What Can a Little Person Like Me Do…To Make a Difference in the World?’
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The Best Way to Predict the Future Is to Design It Exploration in Future Possibilities from an Industrial Design Perspective
The best way to predict the future is to design it Exploration in future possibilities from an Industrial Design perspective Alexander Jayko Fossland Department of Product Design Norwegian University of Science and Technology ABSTRACT The main problem discussed is what one should design towards in general terms and what rationale can back up designing in general. The article is aimed at professional designers and students of design looking to broaden their philosophical basis for design practice. R. Buckminster Fuller’s literature is assessed. Critical questions are raised about the industrial design profession, constructive and destructive abilities are discovered. Through Fuller’s perspectives, open source, open design, digital fabrication and the blockchain are found to be potential remedies for humanity’s shortcomings in sustainably operating Spaceship Earth. KEYWORDS: R. Buckminster Fuller, Industrial Design, Total human success, Spaceship Earth, Ephemeralization, Real Wealth, Open Source, Open Design, the Blockchain, Digital Fabrication. 1. INTRODUCTION consideration, in addition the analyses of digital fabrication, open source, open design and This article discusses perspectives, principles and blockchain technology is assessed through implications of R. Buckminster Fuller´s philosophy published articles. in the light of modern industrial design. It tries to establish a consensus about what we should 1.1 Origins design towards, and what a designer’s responsibility and contributions could be. Finally In exploring the role of industrial designers, a it looks at concepts in contemporary technology preliminary understanding of the origins of the relevant to Fullers visions and ideas. Industrial Design profession is required. The question of whether Industrial Designers are true This article reviews literature from the following advocates for innovation or profit-driven stylists texts by R. -
Buckminster Fuller's Critical Path
The Oil Drum: Australia/New Zealand | Buckminster Fuller\'s Critical Path http://anz.theoildrum.com/node/5113 Buckminster Fuller's Critical Path Posted by Big Gav on February 16, 2009 - 5:57am in The Oil Drum: Australia/New Zealand Topic: Environment/Sustainability Tags: book review, buckminster fuller, critical path, geodesic dome, geoscope, world game [list all tags] Critical Path was the last of Buckminster Fuller's books, published shortly before his death in 1983 and summing up his lifetime of work. Buckminster "Bucky" Fuller was an American architect, author, designer, futurist, inventor and visionary who devoted his life to answering the question "Does humanity have a chance to survive lastingly and successfully on planet Earth, and if so, how?". He is frequently referred to as a genius (albeit a slightly eccentric one). During his lifelong experiment, Fuller wrote 29 books, coining terms such as "Spaceship Earth", "ephemeralization" and "synergetics". He also developed and contributed to a number of inventions inventions, the best known being the geodesic dome. Carbon molecules known as fullerenes (buckyballs) were so named due to their resemblance to geodesic spheres. Bucky was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Ronald Reagan in 1981. There is no energy crisis, only a crisis of ignorance - Buckminster Fuller Critical Path Humanity is moving ever deeper into crisis - a crisis without precedent. First, it is a crisis brought about by cosmic evolution irrevocably intent upon completely transforming omnidisintegrated humanity from a complex of around-the-world, remotely-deployed-from-one-another, differently colored, differently credoed, differently cultured, differently communicating, and differently competing entities into a completely integrated, comprehensively interconsiderate, harmonious whole. -
Letters to World Citizens Are Design Science and Political Science
Letters to World Citizens Garry Davis Vol IX/3, Jun/July 95 Are Design Science and Political Science Compatible? I was invited to speak at the Buckminster Fuller Centenary Forum at MIT’s Department of Architecture on April 21. The event was sub-titled, “The Global Impact of Bucky.” I was on a panel called “World Thought.” Right up my alley, I thought. Professor Arthur Loeb, head of the visual and environmental studies department at Harvard, was chairing this session. Sharing the podium with me were Ed Applewhite, author of Cosmic Fishing and collaborator with Bucky on Synergetics I & II; architect Shoji Sadao, the director of the Moguchi Museum; Kiyoshi Kuromiya, adjutant of Bucky for Critical Path and Cosmography; and, finally, the forum’s convenor, Lim Chong Keat, eminent architect and urban designer in Malaysia and Singapore and co-organizer with Bucky of the Campuan Group, a design science think tank. Altogether an impressive list of academics, with the exception of yours truly. We have quoted Bucky Fuller many times in these pages. “One world” and “world citizenship” run continuously throughout his writings. Also, in 1927 he accepted humanity as a whole, a “happening” or “verb,” as he wrote in Critical Path, and devoted his life’s work to giving that “fact” a reality through the “design-science revolution,” as he called it. Fuller’s World Game, created with the assistance of our own Bill Perk at Southern Illinois University, is played to “make the world work.” His Dymaxion map revealed the interlinking of the five continents, with the exception of the Bering Straits (a 35-mile gap). -
