From "Space-Age Magus/From beginning to end, experts saw through Buckminster Fuller’s ideas and theories. Why did so many people come under his spell?" by James Gleick (NYRB).
"He believed in a coming utopia. He thought no one should have to work
merely to earn a living. He had a gift for slogans: 'God is a verb.'
'Nature never fails.' 'Either war is obsolete, or men are.' 'Universe is
eternally regenerative.' One young listener said, 'When I listen to
Bucky talk, I feel I’ve got to go out and save the world. Then when I go
outside, I realize I don’t know how.'... Even Stewart Brand has come
to regret touting Fuller in the Whole Earth Catalog. 'Domes couldn’t
grow or adapt,' he says. 'When my generation outgrew the domes, we
simply left them empty, like hatchlings leaving their eggshells.'”
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I know Fuller din't invent them, but every time I see a geodesic dome (you'd be surprised at how many are littered all over the West) I think 'peak hippy.'
As an aside, 'Buckminster' is a very cool name...
"He believed in a coming utopia. He thought no one should have to work merely to earn a living. “
That seems to have been his greatest talent, at a personal level.
Fuller was said to be related to Margaret Fuller the 19th century Transcendentalist and feminist. In a way, he was sort of a 19th century figure, the Yankee autodidact (in spite of some time at Harvard) and self-promoter. We remember P.T. Barnum, inventors like Morse and Edison, and maybe even Henry Beecher and Horace Greeley, so it's not surprising that we are still talking about Buckminster Fuller.
Had a couple crackpots like this in the family, always writing vanity books to spout their happy horseshit. Harmless really, but some poor saps really take their nonsense seriously.
I admit to a plan to build a geodesic chicken coop that I can move around the yard. It should be lightweight, but I should probably calculate that in advance.
Saw Bucky lecture on BGSU's campus in 1976ish. Don't remember a word of it.
40 years later, visited a friend who lived in a geodesic dome. Ghastly dwelling.
I always get these guys mixed up.
Bernard Berenson
Bruno Bettelheim
Buckminster Fuller
Bernard Baruch
He was the tip-tap.
Also the inspiration for famed achitech Ted Mosley.
Hey, wait a minute. what about tensegrity. that was real. and the idea of Spaceship Earth, that is true and powerful.
The headline shows you how out of touch is the NYRB. What they apparently don't see is that people are now starting to wonder how it was that they ever came under the spell of "experts".
"Experts" are the last refuge of scoundrel journalists.
With his rhetorical gift, he could make a killing today as a management consultant. Dialoging the synergies and such.
A lot of "chips riding around on men’s shoulders" in this post today, what the heck?!
I must defend the freedom of eccentric, imaginative men and misfits.
In the late 50s-early 60s, my gifted misfit of a mama was fascinated with Fuller's fresh inspirations, like his more accurate map of the world made of triangles, and his inventions of words and phrases to fit the moment.
She was generally thrilled at all kinds of out-of-the-box thinking coming out of that dynamic moment, like REM sleep and dreaming studies, for instance. She had the whole family paying attention to our dreams, it was glorious and made a life-changing habit for me. She also gloried in the study of earlier 20th c genius like Frank Lloyd Wright, Freud & Carl Jung.
All of those folks had their goofball sides. I love how they all shook the box.
Don't forget Bucky Beaver and Ipana toothpaste.
I saw him talk at the U of Oregon, in '67. I don't remember what he said, but I remember I was amazed at his range. None of my teachers had ever sounded anything like that, and I felt inspired by his ability to tie seemingly disparate topics together. Of course, I was 13 years old.
The true Fuller geodesic dome is really only suitable for very large structures, but there are dome homes that are quite practical.
