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Investigations

Andrius: I am collecting and systematizing the ways that Buckminster Fuller figured things out.

Examples

Three-cycle (with his entire life)

Hearing from the Universe (as a validator of purpose)

• "Fuller said that he had experienced a profound incident which would provide direction and purpose for his life. He felt as though he was suspended several feet above the ground enclosed in a white sphere of light. A voice spoke directly to Fuller, and declared: From now on you need never await temporal attestation to your thought. You think the truth. You do not have the right to eliminate yourself. You do not belong to you. You belong to the Universe. Your significance will remain forever obscure to you, but you may assume that you are fulfilling your role if you apply yourself to converting your experiences to the highest advantage of others. (维基百科)
• "In 1965, they inaugurated the World Design Science Decade (1965 to 1975) at the meeting of the International Union of Architects in Paris, which was, in Fuller's own words, devoted to "applying the principles of science to solving the problems of humanity." (维基百科)
• "Fuller referred to himself as "the property of universe" and during one radio interview he gave later in life, declared himself and his work "the property of all humanity"." (维基百科)

Living his life as an experiment

• "He ultimately chose to embark on "an experiment, to find what a single individual could contribute to changing the world and benefiting all humanity". (维基百科)
• "In 1927 Fuller resolved to think independently which included a commitment to "the search for the principles governing the universe and help advance the evolution of humanity in accordance with them" (维基百科)
• "Guinea Pig B: I AM NOW CLOSE TO 88 and I am confident that the only thing important about me is that I am an average healthy human. I am also a living case history of a thoroughly documented, half-century, search-and-research project designed to discover what, if anything, an unknown, moneyless individual, with a dependent wife and newborn child, might be able to do effectively on behalf of all humanity that could not be accomplished by great nations, great religions or private enterprise, no matter how rich or powerfully armed." (维基百科)
• Fuller used his family inheritance to finish the second and third prototypes" (维基百科)

Self-reflection about his life as a search for motivation

• "Years later, he decided that this sort of experience had provided him with not only an interest in design, but also a habit of being familiar with and knowledgeable about the materials that his later projects would require." (维基百科)
• "Fuller drank heavily and reflected upon the solution to his family's struggles on long walks around Chicago." (维基百科)
• "Fuller stated that this experience led to a profound re-examination of his life." (维基百科)

Drawing motivation from providing for others

• "[His daughter's cause of death] provided motivation for Fuller's involvement in Stockade Building Systems, a business which aimed to provide affordable, efficient housing." (维基百科)
• "During the autumn of 1927, Fuller contemplated suicide by drowning in Lake Michigan, so that his family could benefit from a life insurance payment." (维基百科)

Letting go of all assumptions

• In his 1970 book I Seem To Be a Verb, he wrote: "I live on Earth at present, and I don't know what I am." (维基百科)

Making sense of oneself

• I know that I am not a category. I am not a thing—a noun. I seem to be a verb, an evolutionary process—an integral function of the universe." (维基百科)

Understanding the boundaries of his responsibility.

• He asked himself: What can an individual do that a corporation or a government can't do? (Bartlett Lecture - 1972) Nobody had to approve what he would do, he could act much faster. (Bartlett lecture - 1972)
• He asked himself: What could he do on behalf of his fellow man without trespassing on their life? Noting that if a person wants to kill themselves it should be their choice but not his, so he should save their life if they are unaware of the threat. (Bartlett lecture - 1972)

More ways

Doing more with less

• In 1927 Fuller resolved to think independently which included a commitment to "the search for the principles governing the universe and help advance the evolution of humanity in accordance with them ... finding ways of doing more with less to the end that all people everywhere can have more and more". (维基百科)
• "Fuller was also an early environmental activist, aware of Earth's finite resources, and promoted a principle he termed "ephemeralization", which, according to futurist and Fuller disciple Stewart Brand, was defined as "doing more with less"." (维基百科)
• "Resources and waste from crude, inefficient products could be recycled into making more valuable products, thus increasing the efficiency of the entire process." (维基百科)
• Fuller associated the word Dymaxion, a blend of the words dynamic, maximum, and tension[59] to sum up the goal of his study, "maximum gain of advantage from minimal energy input". (维基百科)

Analyzing a system in terms of inputs and outputs and effects

• From this point of view, its use as a transportation fuel by people commuting to work represents a huge net loss compared to their actual earnings. (维基百科)

Reducing constraints on people

• (Bartlett lecture - 1972)

Updating each other on our thinking

• (Bartlett lecture - 1972)

Expressing thoughts as a poem

• (Bartlett lecture - 1972)

Trying things out in different ways and then selecting one.