Westminsterresearch Technological Innovation in Architecture: the Role
WestminsterResearch http://www.westminster.ac.uk/westminsterresearch Technological Innovation in Architecture: The Role of the Aberrant Practitioner Mclean, W. This is an electronic version of a PhD thesis awarded by the University of Westminster. © Mr William Mclean, 2018. The WestminsterResearch online digital archive at the University of Westminster aims to make the research output of the University available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the authors and/or copyright owners. Whilst further distribution of specific materials from within this archive is forbidden, you may freely distribute the URL of WestminsterResearch: ((http://westminsterresearch.wmin.ac.uk/). In case of abuse or copyright appearing without permission e-mail [email protected] Technological Innovation in Architecture: The Role of the Aberrant Practitioner Will McLean A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the University of Westminster for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2018 2 Abstract Technological innovation in architecture can often be attributed to the work or works of individual designers and their unique (tacit) working method. Through an analysis of my published work (articles, essays, edited, co- authored and authored books), I will present how the aberrant creative process which the economist Joseph Schumpeter described as the ‘innovating entrepreneur’ can enlarge the palette of technological possibilities for the architect and define a unique role within the construction industry. The published works survey and explore atypical and innovative technologies and working practices in relation to architecture. The ‘McLean’s Nuggets’ column presented a series of short articles, factual and outliers (provocations in some instances) and established an expansive view of the variety and potential of technology and its application in architecture as a socially beneficial design tool. -
Buckminster Fuller
Buckminster Fuller Richard Buckminster Fuller (/ˈfʊlər/; July 12, 1895 – July 1, 1983)[1] was an American architect, systems theorist, author, designer, inventor, and futurist. He Buckminster Fuller styled his name as R. Buckminster Fuller in his writings, publishing more than 30 books and coining or popularizing such terms as "Spaceship Earth", "Dymaxion" (e.g., Dymaxion house, Dymaxion car, Dymaxion map), "ephemeralization", "synergetics", and "tensegrity". Fuller developed numerous inventions, mainly architectural designs, and popularized the widely known geodesic dome; carbon molecules known as fullerenes were later named by scientists for their structural and mathematical resemblance to geodesic spheres. He also served as the second World President of Mensa International from 1974 to 1983.[2][3] Contents Life and work Education Fuller in 1972 Wartime experience Depression and epiphany Born Richard Buckminster Recovery Fuller Geodesic domes July 12, 1895 Dymaxion Chronofile World stage Milton, Massachusetts, Honors U.S. Last filmed appearance Died July 1, 1983 (aged 87) Death Los Angeles, Philosophy and worldview Major design projects California, U.S. The geodesic dome Occupation Designer · author · Transportation Housing inventor Dymaxion map and World Game Spouse(s) Anne Hewlett (m. 1917) Appearance and style Children Allegra Fuller Snyder Quirks Language and neologisms Buildings Geodesic dome Concepts and buildings (1940s) Influence and legacy Projects Dymaxion house Patents (1928) Bibliography See also Philosophy career References Further reading Education Harvard University External links (expelled) Influenced Life and work Constance Abernathy Ruth Asawa Fuller was born on July 12, 1895, in Milton, Massachusetts, the son of Richard J. Baldwin Buckminster Fuller and Caroline Wolcott Andrews, and grand-nephew of Margaret Fuller, an American journalist, critic, and women's rights advocate Michael Ben-Eli associated with the American transcendentalism movement. -
Grunch of Giants 1
