13 ms·

Buckminster Fuller’s greatest invention was his own image

81 points by conanxin 4y ago

swayvil 4y ago
Step 1 : create your mythology. Step 2 : live it It's an effective algorithm. Maybe even better than "invent a bunch of stuff". The face and memes live for a thousand years. The Dymaxion fades pretty fast. Ironically, though we are obsessed with machinery and endlessly discuss it, study it and work at it, it is only a tiny corner of our world.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- hooverd 4y ago
  I will remember the Dymaxion car. A cross between "the Homer" and an Airstream.
  - macintux 4y ago
    I’ll remember it because I now know how much he was willing to obfuscate or lie about its safety.
    - swayvil 4y ago
      Being a victim is very much in style these days. Which means that villains are very attractive right now. Somebody you can accuse of something heinous. Because a victim needs a victimizer.
causality0 4y ago
I had a lot more respect for Fuller before I learned about his "don't try to change behavior, technology will fix the problem" approach to nearly every societal ill including climate change.
- _yb2s 4y ago
  I don't think that's a fair characterization of his concept (which he called ephemeralization), e.g. "to do more and more with less and less until eventually you can do everything with nothing." He was critical of the lack of effectiveness of politics, arguing that energy put into it is unlikely to result in any real change. He showed that one could promote a radical new technological idea, and be seen as a non-threatening 'out of touch nerd' to all sides of a contentious political issue like climate change. This allows you to build cultural momentum and funding towards a solution and avoid the polarizing gridlock of politics. He absolutely intended to radically change behavior, by replacing our current way of doing things with a very different better way, that uses less resources. Not just the same thing somehow miraculously not problematic. Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephemeralization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephemeralization This is a different idea than blind technological optimism, although they seem similar on the surface.
  - mandmandam 4y ago
    Am I wrong to think that there's a very strong, quiet, deliberate push against anything 'idealist' or 'utopian', more and more? It feels like I'm seeing a lot of articles lately that get deep thinkers quite wrong, or which use their personal character flaws to invalidate their ideas. Nuance as a concept seems to be dying more now even than under Trump, and it feels artificial. Deliberately instigated. ... Am I being overly paro here?
    - ineedasername 4y ago
      > Am I being overly paro here? No, I think you’re picking up on something I’ve observed as well. It seems like trying to look deeper into nuances and subtleties is, more often than a few years ago, dismissed as wishy washy or equivocations rather than an attempt to understand and enumerate true complexities. I think this started before the Trump era, but the the political all-or-nothing polarization that has followed since then seems to bleed over into even non political things.
      - 4y ago
_yb2s 4y ago
Yet another post hating on Fuller without understanding his work or ideas. I would like to quote what I posted two weeks ago about this: > I think there is a lot of desire to 'cancel' historical tech visionaries like Fuller nowadays, because we are all burned out, depressed, and disengaged- feeling that our efforts have no real effect, and are pointless. It's easier to say people like Fuller didn't really do much, than to admit that we are capable of so much more. > Instead of thinking of him as a con-artist and self promoter, realize that his actions also fit someone that - well into his late 80s, still felt the joy, open mindedness, and limitless possibilities that young kids feel, and is usually burned out of us. He was so excited about what was possible! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32513327 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32513327
- hooverd 4y ago
  limitless possibilities?
  - _yb2s 4y ago
    yes, fixed
- kibwen 4y ago
  These articles aren't "cancelling" Fuller, they're just dispelling some of his mythology. Indeed, there may be a modern trend towards disillusionment with self-proclaimed visionaries, but that's not necessarily any worse (or better) than what came before. We can evaluate Fuller's legacy with clear eyes and manage to conclude that, while his energy and enthusiasm was laudable, that idealism alone will not save the world. (And I say this as someone whose favorite map projection is, by far, the Dymaxion map.)
  - paulpauper 4y ago
    Agree. No one is trying to cancel him. It's just his legacy is greatly overinflated and his inventions had minimal or no impact on everyday life. It goes to show the power of marketing and perseverance if anything.
paulpauper 4y ago
He's sorta like a mix between Seth Godin and Elon Musk
Rekksu 4y ago
This article isn't really about Bucky Fuller so much as it is about a 21st century skeptic's view of technological optimism. The criticisms feel weak unless you are predisposed against his philosophy. In so far as the critique has any merit, it comes from comparisons to him and others who make careers out of commentary and punditry (inherently self-aggrandizing professions). I think that type of work is actually legitimate, though it is a) basically what publications like Slate and TNR are for and b) not really a complete summary of Fuller's work, which succeeded in genuine contributions to architecture.
- djmips 4y ago
  You said what I was trying to say in my comment but way better. ;-)
- hotpotamus 4y ago
  I was actually thinking of him just the other day when I realized that over the last decade or two that I've started to think of my philosophy as "Shithouse Earth" from when Jim Morrison said he was just looking to get his kicks in before the whole shithouse went up in flames. I've noticed that that seems to be how we all operate now, though not many will admit it; perhaps not even to themselves. Quite a long way we've come from Fuller's Spaceship Earth ideas indeed.
  - sirspacey 4y ago
    You captured it I’m noticing it migrating into something more zen, I look to fully experience each day Probably has to do with growing older as well Growing up there was a sense that changing how the world worked was just out of reach, the birth of the PC & Internet made it seem like just a matter of time Now I appreciate more and more how very far out of my control it all is Which has helped me zoom in on where my choices do make an impact I wouldn’t say I’m more optimistic because of it, but I am more grateful