"He believed in a coming utopia. He thought no one should have to work merely to earn a living. “
And, yet, this is a very real problem. We are probably close to being able to provide a living wage to everyone in the country legally, without them having to actually work. Many of the necessities of life have become insanely cheap. For example, a basic shirt or a pair of pants now cost less than an hour of labor at McDonald’s. We both have more clothes than we will ever need for the rest of our lives, but we’re stuck in Vegas recently for medical issues for almost 2 months, and accumulated that much more clothing. Sure, we squander a lot of the wealth that used to go to necessities in an earlier era on bigger, fancier, cars, houses, vacations, etc, but you don’t need that to survive. We probably all know people who just don’t follow that route. We have a step step relative, in his mid 20s, who doesn’t work, doesn’t drive, etc. He lives with his mother in the room he grew up in, and plays a lot of video games. Many of us probably have similar.
And that is the problem - the moral hazard. When it took a lot of labor to acquire clothing, housing, food, etc, it was simple - work or die. It became a moral necessity out of practical necessity. But now, there is a significant constituency for paying people for either just existing, or for doing what they want, and not what is needed for the economy or the country. And it seems to be growing.
1+1=4
When I see "...experts saw through Buckminster Fuller’s ideas and theories." I think of the trust the expert world of covid. BF was a podcaster before podcasts existed. Maybe the NYRB is preparing a hit piece on Jordan Peterson, Joe Rogan or Scott Adams, all of whom can talk at length extemporaneously and run afoul of experts..
'1+1=4'
For liberals; yes...
"... but you don’t need that to survive"
Mere survival is not the desired end state. To say we don't "need" something in order to survive misses the point of human thriving and progress.
"For example, a basic shirt or a pair of pants now cost less than an hour of labor at McDonald’s."
Really? A pair of Levi's are now $98. High, because they have become a fashion statement. Cheapest jeans at Target are $22.
But otherwise I agree. The moral hazard and long run effect on society make a basic stipend for everyone an incredibly dangerous option.
I was taking "Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth" seriously right up until he started on his "Great Pirate" conspiracy theory of Western history. And then I thought if he's nuts about this then maybe I should take the rest with a grain of salt.
As Utopians go, his body count was pretty low. You don't have to break geodosic domes to make an omelet.....The invention that brought about the most substantial change in life on earth in my lifetime was the computer. (Well, not counting the tv remote control.)....The people who invented and developed all the applications for the computer were people interested in making money. The profit motive is something Utopians would wish do away with, but Disneyland is built by money and for money. It offers a pleasant reality and if you're rich enough you can stay there forever.....On the other hand, when you go to construct a New Soviet Man, someone who is beyond such fluff and greed, you end up with someome like Putin.
In college I attended a talk he gave at the Art & Architecture building at Yale, during which he drew on the board what he called his more important equation: T + me = P. It took a few seconds for the message to sink in. He was a hoot, unpredictable and occasionally incisive.
Fuller lives on in organic chemistry, where certain exotic compounds resembling soccer balls are called Buckyballs and Buckminsterfullerenes.
https://www.inverse.com/article/60965-what-are-buckyballs
“And that is the problem - the moral hazard. When it took a lot of labor to acquire clothing, housing, food, etc, it was simple - work or die. It became a moral necessity out of practical necessity. But now, there is a significant constituency for paying people for either just existing“
In classic sf, the people of the moon colony had to work hard or they were shunned and pushed out the hatch. The moon colonies production was sent to earth to benefit the teeming masses of the non productive. Revolution ensues.
I too first encountered “Bucky” (as he was known to open-hearted people goin' down) at the University of Oregon.
visited a friend who lived in a geodesic dome. Ghastly dwelling.
Round houses have been a utopian form since Victorian days; by all accounts they make for terrible spaces and acoustics. But they’re ideal for pre-modern families living in a single room, particularly if your animals all live on the ground floor beneath you and can keep you warm during winter.
Whatever he was or wasn't, for his time he inspired youth to 'think outside the box.'
Buckminster Fuller was an original thinker and a practical designer. Sure his books and philosophy were far out, but who cares? He didn't just talk about the future, he did something about it.
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