Once upon a time in real life there lived a genius so far ahead of his time we have still not caught up with him, even though he died thirty years ago. Buckminster Fuller was the biggest thinker of the twentieth century. He was a “comprehensivist” — an architect, mathematician, inventor and philosopher who was obsessed with understanding how to help humanity become more successful.
But Bucky wasn’t just an idealist. He was a pragmatic utopian. His math and science showed that utopia was actually possible.
Bucky rescued himself from suicide at the age of 32 in 1927. Up until then he had been a big drinking, big talking inventor trying be a businessman. He’d been thrown out of Harvard; blamed himself for the death of a daughter, from pneumonia, at age 4; another baby had been born. Bucky decided his family would be better off without him. But as he stood out on an icy pier, a voice asked him “what right do you have to end a life?”, and so Bucky made a deal with his god that he would allow himself to live on the condition that he devote the rest of his days to serving all of humanity — with no regard to his own personal rewards.
He did exactly that, and the universe took care of him just fine. Bucky consciously evolved himself, just as he thought we all should try to do, so that we would evolve beyond greed and selfishness, and know that the good of the whole came first.
Bucky created many “artifacts for living” — as examples of how to do more with less. A car, a house, an all-in one bathroom and his best known invention, the geodesic dome, are all examples of his ephermeralization principle. The geodesic dome encloses the maximum amount of space with minimum resources. The fact that Bucky originally created the dome as a metaphor didn’t stop people from wanting to live in one. Over 300 thousand geodesic domes popped up all over the planet in the 1960 and 1970s, serving as exhibition halls, public auditoriums and dome homes. They’re are still many standing, especially in areas of Northern California near Santa Cruz and Berkeley.
The math and science supporting Bucky’s utopian ideals can be found in his Synergetic Geometry (linked at left). Here Bucky says he “started with universe”, to make sure he didn’t leave anything out. He asked himself the most fundamental questions: What is the universe made of? What is the structure of the universe? What is humanity’s potential to live with nature? Synergetics starts with the idea that the most important and elemental structure of nature is a triangle. I’ve yet to find a scientist or mathematician who either verifies or disputes Bucky’s geometry, except for the Resonance Project in Portland, Oregon, which is working to educate people about universal truths of matter and energy which match Bucky’s ideas, and support the idea that there is an abundance of readily tappable clean, free energy.
Bucky’s efforts to share his ideas met with great success. He traveled the world hundreds of times over the decades, winning countless awards and honorary degrees. He wrote 23 books, many listed at left. People from all over gathered to hear him talk. Time Magazine called him “the planet’s friendly genius”. Many called him the Leonardo da Vinci of the 20th century.
The fact that about 99% of people today (at least in America) have never heard of Buckminster Fuller is surely one of the saddest facts of our generation. Bucky’s life was an inspiration, but his messages were a threat to the status quo, so an invisibility cloak of sorts was thrown over Bucky’s ideas. There are signs however that he is about to make a comeback. Even Russell Brand is talking about Bucky these days. One day soon, maybe even President Obama will quote Bucky on energy: “There are vast readily tappable cosmic energies that we are not allowed to harvest because big oil can’t find a way to meter the sun.”
If Bucky were alive today, he would wonder why we still burn up the house to keep the family warm, when science urgently points to the need to stop. Bucky would wonder how we grew blind to the truth, or maybe he would understand all of it.. But on a lighter note, Bucky would remind us about the amazing potential of human beings, and about the unimaginable benefits of a clean energy world. He would say that if we simply appled ourselves to creating a world that worked for everyone, we would accomplish it. All we have to do is evolve into a class one — cooperative not competitive — species. Easier said that done.
Bucky would also ask us to wield our mighty keyboards and use social media and email to let congressmen, senators, governors and our president know this is the pivotal issue of all time. Bucky would say we must end fossil fuel subsidies at once, and re-allocate those resources toward alternative energies, before it is too late.
If we do this, we can create utopia. The choice is oblivion. And that is exactly how Bucky would still be defining the prospects for humanity.
The public can access Bucky’s archives, the largest single collection of papers ever accumulated by a human being, called the Dymaxion Chronofile, at Stanford University, in their special collections department. For all my enlightened readers from Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, a visit to Bucky’s archives would make a wonderful vacation. Stanford University is in a beautiful part of Northern California! If you coming let me know. And please share Buckyworld.
Buckminster Fuller predicted his own disappearance in 1982. 
Buckminster Fuller said the sabotage of clean energy development was the greatest crime ever perpetrated against humanity. Today, scientists agree, and say it is time for a revolution against the entrenched profit-motivated fossil fuel interests that are destroying the fragile ecosystem of our planet.
(San Rafael, Ca) – The 24th annual Bioneers Conference in Marin brought forth a profusion of ideas for turning around Earth’s fragile environment in time to save it.
The science behind happiness, greed and meat without animals was all explained in scintillating detail at the brilliant TedXMarin Thursday. While each speaker deserves a whole post, there were two who zeroed in on issues that are near and dear to Buckminster Fuller.
BUCKYIDEAS 