6 ms·

Buckminster Fuller on a long thin wire

60 points by maremmano 6y ago

TaylorAlexander 6y ago
This is wonderful news! Interesting listening to their snippet of the recording and Fuller is talking about problems getting enough houses for people. I’d be very interested to listen to more of these recordings. But this: “The Fuller wire recordings can now be streamed in the Special Collections reading room at Green Library.” You mean to tell me I’ve got to physically go to a library at Stanford to listen to this? Even the sample audio is an unlisted video. That YouTube channel doesn’t have the rest of the recordings. Disappointing. Perhaps I am misunderstanding but it seems the preservation was funded by a donor yet Stanford is keeping the recordings for those with the privilege to listen on site. Is that correct?
- tudorw 6y ago
  Seems that way, sad isn't it, we live in times of unparalleled connectivity yet there are more walls than gardens.
- jcpham2 6y ago
  That seems to be the case for me as well. Unable to locate the recordings :(
- Jd 6y ago
  One aspect of Buckminster Fuller that many people don't want you to know is that he had a number of politically incorrect opinions which are in the archives but would tarnish his public reputation if they were easily accessible. I believe this is the main reason that certain aspects of his records are kept behind lock and key as it were.
  - kamranjon 6y ago
    For example?
    - spacechild1 6y ago
      I would like to know as well.
    - lukifer 6y ago
      I'd be curious to know if he ran afoul of the verboten PC topics (race, gender, sexuality); considering the era in which he lived and worked, it seems not-unlikely that he'd be a "product of his time". At the same time, he clearly held many political positions which were much more controversial in his era, but that the left-libertarian-leaning HN crowd wouldn't find objectionable, whatever their status in the 2021 Overton window: staunchly anti-war, anti-corporate [0], and openly pursuing a post-scarcity utopia [1]. [0] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/285349.Grunch_of_Giants https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/285349.Grunch_of_Giants [1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1321401.Utopia_or_Oblivion https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1321401.Utopia_or_Oblivi...
  - carapace 6y ago
    You're defaming a dead man, the "many people" you claim "don't want you to know", the PC crowd, and yourself.
  - nmg 6y ago
    [citation needed]
- getlawgdon 6y ago
  Extremely frustrating. Relatedly, I just wrote at length to a museum director about wanting to see a painting in the collection. The painting has been warehoused for years, like thousands of other works. it's not in need of special preservation. it's simply not on display because their walls have no room and the artist isn't currently of any special interest (except that he's important enough to have his work hoarded?). What a shame! All works in all major collections should be digitized and on display. What's the point of our culture if it's not being transmitted!
  - Xylakant 6y ago
    You’ll love the Rijksmuseum then, they’ve digitized hundreds of thousands of works. https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en
mdonahoe 6y ago
I struggled to read Spaceship Earth this past summer. Are his lectures better?
- getlawgdon 6y ago
  Who could know if they're better for you?
  - mdonahoe 6y ago
    I'm wondering if I'm the only one who found that book too weird to read... and I'm hoping there is more approachable material available
- lukifer 6y ago
  For better or worse, his writing style is dense, and somewhat self-referential, as he builds and reuses a custom linguistic-metaphorical concept-stack. While he doesn't speak quite that densely, the voice and technique remains pretty similar (and as much as I'm a fan, I must admit that his elocution isn't particularly compelling, although perhaps I'm biased by the poor quality of many recordings). I would humbly advocate pushing through regardless, as I found the material to be profound; I'd also suggest "Synergetics" [0], which employs a similar style, but is much more STEM-oriented than the "Spaceship Earth" quasi-narrative. But having said that, I don't blame anyone who finds the style too tedious; I have a similar experience every time I try to read 18th/19th-century political economy (Smith + Marx). [0] https://www.brainpickings.org/2013/03/08/buckminster-fuller-synergetics/ https://www.brainpickings.org/2013/03/08/buckminster-fuller-...
  - mdonahoe 6y ago
    thanks for the link!
    - nmg 6y ago
      I can also highly recommend Critical Path. In my experience, his invented words are designed to politely reprogram the way you think, and give you a tabula rasa frame of mind about the subject. The act of voluntarily interpreting the meaning of his words rewires you a bit. I love how in the beginning of Synergetics he spends pages building an argument to justify the statement "1 + 1 = 4." He was insistent that we reformulate our most basic notions about value and equivalence.
klondike_ 6y ago
If you're interested in this obsolete format, Techmoan did a great video about wire recorders: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90ihiTwJPCc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90ihiTwJPCc
- jgalt212 6y ago
  seconded. overall great content on this channel.
- raintrees 6y ago
  I still have a wire recorder :) I expect to go through the electronics (old solid state components with leads soldered together since it was made prior to circuit boards) in some down time, which seems to keep getting postponed...
mxfh 6y ago
Am I the only one, who finds the second sample has the more natural sounding equalization? The noise can be improved, but the third one sounds somewhat off, with too much hum in the lower frequencies. Sound quite tricky to figure out a true neutral curve. https://music.washington.edu/magnetic-wire-recordings https://music.washington.edu/magnetic-wire-recordings "But the input circuit would have to be designed to take the exact level and impedance that was generated by the original head, and there would have to be a recalculation of what the original equalization curve of wire recording was. It probably would not work with a stock amplifier--Theoretically it would be best to rebuild a new amplifier to get the lowest noise specs, but if you only have a small number of wires to dub then it would be an expensive exercise for just a few items. With dozens or hundreds of wires it might be worthwhile. The old amps from those machines were very noisy, and are much worse now that their parts have aged so much." Doing this purely digitally might of cause be easier these days. see also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIAA_equalization#The_RIAA_curve https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIAA_equalization#The_RIAA_cur...