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
michaelwww 4y ago
Inventing a public persona for fun and profit is a tradition in America (I can't speak for other countries.) I read a really good book on the topic many years ago: "Inventing Mark Twain: The Lives of Samuel Langhorne Clemens." I should read it again, because it was very interesting. Ben Franklin was another one from humble beginnings that turned himself into a world renown Parisian diplomat and inventor, among many other things. Edit: my favorite story of self-reinvention is the story of Korla Pandit. I love it because it's something I would have done. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korla_Pandit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korla_Pandit
- jamiek88 4y ago
  Do you know if there is an ebook of this anywhere? It’s out of print and used books from people I don’t know gross me out. It’s weird I know. Like a phobia almost.
  - michaelwww 4y ago
    No sorry. How about some kind of sterilization procedure?
    - danrochman 4y ago
      Whoa now! Just because they’ve got a bizarre phobia doesn’t mean that we’ve got to jump straight to sterilization. (Do we even know if the phobia is heritable?)
      - retcore 4y ago
        Whoa, here's a Smithsonian conservator dude saying, "My goal of late has been to develop procedures for mold contaminated collections that keep staff safe" https://siarchives.si.edu/blog/conserving-archival-collections-suffering-fungal-attack https://siarchives.si.edu/blog/conserving-archival-collectio... Definite interest in the reader's health, as well as archival, going on here.
        4y ago
djmips 4y ago
When they disparage Fuller being in a line-up in an Apple Commercial that includes Dylan, Einstein, Muhammad Ali - my first thought is that it's not that he doesn't fit in because he's not actually notable but that he does fit in - those people notability are also a product of PR. Dylan in particular is in the business of 'image'. Ali for sure and even Einstein's fame was hugely out of proportion with his actual contributions. MLK's job was to grab minds (for a good cause). I used to hate sales and maybe most engineers do but it's really a fact of human existence.
- noir_lord 4y ago
  > Einstein's fame was hugely out of proportion with his actual contributions Hugely?. I'd accept there was some variance (as you'd expect) but hugely made me stop and consider what you mean here.
  - djmips 4y ago
    Well I considered my wording and maybe it's the wrong word but for example, Maxwell isn't well known beyond people who are interested in science. So although Einstein's contributions were great there are many many others who don't have the PR. Remember we are talking about public fame.
sparrowroberts 4y ago
The radome at the airport here in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil is a geodesic dome. I imagine there must be thousands more around the planet. This idea and the philosophy behind it had, and have, legs.
paulpauper 4y ago
His last book was a group biography of three science-fiction authors (Robert Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and Isaac Asimov) and the writer-editor John W. Campbell. These men, like Fuller, interpreted advances in specialized fields for the public, making forceful arguments about the future, which they said would be science-driven, tech-enabled, (mostly) better in every way. This worked, in part, because these guys had something: preternatural confidence, and personal charisma. These sort of people, like L. Ron Hubbard, died off because of increased skepticism and increased transparency. After ww2 you had this huge credulous population, and with considerable purchasing power due the post-war property and economic boom. The internet, and scandals such as Watergate and perceived hypocrisy of religious and political leaders and institutions, made people more skeptical overall, and also made it easier for people to verify claims.
- jrockway 4y ago
  I think people are still willing to believe anything. Migrant caravans, vaccines causing 5G microchips, you name it, someone believes it.
  - jamiek88 4y ago
    A lot of that is politically motivated suspension of disbelieve rather than national credulity though.
  - jesushax 4y ago
    Migrant caravans are definitely real: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_American_migrant_caravans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_American_migrant_carav... I've been to Tapachula, Chiapas and it's wild. If you ever go, ask the mototaxi guys for a balsa across the river for a fascinating experience.
- Hermitian909 4y ago
  Modern versions of this type of person exist, they're just pessimistic. The latest rising star in this category I've encountered is Peter Zeihan, a man who writes extensively about geopolitics and forecasts a great deal of doom and gloom (though America will be fine, he says, which helps his sales I'm sure). IIRC his latest book was one of the best-selling non-fiction books this year. He's funny, explains complex topics in a way that's understandable to lay people, and gives the impression of knowing his business quite well. In reality, the vast majority of his predictions over the past two decades have not come true e.g. saying China, Russia, and Canada would all break up by 2020. He is also wrong about specific technical claims e.g. how efficient certain renewable technologies can be in different locales (I have enough of a background to check some of these figures by hand).
satisfice 4y ago
I attended a lecture by Buckminster Fuller when I was thirteen, in Burlington, VT. I was starstruck and inspired. I used a spaced repetition method to partially memorize his talk and reproduced part of it for my science class the following day. He spoke about putting a dome over Winooski, and showed artists renditions of it. He bounced a tensegrity sphere. He spoke of his 50-year experiment (from the moment he chose not to commit suicide and instead see if he could do good in the world). I have, all my life, been influenced by his slightly nutty intellectual spirit.
- sirspacey 4y ago
  What a wild experience! Any part of the speech you recall?
  - satisfice 4y ago
    Not word for word. But it was a speech about his project: doing more with less. He spoke about his Dymaxion car and how it met its tragic end, and his Dymaxion houses idea. He said a lot about domes and the benefits thereof. He was very keen to tell us about triangles and tensegrity. He may have shown his Dymaxion map. Systems thinking plus a lot about triangles.

