Education Automation on Spaceship Earth: Buckminster Fuller's Vision. More Relevant than Ever Author(s): Allegra Fuller Snyder and Victoria Vesna Source: Leonardo, Vol. 31, No. 4 (1998), pp. 289-292 Published by: The MIT Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1576664 Accessed: 14/09/2010 14:05
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http://www.jstor.org Education Automation on Spaceship Earth: Buckminster Fuller's Vision-
More Relevant than Ever ABSTRACT
R. BuckminsterFuller is perhapsbest known for his inven- tionsof thegeodesic dome and Fuller theDymaxion car; his inventive Allegra Snyder ideasand approach to education with VictoriaVesna havemostly been ignored. He waspassionate about teaching andlectured widely. This aspect of BuckminsterFuller is dis- cussedby someone intimately fa- miliarwith the multifaceted man-hisdaughter, Allegra Fuller R1~ . Buckminster Fuller (Fig. 1) took an ex- [1]. Fuller was an architect, de- Snyder-inan interview with art- VictoriaVesna. Cur- traordinary path in his own education, from a turbulent his- signer, engineer, poet, philoso- ist/educator where he was to author and icono- rently,Fuller Snyder is chairper- tory at Harvard University, expelled twice, pher, global sonof theBuckminster Fuller receiving 67 honorary doctorate degrees. He left behind an clast, but, most of all, a Institute,an organization that enormous body of documentation, now housed at the proponent of the philosophy of actsas a centralrepository for Buckminster Fuller Institute in Santa Barbara, California, synergy [2]. He was also very anenormous collection of arti- facts,manuscripts and media which is directed by his daughter, Allegra Fuller Snyder. much involved in promoting his documentingthe life and work of Fuller Snyder is herself a pioneer in the field of dance ethnol- visionary ideas of education in BuckminsterFuller. ogy and a professor emeritus at the University of California, the future. Would you speak Los Angeles. She is dedicated to promoting her father's work about your own experience with and to the documentation of it accessible. She is making par- Allegra Fuller Snyder (dance scholar, educator), ticularly excited about the possibilities offered by the World Buckminster Fuller Institute, 2040 Alaineda Padre Serra, Suite 224, Santa Barbara,CA 93105, U.S.A. E-mail:
Fig. 1. R. BuckminsterFuller, circa 1980s. BuckminsterFuller was a visionarywho expressed his ideas in disorganized frag- ments and marathon lectures. He possessed a magnetic per- sonality that was mesmerizing and inspirational to those he had contact with, even if they did not understand all he was saying.
? 1998 ISAST ILEONARDO, Vol. 31, No. 4, pp. 289-292, 1998 289 your father, as a child having direct ac- cess to him? Allegra Fuller Snyder: My father felt that the highest priority in education is revolution based on synergy, which means that the behavior of a whole sys- tem cannot be predicted by the behav- ior of any of its parts taken separately. Thinking synergistically requires the complete reversal of our present system of the compartmentalization of knowl- edge, which goes from the particular to the even more specific. My father called himself a "Comprehensive Anticipatory Design Scientist"-a strange and diffi- cult label to live with, but after spend- ing a great deal of my own life trying to arrive at a simpler and more accessible label, I have recognized that this is the only term that really is right. Further- more, he wanted us all to remain such comprehensivists-that was the first step in my educational process. He completely honored who I was and my inherent self-education process. He found schools that supported that pro- cess. I loved my schooling and experi- enced myself constantly growing in and through the educational process. I as- sumed all students felt that way. It was only years later, when I myself was a teacher, that I learned that the great majority of my students had very, very different experiences. My father wrote that "Life, as born, is inherently comprehensive in its appre- hending, comprehending, and coordi- child is inter- nating capabilities. Every more than lectures ested in the universe. The child's Fig. 2. R. Buckminster Fuller lecturing, circa 1980s. Invited to give 2,000 at 500 universities and colleges, and making 48 trips around the world, Buckminster Fuller are universal" [3] 2). But questions (Fig. was a tireless performer. Famous for his non-stop "talkathons," he put his ideas to test in ar- educa- what is referred to as "elementary chitectural designs, in 18 books and, toward the end of his career, in the World Games. tion" consists of bits and pieces; it tries in every way to destroy comprehensive un- derstanding. He found the goal of edu- Einstein would disagree, so