• "As a child, Richard Buckminster Fuller tried numerous variations of his name. He used to sign his name differently each year in the guest register of his family summer vacation home at Bear Island, Maine. He finally settled on R. Buckminster Fuller." (维基百科)
• "He experimented with designing a new apparatus for human propulsion of small boats." (维基百科)
• "Domes up to three stories tall built with this method proved to be remarkably strong. Other shapes such as cones, pyramids and arches proved equally adaptable." (维基百科)

Rejecting inaccurate representations.

• "He was dissatisfied with the way geometry was taught in school, disagreeing with the notions that a chalk dot on the blackboard represented an "empty" mathematical point, or that a line could stretch off to infinity. To him these were illogical, and led to his work on synergetics." (维基百科)
• Questioning his perceptions. For example, why do physicists picture the sun as setting? What would it look like from the North Pole? or near it? How to perceive it differently? (Bartlett lecture - 1972)

Constructing useful or interesting items from available materials.

• "He often made items from materials he found in the woods, and sometimes made his own tools." (维基百科)

Inferring conditions as a cause

• "Fuller dwelled on his daughter's death, suspecting that it was connected with the Fullers' damp and drafty living conditions." (维基百科)

Hanging out at a social hub

• By 1928, Fuller was living in Greenwich Village and spending much of his time at the popular café Romany Marie's (维基百科)

Having a symbiotic relationship

• "Fuller accepted a job decorating the interior of the café in exchange for meals,[21] giving informal lectures several times a week, and models of the Dymaxion house were exhibited at the café." (维基百科)
• "Fitzgibbon was director of Geodesics, Inc. and Synergetics, Inc. the first licensees to design geodesic domes." (维基百科)
• "According to SIU architecture professor Jon Davey, the position was "unlike most faculty appointments ... more a celebrity role than a teaching job" in which Fuller offered few courses and was only stipulated to spend two months per year on campus." (维基百科)
• "courting the interest of important figures from the auto industry," (维基百科)

Accepting help to transform weaknesses into strengths

• Fuller had been shy and withdrawn, but he was persuaded to participate in a theatrical performance of Erik Satie's Le piège de Méduse produced by John Cage, who was also teaching at Black Mountain. During rehearsals, under the tutelage of Arthur Penn, then a student at Black Mountain, Fuller broke through his inhibitions to become confident as a performer and speaker. (维基百科)
• At Black Mountain, with the support of a group of professors and students, he began reinventing a project that would make him famous: the geodesic dome. (维基百科)

Popularizing - reinventing

• "He began reinventing a project that would make him famous: the geodesic dome ... Although Fuller undoubtedly popularized this type of structure he is mistakenly given credit for its design." (维基百科)

Proving validity by dramatizing

• "To prove his design, Fuller suspended several students who had helped him build it from the structure's framework." (维基百科)
• Able to steer in a tight circle, the Dymaxion often caused a sensation, bringing nearby traffic to a halt

Computer calculations

• "Richard Lewontin, a new faculty member in population genetics at North Carolina State University, provided Fuller with computer calculations for the lengths of the domes' edges." (维基百科)

Developing visions

• "Fuller believed human societies would soon rely mainly on renewable sources of energy, such as solar- and wind-derived electricity. He hoped for an age of "omni-successful education and sustenance of all humanity"." (维基百科)
• "In 1967, Fuller developed a concept for an offshore floating city named Triton City and published a report on the design the following year." (维基百科)