GRUNCH OF GIANTS 1 Grunch of Giants By R. Buckminster Fuller Get any book for free on: www.Abika.com Get any book for free on: www.Abika.com GRUNCH OF GIANTS 2 Grunch of Giants Introduction ST. MARTIN'S PRESS New York I dedicate this book to three women: one of the nineteenth and two of the twentieth centuries. First, to my great aunt, Margaret Fuller Assoli, who with Ralph Waldo Emerson co-edited the Transcendentalist magazine, the Dial, and was the first to publish Thoreau—and herself authored Woman in the Nineteenth Century. I am sure Margaret would and probably does join in my enthusiastic support and co-dedication of this book to Marilyn Ferguson, author of The Aquarian Conspiracy, and to Barbara Marx Hubbard, founder of the Committee for the Future, for their effective inspiration to the young world to do its own thinking and to act in accordance therewith. Contents Foreword ix 1. (Fee x fie x fo x fum)4 1 2. Astro-age David's Sling 7 3. Heads or Tails We Win, Inc. 18 4. Invisible Know-How, Inc. 34 5. Paper-into-Gold Alchemists 55 6. Can't Fool Cosmic Computer 77 Index 93 Foreword There exists a realizable, evolutionary alternative to our being either atom-bombed into extinction or crowding ourselves off the planet. The alternative is the computer-persuadable veering of big business from its weaponry fixation Get any book for free on: www.Abika.com GRUNCH OF GIANTS 3 to accommodation of all humanity at an aerospace level of technology, with the vastly larger, far more enduringly profitable for all, entirely new World Livingry Service Industry. -
An Energy Account for Spaceship Earth
This is a repository copy of An energy account for Spaceship Earth. White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/117876/ Version: Accepted Version Article: Tyszczuk, R.A. orcid.org/0000-0001-9556-1502 (2019) An energy account for Spaceship Earth. Resilience, 6 (2-3). pp. 92-115. https://doi.org/10.5250/resilience.6.2-3.0092 © 2019 University of Nebraska Press. This is an author produced version of an article subsequently published in Resilience. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. Reuse Items deposited in White Rose Research Online are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved unless indicated otherwise. They may be downloaded and/or printed for private study, or other acts as permitted by national copyright laws. The publisher or other rights holders may allow further reproduction and re-use of the full text version. This is indicated by the licence information on the White Rose Research Online record for the item. Takedown If you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing [email protected] including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. [email protected] https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ Renata Tyszczuk ‘An Energy Account for Spaceship Earth’ Resilience, Special Issue, 2018 (forthcoming) 5800 words (7,700 with notes) Abstract This article positions the inventor, visionary, poet, engineer, architect and scientist R. Buckminster Fuller as an epic storyteller about energy (although he might have preferred the tag ‘comprehensive anticipatory design scientist’). -
Investigation of Highly Flexible, Deployable Structures : Review, Modelling, Control, Experiments and Application Noémi Friedman
Investigation of highly flexible, deployable structures : review, modelling, control, experiments and application Noémi Friedman To cite this version: Noémi Friedman. Investigation of highly flexible, deployable structures : review, modelling, control, experiments and application. Other. École normale supérieure de Cachan - ENS Cachan; Budapesti műszaki és gazdaságtudományi egyetem (Budapest), 2011. English. NNT : 2011DENS0060. tel- 00675481 HAL Id: tel-00675481 https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00675481 Submitted on 1 Mar 2012 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Ecole Doctorale Sciences Pratiques thèse THESE DE DOCTORAT N° ordre 61, avenue du Président Wilson - DE L’ECOLE NORMALE SUPERIEURE DE CACHAN 94235 CACHAN CEDEX - FRANCE +33 1 47 40 75 77 - www.edsp.ens-cachan.fr Présentée par Civilité FRIEDMAN Noémi ENSC Mots clefs : structures déployables, structures transformables, antiprismatic pour obtenir le grade de Dans cette thèse, nous nous intéressons d’abord à de possibilités d’application des structures déployables en architecture et dans. l’industrie de construction. Le thème principale de la recherche a été l’étude des structures subissant de grandes DOCTEUR DE L’ECOLE NORMALE SUPERIEURE DE déformations et en passent par état d’instabilité au cours d’un programme de chargement. -
Modernity and Technology
MODERNITY AND TECHNOLOGY Fuller, Rudolph, and Eames: case studies of the homes but methods of mass-production had to be employed. experimental use of military technology and Obviously, following the two wars, many former military industries materials in the post-war house turned their attention to providing materials for the construction of homes. Fuller, Rudolph, and Eames were some of the most innovative Jori Erdman American architects in adapting military technology and industrial Clemson University products to the house. Architecture has long benefited from the application of technological The houses they designed following their experiences in the military advancements in other fields, such as industry and the military. represent serious attempts to reconcile the much more dramatic Some of the most innovative developments have come through the advances in material technology available to the military at that inventiveness of architects in finding applications for materials made time. These houses were also attempts to reconcile the Modern for non-architectural purposes. In the work of at least three post- Movements fascination with industrialization, particularly the work World War I and II architects, the application of military technology of Le Corbusier. Le Corbusier's adage, "the house is a machine for played a significant role in their response to housing. The American living" combined with the industrial imagery in Towards a New architects Charles Eames, Buckminster Fuller, and Paul Rudolph all Architecture inspired generations of young architects to find transferred material applications from the military to housing, or, associations between new materials and the idea of the house. more specifically, houses.' Their various .experiences with ships, Towards a New Architecture was. -