81 points by conanxin 4y ago

Step 1 : create your mythology. Step 2 : live it It's an effective algorithm. Maybe even better than "invent a bunch of stuff". The face and memes live for a thousand years. The Dymaxion fades pretty fast. Ironically, though we are obsessed with machinery and endlessly discuss it, study it and work at it, it is only a tiny corner of our world.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
hooverd 4y ago
I will remember the Dymaxion car. A cross between "the Homer" and an Airstream.
- macintux 4y ago
  I’ll remember it because I now know how much he was willing to obfuscate or lie about its safety.
  - swayvil 4y ago
    Being a victim is very much in style these days. Which means that villains are very attractive right now. Somebody you can accuse of something heinous. Because a victim needs a victimizer.

causality0 4y ago

I had a lot more respect for Fuller before I learned about his "don't try to change behavior, technology will fix the problem" approach to nearly every societal ill including climate change.

_yb2s 4y ago
I don't think that's a fair characterization of his concept (which he called ephemeralization), e.g. "to do more and more with less and less until eventually you can do everything with nothing." He was critical of the lack of effectiveness of politics, arguing that energy put into it is unlikely to result in any real change. He showed that one could promote a radical new technological idea, and be seen as a non-threatening 'out of touch nerd' to all sides of a contentious political issue like climate change. This allows you to build cultural momentum and funding towards a solution and avoid the polarizing gridlock of politics. He absolutely intended to radically change behavior, by replacing our current way of doing things with a very different better way, that uses less resources. Not just the same thing somehow miraculously not problematic. Summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephemeralization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephemeralization This is a different idea than blind technological optimism, although they seem similar on the surface.
- mandmandam 4y ago
  Am I wrong to think that there's a very strong, quiet, deliberate push against anything 'idealist' or 'utopian', more and more? It feels like I'm seeing a lot of articles lately that get deep thinkers quite wrong, or which use their personal character flaws to invalidate their ideas. Nuance as a concept seems to be dying more now even than under Trump, and it feels artificial. Deliberately instigated. ... Am I being overly paro here?
  - ineedasername 4y ago
    > Am I being overly paro here? No, I think you’re picking up on something I’ve observed as well. It seems like trying to look deeper into nuances and subtleties is, more often than a few years ago, dismissed as wishy washy or equivocations rather than an attempt to understand and enumerate true complexities. I think this started before the Trump era, but the the political all-or-nothing polarization that has followed since then seems to bleed over into even non political things.
    - 4y ago