60 points by maremmano 6y ago

This is wonderful news! Interesting listening to their snippet of the recording and Fuller is talking about problems getting enough houses for people. I’d be very interested to listen to more of these recordings. But this: “The Fuller wire recordings can now be streamed in the Special Collections reading room at Green Library.” You mean to tell me I’ve got to physically go to a library at Stanford to listen to this? Even the sample audio is an unlisted video. That YouTube channel doesn’t have the rest of the recordings. Disappointing. Perhaps I am misunderstanding but it seems the preservation was funded by a donor yet Stanford is keeping the recordings for those with the privilege to listen on site. Is that correct?

tudorw 6y ago
Seems that way, sad isn't it, we live in times of unparalleled connectivity yet there are more walls than gardens.
jcpham2 6y ago
That seems to be the case for me as well. Unable to locate the recordings :(
Jd 6y ago
One aspect of Buckminster Fuller that many people don't want you to know is that he had a number of politically incorrect opinions which are in the archives but would tarnish his public reputation if they were easily accessible. I believe this is the main reason that certain aspects of his records are kept behind lock and key as it were.
- kamranjon 6y ago
  For example?
  - spacechild1 6y ago
    I would like to know as well.
  - lukifer 6y ago
    I'd be curious to know if he ran afoul of the verboten PC topics (race, gender, sexuality); considering the era in which he lived and worked, it seems not-unlikely that he'd be a "product of his time". At the same time, he clearly held many political positions which were much more controversial in his era, but that the left-libertarian-leaning HN crowd wouldn't find objectionable, whatever their status in the 2021 Overton window: staunchly anti-war, anti-corporate [0], and openly pursuing a post-scarcity utopia [1]. [0] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/285349.Grunch_of_Giants https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/285349.Grunch_of_Giants [1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1321401.Utopia_or_Oblivion https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1321401.Utopia_or_Oblivi...
- carapace 6y ago
  You're defaming a dead man, the "many people" you claim "don't want you to know", the PC crowd, and yourself.
- nmg 6y ago
  [citation needed]
getlawgdon 6y ago
Extremely frustrating. Relatedly, I just wrote at length to a museum director about wanting to see a painting in the collection. The painting has been warehoused for years, like thousands of other works. it's not in need of special preservation. it's simply not on display because their walls have no room and the artist isn't currently of any special interest (except that he's important enough to have his work hoarded?). What a shame! All works in all major collections should be digitized and on display. What's the point of our culture if it's not being transmitted!
- Xylakant 6y ago
  You’ll love the Rijksmuseum then, they’ve digitized hundreds of thousands of works. https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en

mdonahoe 6y ago

I struggled to read Spaceship Earth this past summer. Are his lectures better?

getlawgdon 6y ago
Who could know if they're better for you?
- mdonahoe 6y ago
  I'm wondering if I'm the only one who found that book too weird to read... and I'm hoping there is more approachable material available
lukifer 6y ago
For better or worse, his writing style is dense, and somewhat self-referential, as he builds and reuses a custom linguistic-metaphorical concept-stack. While he doesn't speak quite that densely, the voice and technique remains pretty similar (and as much as I'm a fan, I must admit that his elocution isn't particularly compelling, although perhaps I'm biased by the poor quality of many recordings). I would humbly advocate pushing through regardless, as I found the material to be profound; I'd also suggest "Synergetics" [0], which employs a similar style, but is much more STEM-oriented than the "Spaceship Earth" quasi-narrative. But having said that, I don't blame anyone who finds the style too tedious; I have a similar experience every time I try to read 18th/19th-century political economy (Smith + Marx). [0] https://www.brainpickings.org/2013/03/08/buckminster-fuller-synergetics/ https://www.brainpickings.org/2013/03/08/buckminster-fuller-...
- mdonahoe 6y ago
  thanks for the link!
  - nmg 6y ago
    I can also highly recommend Critical Path. In my experience, his invented words are designed to politely reprogram the way you think, and give you a tabula rasa frame of mind about the subject. The act of voluntarily interpreting the meaning of his words rewires you a bit. I love how in the beginning of Synergetics he spends pages building an argument to justify the statement "1 + 1 = 4." He was insistent that we reformulate our most basic notions about value and equivalence.

klondike_ 6y ago

If you're interested in this obsolete format, Techmoan did a great video about wire recorders: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90ihiTwJPCc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90ihiTwJPCc

jgalt212 6y ago
seconded. overall great content on this channel.
raintrees 6y ago
I still have a wire recorder :) I expect to go through the electronics (old solid state components with leads soldered together since it was made prior to circuit boards) in some down time, which seems to keep getting postponed...

mxfh 6y ago

Am I the only one, who finds the second sample has the more natural sounding equalization? The noise can be improved, but the third one sounds somewhat off, with too much hum in the lower frequencies. Sound quite tricky to figure out a true neutral curve. https://music.washington.edu/magnetic-wire-recordings https://music.washington.edu/magnetic-wire-recordings "But the input circuit would have to be designed to take the exact level and impedance that was generated by the original head, and there would have to be a recalculation of what the original equalization curve of wire recording was. It probably would not work with a stock amplifier--Theoretically it would be best to rebuild a new amplifier to get the lowest noise specs, but if you only have a small number of wires to dub then it would be an expensive exercise for just a few items. With dozens or hundreds of wires it might be worthwhile. The old amps from those machines were very noisy, and are much worse now that their parts have aged so much." Doing this purely digitally might of cause be easier these days. see also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIAA_equalization#The_RIAA_curve https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIAA_equalization#The_RIAA_cur...