likewise.
Bucky's philosophy and strategy confine design initiative to reforming only the environment and never to emulate the almost universal attempts of humans to reform and restrain other humans by political actions, laws, and codes.
Using the generalized principles he has discovered, Bucky says "I always start all problem-solving with Universe, and thereafter subdivide progressively to identify a special local problem within the total of problems." He thus attacks it comprehensively and anticipatorily.
"Industrialization consists of tools". It involves "all experiences of all men everywhere in history." Bucky sees it as inherently comprehensive and omni-interrelated in respect to all humanity. And he believes that, though subsystems of it are run shortsightedly by selfishly motivated people, the whole works inadvertently towards ultimately providing all men with higher standards of living....Because energy plus know-how is wealth, "the integrating world industrial networks mean ultimate access of all humanity to the total operative commonwealth of Earth."
Design Science is concerned "with the scheduling of the complex interaction of the general systems events of industrialization." The rapid advance of technology in one field- air transportation, for example - must be "comprehensively integrated with all other vastly accelerating environment relationship transformations."
"Humanity is gradually trending towards becoming Worldians." Therefore, the static appurtenances of life - houses, automobiles, even typewriters - will all be rented like telephones because of man's increasing mobility. Amplifying this thought in another article, Bucky foresees man's ability to deploy at will all over the earth and the solar system by means of autonomous structures made livable by our astronauts life-support 'black box'. And he adds, "Quite clearly, man, free to enjoy all of his planets...will also be swiftly outward bound to occupy even greater ranges of the universe."
"The acceleration of doing more with less...will complete the task of providing enough for all humanity within another thirty-four years...despite political systems that deliberately divide society and set one group against another." Bucky believes that without the interference of political systems it could be done in twenty years.
Bucky believes that it is essential for the individual, invention-developing pioneer to maintain his economic initiative and not get tied up with the massive capital-cum-bureaucracy of large corporations, despite the leverage of their wealth.
Instead of the obligation to make a living, Bucky substitutes the higher obligation of the individual's syntropic responsibility in Universe.
Comprehensivity instead of specialization is Bucky's key to successful design competence. His foremost self-discipline is never to try to sell one of his ideas to others. He will just design and test it, and wait for others, who need it, to come to him. He only goes where he is asked to speak because, if you force your ideas on people they listen unwillingly, but if they ask you to speak to them - especially if they pay a high fee -"they are very receptive."
Bucky incessantly engages in trying to make all his previous inventions obsolete by designing better ones.
Bucky believes that Chapter Three of World History is just beginning, in which world man will realize his potential for success as a function of Universe through his accelerating mastery of "vast inanimate, inexhaustible energy sources combined with doing more with less."
Bucky inspired many people around the world. Hopefully this introduction to Bucky inspired you to pursue your dreams. Here are a few ideas that you may want to try out, or come up with your own:
From: Utopia or Oblivion
"It is my working assumption that the following 40 questions must be definitely answered before we may realistically discuss our respective philosophies and grand strategies.
Critical Path. by R. Buckminster Fuller, 1981
A complete scientific and sociological examination of human history, solutions to current problems of humanity and future trends for ``cosmic evolution.''
The Dymaxion World of Buckminster Fuller [by] Robert Marks and R. Buckminster Fuller. 1973.
A pictorial and written retrospective of Fuller's work and thought.
I Seem To Be A Verb, 1971. by Buckminster Fuller and Quentin Fiore.
An excellent book for fascinating quotes and concepts.
Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth. [1970, c1969]
Fuller's seminal work regarding the relationship of humanity to the environment and planetary planning. World history takes on a new meaning and significance. A primer on Synergetics.
Buckminster Fuller: at home in the universe. by Alden Hatch 1974
Good description of Bucky and his life.
Buckminster Fuller's universe : an appreciation by Lloyd Steven Sieden 1989
A biography of his life. Well researched and thorough.
Buckyworks by J. Baldwin
An excellent introduction to Bucky's Proof of Concept work today and the future.