_yb2s 4y ago

Yet another post hating on Fuller without understanding his work or ideas. I would like to quote what I posted two weeks ago about this: > I think there is a lot of desire to 'cancel' historical tech visionaries like Fuller nowadays, because we are all burned out, depressed, and disengaged- feeling that our efforts have no real effect, and are pointless. It's easier to say people like Fuller didn't really do much, than to admit that we are capable of so much more. > Instead of thinking of him as a con-artist and self promoter, realize that his actions also fit someone that - well into his late 80s, still felt the joy, open mindedness, and limitless possibilities that young kids feel, and is usually burned out of us. He was so excited about what was possible! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32513327 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32513327

hooverd 4y ago
limitless possibilities?
- _yb2s 4y ago
  yes, fixed
kibwen 4y ago
These articles aren't "cancelling" Fuller, they're just dispelling some of his mythology. Indeed, there may be a modern trend towards disillusionment with self-proclaimed visionaries, but that's not necessarily any worse (or better) than what came before. We can evaluate Fuller's legacy with clear eyes and manage to conclude that, while his energy and enthusiasm was laudable, that idealism alone will not save the world. (And I say this as someone whose favorite map projection is, by far, the Dymaxion map.)
- paulpauper 4y ago
  Agree. No one is trying to cancel him. It's just his legacy is greatly overinflated and his inventions had minimal or no impact on everyday life. It goes to show the power of marketing and perseverance if anything.

paulpauper 4y ago

He's sorta like a mix between Seth Godin and Elon Musk

Rekksu 4y ago

This article isn't really about Bucky Fuller so much as it is about a 21st century skeptic's view of technological optimism. The criticisms feel weak unless you are predisposed against his philosophy. In so far as the critique has any merit, it comes from comparisons to him and others who make careers out of commentary and punditry (inherently self-aggrandizing professions). I think that type of work is actually legitimate, though it is a) basically what publications like Slate and TNR are for and b) not really a complete summary of Fuller's work, which succeeded in genuine contributions to architecture.

djmips 4y ago
You said what I was trying to say in my comment but way better. ;-)
hotpotamus 4y ago
I was actually thinking of him just the other day when I realized that over the last decade or two that I've started to think of my philosophy as "Shithouse Earth" from when Jim Morrison said he was just looking to get his kicks in before the whole shithouse went up in flames. I've noticed that that seems to be how we all operate now, though not many will admit it; perhaps not even to themselves. Quite a long way we've come from Fuller's Spaceship Earth ideas indeed.
- sirspacey 4y ago
  You captured it I’m noticing it migrating into something more zen, I look to fully experience each day Probably has to do with growing older as well Growing up there was a sense that changing how the world worked was just out of reach, the birth of the PC & Internet made it seem like just a matter of time Now I appreciate more and more how very far out of my control it all is Which has helped me zoom in on where my choices do make an impact I wouldn’t say I’m more optimistic because of it, but I am more grateful
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

michaelwww 4y ago

Inventing a public persona for fun and profit is a tradition in America (I can't speak for other countries.) I read a really good book on the topic many years ago: "Inventing Mark Twain: The Lives of Samuel Langhorne Clemens." I should read it again, because it was very interesting. Ben Franklin was another one from humble beginnings that turned himself into a world renown Parisian diplomat and inventor, among many other things. Edit: my favorite story of self-reinvention is the story of Korla Pandit. I love it because it's something I would have done. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korla_Pandit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korla_Pandit

jamiek88 4y ago
Do you know if there is an ebook of this anywhere? It’s out of print and used books from people I don’t know gross me out. It’s weird I know. Like a phobia almost.
- michaelwww 4y ago
  No sorry. How about some kind of sterilization procedure?
  - danrochman 4y ago
    Whoa now! Just because they’ve got a bizarre phobia doesn’t mean that we’ve got to jump straight to sterilization. (Do we even know if the phobia is heritable?)
    - retcore 4y ago
      Whoa, here's a Smithsonian conservator dude saying, "My goal of late has been to develop procedures for mold contaminated collections that keep staff safe" https://siarchives.si.edu/blog/conserving-archival-collections-suffering-fungal-attack https://siarchives.si.edu/blog/conserving-archival-collectio... Definite interest in the reader's health, as well as archival, going on here.
      - 4y ago