Drawing meaning from signs

• "It was while visiting her there that he exclaimed, at a certain point: "She is squeezing my hand!" He then stood up, suffered a heart attack, and died an hour later, at age 87." (维基百科)

Citing experts

• "In his book Critical Path (1981) he cited the opinion of François de Chadenèdes (1920-1999) that petroleum, from the standpoint of its replacement cost in our current energy "budget" (essentially, the net incoming solar flux), had cost nature "over a million dollars" per U.S. gallon ($300,000 per litre) to produce." (维基百科)

Formulating definitions

• "Defining wealth in terms of knowledge, as the "technological ability to protect, nurture, support, and accommodate all growth needs of life"... (维基百科)
• Fuller associated the word Dymaxion, a blend of the words dynamic, maximum, and tension[59] to sum up the goal of his study, "maximum gain of advantage from minimal energy input". (维基百科)

Identifying critical levels regarding optimal strategies

• his analysis of the condition of "Spaceship Earth" caused him to conclude that at a certain time during the 1970s, humanity had attained an unprecedented state." (维基百科)
• "He was convinced that the accumulation of relevant knowledge, combined with the quantities of major recyclable resources that had already been extracted from the earth, had attained a critical level, such that competition for necessities had become unnecessary. Cooperation had become the optimum survival strategy." (维基百科)

Focusing on the relevant domain or level

• "There is no energy crisis, only a crisis of ignorance." (维基百科)

Considering the effects of principles

• "He criticized previous utopian schemes as too exclusive, and thought this was a major source of their failure. To work, he thought that a utopia needed to include everyone." (维基百科)

Absorbing influences, adopting and reformulating ideas

• "Fuller was influenced by Alfred Korzybski's idea of general semantics. In the 1950s, Fuller attended seminars and workshops organized by the Institute of General Semantics, and he delivered the annual Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture in 1955.[49] Korzybski is mentioned in the Introduction of his book Synergetics. The two shared a remarkable amount of similarity in their formulations of general semantics." (维基百科)

Fostering the poetic possibilities of prosaic relationships

• He awarded the 1966 "Dymaxion Award" to Drop City, a community of experimental artists, for "poetically economic" domed living structures. (维基百科)

Establishing natural structures from natural relationships

• Fuller wrote that the natural analytic geometry of the universe was based on arrays of tetrahedra. He developed this in several ways, from the close-packing of spheres and the number of compressive or tensile members required to stabilize an object in space. One confirming result was that the strongest possible homogeneous truss is cyclically tetrahedral. (维基百科)

Extending principles to find solutions

• "Their construction is based on extending some basic principles to build simple "tensegrity" structures (tetrahedron, octahedron, and the closest packing of spheres), making them lightweight and stable." (维基百科)
• "The geodesic dome was a result of Fuller's exploration of nature's constructing principles to find design solutions." (维基百科)

Designing a first step towards a vision

• The Dymaxion was not an automobile but rather the 'ground-taxying mode' of a vehicle that might one day be designed to fly, land and drive — an "Omni-Medium Transport" for air, land and water. (维基百科)

Recognizing unsatisfactory limitations

• Fuller focused on the landing and taxiing qualities, and noted severe limitations in its handling. (维基百科)
• eventually selling all three, dissolving Dymaxion Corporation and maintaining the Dymaxion was never intended as a commercial venture. (维基百科)

Making incremental improvements of features

• The team made improvements and refinements to the platform, (维基百科)
• [The house] has several innovative features, including revolving dresser drawers, and a fine-mist shower that reduces water consumption. (维基百科)

Appraising suitability for the intended audience

• Fuller noted the Dymaxion "was an invention that could not be made available to the general public without considerable improvements". (维基百科)

Thinking in the round

• In a diagram, can think of it as on a sphere, able to have paths that go around, from all manner of directions.

Japanese friends

读物

维基百科: Buckminster Fuller

笔记]

• Trimtab: rudder for a rudder. Making the most change with the least effort.
• "Correcting" language: world-around (instead of world-wide); outstairs (instead of up-stairs); instairs (instead of downstairs).