CALL ME GAIA: the Geometry of Fragmentation Or
THE PARSONS INSTITUTE 68 Fifth Avenue 212 229 6825 FOR INFORMATION MAPPING New York, NY 10011 piim.newschool.edu CALL ME GAIA CALL ME GAIA: That’s all you need to know about me for the moment. The Geometry of Fragmentation I am here because I have a story for you. Especially for you. or The Geometry of Life? You may wonder what I have to do with you? Why do I—seemingly a complete stranger—have a story JEAN GARDNER, MA AND JOSE DE JESUS, MFA to tell you? Confused about how to answer? Well, that is exactly why I need to tell you my story. Lately, we are hearing all sorts of theories, guesses really, about our relationship, but most of them don’t even get close to the KEYWORDS Buckminster Fuller, Gaia, geometry, systems, heart of the matter. vital signs But before I begin, I am wondering how you are feeling. Have you been paying attention to your vital signs? Have ABSTRACT Many of the “base geometries” found in you wondered what these signs say about your overall nature’s patterns are consistent and scalable. Such patterns health and well-being? exist in many mathematical sequences, such as the “golden How did the heat of the summer affect you this year? section,” or the Fibonacci sequence. For the purpose What about last winter’s prolonged cold? Did your body of this article we refer to all of these as part of the temperature swing with mine, with the same ups and Geometry of Life. Both the science and the aesthetics downs. -
A Tribute to R. Buckminster Fuller -- Inventor, Philosopher
A Trfbute to R. Budmdssater Fssller— Inventor, Philosopher !. Number44 November 2,1981 I first met Buckminster Fuller at my located in the University City Science apartment about three years ago. He Center. and his wife then lived in the same Fuller was born in Milton, Massachu- building I do. An ISP colleague, Beta setts, on July 12, 1895, the second of Starchild, told me that Fuller needed a four children, His mother was Caroline new office. The University of Pennsyl- Wolcott Fuller, and his father Richard vania could no longer provide space for Buckminster Fuller, Sr. The Ft.dfer his staff. Since we were plaming our family is known for strong wills and new buifding at the time, Beta suggested resoluteness. Among Bucky’s ancestors that Bucky could use space on the were many ministers, lawyers, and fourth floor of our building. A meeting military leaders. His father was a Boston was arranged to discuss this and to get merchant importer. He was the first better acquainted. We had previously FuUer in several generations who did been introduced at a press conference not enter law or the ministry. announcing the new building. I remem- One of Bucky’s more notable relatives ber my first impression of Bucky. He was his great-aunt Margaret Fuller, a lit- seemed like an elf: small, quiet, and fre- erary critic, edhor, and feminist. She quently smiling. A few of us later dined was a friend of Ralph Waldo Emerson, at a local French restaurant. Bucky re- and first encouraged him to publish his mained quiet unless specifically ques- work. -
Design Sciencescience
DesignDesign ScienceScience AA FrameworkFramework forfor ChangeChange Michael Ben-Eli The Sustainability Laboratory New York (212) 772 7592 [email protected] © 2007 by M. Ben-Eli 1 Introduction Buckminster Fuller summarized his modus operandi with a single potent phrase: comprehensive anticipatory design science, which he often reduced simply to design science. But search as you may through Fuller’s published legacy you’ll not find a detailed treatise that fully defines the distinctive essence of the design science approach. Instead you’ll find a collection of clues, metaphors, brief definitions and explanations. This may account for the enigmatic quality that seems to surround design science as a discipline. The new work which serves as the subject for this online dialogue attempts to remedy this situation. Its goal is to penetrate the fog around the design science worldview and strategy, place it within a broader definition of design and directly connect it with the sustainability challenges we face today. Taken as a whole, it reveals the rich contours of a very unique practice that is as necessary and revolutionary today as it was when Fuller first conceived it over a half century ago. Surprisingly, during Fuller’s life and since his death in 1983, there has been precious little rigorous probing and analysis that seeks to set the novelty dimension aside and get at the heart of his design science approach. That is why we are particularly fortunate that Dr. Michael Ben Eli, a former close collaborator of Fuller, trained in architecture and an expert in applied cybernetics, took on this daunting challenge.