djmips 4y ago

When they disparage Fuller being in a line-up in an Apple Commercial that includes Dylan, Einstein, Muhammad Ali - my first thought is that it's not that he doesn't fit in because he's not actually notable but that he does fit in - those people notability are also a product of PR. Dylan in particular is in the business of 'image'. Ali for sure and even Einstein's fame was hugely out of proportion with his actual contributions. MLK's job was to grab minds (for a good cause). I used to hate sales and maybe most engineers do but it's really a fact of human existence.

noir_lord 4y ago
> Einstein's fame was hugely out of proportion with his actual contributions Hugely?. I'd accept there was some variance (as you'd expect) but hugely made me stop and consider what you mean here.
- djmips 4y ago
  Well I considered my wording and maybe it's the wrong word but for example, Maxwell isn't well known beyond people who are interested in science. So although Einstein's contributions were great there are many many others who don't have the PR. Remember we are talking about public fame.

sparrowroberts 4y ago

The radome at the airport here in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil is a geodesic dome. I imagine there must be thousands more around the planet. This idea and the philosophy behind it had, and have, legs.

paulpauper 4y ago

His last book was a group biography of three science-fiction authors (Robert Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and Isaac Asimov) and the writer-editor John W. Campbell. These men, like Fuller, interpreted advances in specialized fields for the public, making forceful arguments about the future, which they said would be science-driven, tech-enabled, (mostly) better in every way. This worked, in part, because these guys had something: preternatural confidence, and personal charisma. These sort of people, like L. Ron Hubbard, died off because of increased skepticism and increased transparency. After ww2 you had this huge credulous population, and with considerable purchasing power due the post-war property and economic boom. The internet, and scandals such as Watergate and perceived hypocrisy of religious and political leaders and institutions, made people more skeptical overall, and also made it easier for people to verify claims.

jrockway 4y ago
I think people are still willing to believe anything. Migrant caravans, vaccines causing 5G microchips, you name it, someone believes it.
- jamiek88 4y ago
  A lot of that is politically motivated suspension of disbelieve rather than national credulity though.
- jesushax 4y ago
  Migrant caravans are definitely real: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_American_migrant_caravans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_American_migrant_carav... I've been to Tapachula, Chiapas and it's wild. If you ever go, ask the mototaxi guys for a balsa across the river for a fascinating experience.
Hermitian909 4y ago
Modern versions of this type of person exist, they're just pessimistic. The latest rising star in this category I've encountered is Peter Zeihan, a man who writes extensively about geopolitics and forecasts a great deal of doom and gloom (though America will be fine, he says, which helps his sales I'm sure). IIRC his latest book was one of the best-selling non-fiction books this year. He's funny, explains complex topics in a way that's understandable to lay people, and gives the impression of knowing his business quite well. In reality, the vast majority of his predictions over the past two decades have not come true e.g. saying China, Russia, and Canada would all break up by 2020. He is also wrong about specific technical claims e.g. how efficient certain renewable technologies can be in different locales (I have enough of a background to check some of these figures by hand).

satisfice 4y ago

I attended a lecture by Buckminster Fuller when I was thirteen, in Burlington, VT. I was starstruck and inspired. I used a spaced repetition method to partially memorize his talk and reproduced part of it for my science class the following day. He spoke about putting a dome over Winooski, and showed artists renditions of it. He bounced a tensegrity sphere. He spoke of his 50-year experiment (from the moment he chose not to commit suicide and instead see if he could do good in the world). I have, all my life, been influenced by his slightly nutty intellectual spirit.

sirspacey 4y ago
What a wild experience! Any part of the speech you recall?
- satisfice 4y ago
  Not word for word. But it was a speech about his project: doing more with less. He spoke about his Dymaxion car and how it met its tragic end, and his Dymaxion houses idea. He said a lot about domes and the benefits thereof. He was very keen to tell us about triangles and tensegrity. He may have shown his Dymaxion map. Systems thinking plus a lot about triangles.