Buckminster Fuller - Everything I Know (42 hours of video) | Hacker News Reader

Buckminster Fuller - Everything I Know (42 hours of video)

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106 pointsColinWright35 comments

The department store Marshall Field's hired a wordsmith to listen to Fuller talk for two days. After playing around with syllables, he came up with "dymaxion" as a good brand name that fit the way Fuller talked. Fuller liked it so much he used it for a lot of projects: Dymaxion house, Dymaxion car, Dymaxion World Map, and Dymaxion Chronofile. The Chronofile made Buckminster Fuller the most-documented person in history http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dymaxion_Chronofile

>After playing around with syllables, he came up with "dymaxion" as a good brand name that fit the way Fuller talked.

I wonder if the word smith facetiously chose this word because it sounds really stupid. After all, the way that Fuller makes up his own words makes him sound like a raving idiot. Don't get me wrong, he was undoubtedly a really smart guy, but his personality and mannerisms detract from that.

Looking through the lens of 2013 it might sound stupid. In the cultural context of the mid-20th century it was perfectly appropriate. Fifty years from now the word "iPhone" will probably sound like the dumbest name ever.

In all honesty, it already does. Take the object and put an "i" in front. Such modern.

iMacsion

Bucky figured out most of the problems we would be facing about now, and many of the solutions. He pointed out that, if we used our technology to efficiently supply our needs, we would be able to work for about two years and then retire having paid for our the rest of our lives during those two years. This would be possible starting sometime in the '70s. The important thing to remember about Bucky is that he was an engineer. A real one, not a software "engineer" (like me), and he calculated what he talked about. He was not a philosopher.

If you're relatively successful, this isn't too far off from reality. If for example you make $75k after taxes, your living expenses is $25k, and you invest the rest with a 8% return, you can retire after 10 years and have a safe withdraw rate of 3.5% (equaling 25k) in perpetuity.

I'd say he was an engineer AND a philosopher.

Where would I find this theory of his?

I grew up hearing this man's name now and then, but it wasn't part of my culture. Is there a good explanation about why his ideas and engineering achievements are celebrated, in a particular context with his contributions to our lives today? I know about the geodesic domes obviously. His Wikipedia page is just facts that don't really help me understand his popularity.

I share some of your puzzlement. Fuller's reputation seems to far exceed his actual accomplishments: Most of his inventions were never put into practical use, and some such as the Dymaxion car were actively lethal.

It appears Fuller was very good at self-promotion, sounding inspirational, and occasionally appropriating others' ideas and attaching his own catchy name to them (see 'tensegrity'.)

Actually, in contradistinction to buzz-wordiness, most of the terms he used such as tensegrity have quite precise definitions- conceptually, as well in mechanical terms. If you want to get a true introduction to the depth and breadth of his thinking, I highly recommend his magnum opus 'Synergetics' [1]. Otherwise, at least take a glance at the meta-structure/heuristics behind his geometrical and design work [2].

[1]http://www.amazon.com/Synergetics-Explorations-Geometry-Buck...

[2]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synergetics_(Fuller)

He was a bit crazy in some ways - I tried to read his books, but they are full of too many self-invented words to be readily made sense of.

He was a visionary who saw much earlier than most that our planet has finite resources that should be used wisely, and that, through appropriate engineering, we have the ability to provide a good quality of life for everyone on earth if we so choose.

There's a superb theatrical "biography" of Bucky Fuller called "The History (and Mystery) of the Universe" -- definitely go see it if you have the opportunity. It's inspiring, informative, and entertaining.

It's playing early next year in San Jose CA (Jan 30 to Feb 23), and Cambridge MA (Jan 14 to Feb 5), and probably other places too.

CA: http://ticketing.sjrep.com/single/psDetail.aspx?psn=3026

MA: http://americanrepertorytheater.org/events/show/r-buckminste...

>He was a visionary who saw much earlier than most that our planet has finite resources that should be used wisely, and that, through appropriate engineering, we have the ability to provide a good quality of life for everyone on earth if we so choose.

This seems like something that should be self-evident to pretty much every high-school educated adult on the planet.

Is it not obvious that resources are finite?

Is it not also obvious that given some agreed upon voluntary form of population control, there would be enough for everyone if the entire planet made adopting a global minimum standard of living a priority?

I guess its easier to down-vote than it is to actually dispute ideas.

It may be obvious to someone who bothers to think about it. I get the feeling most people never give it a thought, which is why we're in the predicament that we are.

> This seems like something that should be self-evident to pretty much every high-school educated adult on the planet.

You, sir, are an optimist.

When the idea was still nascent Fuller both coined the word and developed novel forms of tensegrity structures. It isn't as if he invented icosahedrons, either.

Although actively lethal seems like a bit of a stretch, I agree with the rest of your post. It seems that Bucky Fuller's greatest accomplishment was the geodesic dome, and even that was a result of his popularization of the dome, rather than its invention. A pity really, as I was somewhat excited be able to read a work entitled "everything I know" by someone whom I assumed was worth reading.

The Dymaxion car had three wheels, two at the front, with rear-wheel steering and the engine mounted at the back.

Imagine a car with the dynamic qualities of a Reliant Robin. Driven backwards.

Unsurprisingly, the car rolled over at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, killing the driver and severely injuring two passengers.

Read this '72 Playboy interview:

http://www.cesc.net/adobeweb/scholars/fuller/buckminsterfull...

His foresight is amazing. Just a snippet:

"Very soon we’ll have little devices on our wrists and we’ll be able to say “I like it” or “I don’t like it” as we go along"

Why the hell isn't there some nifty interactive annotated and cross referenced transcript of this? Grrr.

Fuller made such a file, look up the Dymaxion Chronofile. Or, check out Stanford's online collection: http://collections.stanford.edu/bucky/bin/page?forward=home

It's not interactive or cross-referenced, but a transcript is available here: http://www.bfi.org/about-bucky/resources/everything-i-know

cool, but boy those formats suck. reminds me of what youtube really achieved. video that works http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6yaSLipeWg

I wish everyone did this

Everyone does. It's just that only the NSA has the tapes.

They do. It's called YouTube. It's not that good...

That was my first thought. If all great thinkers recorded long pieces like this we'd build a great treasure trove of information.

Only smart people.

Well you won't know which people have good ideas until they tell you their ideas :)

Fodder for Psychohistorians.

Brilliant man, but this rambles a bit.

Tell you what though, it gets better!

I linked it.

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