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I was most surprised the degree to which Buckminster Fuller lied throughout the development of the car and afterwards. Of course it's heartbreaking that bad en

I was most surprised the degree to which Buckminster Fuller lied throughout the development of the car and afterwards. Of course it's heartbreaking that bad engineering killed two people, but that is not unheard of in automobile design. An honest and forthright engineering team can learn from failures. According to this article Fuller publicly lied about the testing, safety, maximum speed, stability, production capacity, funding sources, crash details, and more. I recall that he also implied that he was the original inventor of the geodesic dome. These kinds of things put his credibility on other claims into question as well.

gambiting 4y ago
Sounds like Elizabeth Holmes of his time. Lies everywhere from top to bottom just to get his company off the ground.
- srgpqt 4y ago
  So just like every other successful entrepreneur!
  - api 4y ago
    Neither of these were particularly successful.
  - asoneth 4y ago
    If you or your team believe the lies that you tell external stakeholders then failure is inevitable since your decisions are not based on an accurate model of reality. Assuming you are ruthlessly honest within the team, chronic lying to external stakeholders still eventually results in people not trusting you. Once you develop this kind of reputation then investment generally comes with worse terms and more strings attached and you have to pay more and/or look further afield for talent than a team without such a reputation.
kapilvt 4y ago
“ According to this article Fuller publicly lied about the testing, safety, maximum speed, stability, production capacity, funding sources, crash details, and more.” Sounds like Elon musk, well minus the max speed
cxr 4y ago
> These kinds of things put his credibility on other claims into question as well. The author has written a new book ("Inventor of the Future: The Visionary Life of Buckminster Fuller"; linked in the article). Based on his past work, you can expect it to be well-researched and non-hagiographic about these sorts of things (despite the title).

gambiting 4y ago

Sounds like Elizabeth Holmes of his time. Lies everywhere from top to bottom just to get his company off the ground.

srgpqt 4y ago
So just like every other successful entrepreneur!
- api 4y ago
  Neither of these were particularly successful.
- asoneth 4y ago
  If you or your team believe the lies that you tell external stakeholders then failure is inevitable since your decisions are not based on an accurate model of reality. Assuming you are ruthlessly honest within the team, chronic lying to external stakeholders still eventually results in people not trusting you. Once you develop this kind of reputation then investment generally comes with worse terms and more strings attached and you have to pay more and/or look further afield for talent than a team without such a reputation.

kapilvt 4y ago

“ According to this article Fuller publicly lied about the testing, safety, maximum speed, stability, production capacity, funding sources, crash details, and more.” Sounds like Elon musk, well minus the max speed

cxr 4y ago

> These kinds of things put his credibility on other claims into question as well. The author has written a new book ("Inventor of the Future: The Visionary Life of Buckminster Fuller"; linked in the article). Based on his past work, you can expect it to be well-researched and non-hagiographic about these sorts of things (despite the title).