Lippincott, for me, I would understand. I became cation was to "de-genius" the child, for, the publishers, sent the material to Goldilocks, but instead of doing what as he said, "everychild is born a genius." Einstein, and he was very interested. My Goldilocks used to do in Grimm's fairy The mind of a child is an exquisite tool father went to Princeton and had a won- tales, in my father's stories I went out ready to explore the universe. All the derful meeting with Einstein. Very and had all these adventures in the uni- child lacks is experience. The challenge shortly thereafter he wanted to share verse. I cannot tell you how much of is to find the way to present the most some of this with me. He often re- Einstein's theory I really understood, complex ideas in relation to children's hearsed his thinking with me, as he felt but my father brought me into the con- existing levels of experience. In that the best communicators were able text of his thinking in a way that is still Tetrascroll[4], his intent was to share with to say the most complex ideas in ways valid to me today. When I was 6 or 7 me his most critical thinking. I remem- that a child could understand. He was years old, I participated in the experi- ber, for instance, that he wanted me, at particularlyexcited about the great para- ence of the emergence of the Dymaxion the age 4 years, to have some experience digm shift he felt would affect all of us as car (Fig. 3) [6], visiting the plant in of his own explorations into Einstein's we move from static Newtonian thinking Bridgeport, Connecticut, as his vision theory of relativity.He wanted to include to the Einsteinian understanding that came to life, riding with him as he tested three chapters about Einstein's theory in change is constant, change is normal. So first the chassis and then the whole car his first book Nine Chainsto theMoon [5], he would explain these things to me, us- and its many marvels. published in 1938. The publisher said, ing the Goldilocks story as a link to my I was 12 or 13 years old when he be- 'You're not on the list of people who un- experience. I was Goldy. gan to work on synergetics, his new sys- derstand Einstein, so we can't publish it." Bucky loved to do freehand sketches. tem of geometry [7], and he involved My father said he thought that Mr. He knew that if he could visualize things me in his process. Our apartment in
290 Fuller Snyde- with lVesna, Education Automation on Spaceship Earth New York at that time was very small and universe's most elaborate local technolo- If a child very early on is given access to we had an all-purpose table-dining gies. By his definition, "technology is the the thing that his or her mental appetite table some of the time, working table integrity of interoperativeness of prin- desires in the way of accurate informa- most of the time-so he would spread ciples which make possible an eternally tion, this will lead to the ideal way that out on it all the things he was working regenerative Universe" [10]. The tech- education should be followed. My father on. At that time, I had a natural appetite nology is alwaysa tool-it is the tangible saw this happening through what he en- for mathematics, and he got me to look thing. My father was a very "hands-on" visioned for two-way video, which he at patterns that he saw operating in person-sensory input was alwayscritical. wrote about in Education Automation. numbers. I took to this readily and He distrusted abstract thinking and felt Now we have the Internet and digital worked right along with him, witnessing that every idea that has validity can be media, which are capable of bringing us numbers take on shape and form. I modeled-physically demonstrated- the most advanced levels of thinking. It is never felt there was any kind of barrier somehow. So, again, technology is the much like my father's vision of educa- between his thinking and my under- physicalization-the tool that we are in- tion: from childhood through adult life, standing. This was the way he felt as well. volved with-that surrounds us. He education means having the highest level My father used to say that the only dif- would talk about the metaphysical, the of thinking, knowledge, information ference between the child and the adult "something else" that the mind brings to available at our fingertips. is experience-learning should be the all of this, taking us beyond the physical V.V.: I imagine that Fuller would be ec- process of encouraging the child to to the metaphysical. This is where the art- static about network technologies, par- keep having experiences that validate ist is and where we all should be. Artists ticularly about the World Wide Wreb.In their understanding. Then they can gain allow the metaphysical to drive them in a a sense, he predicted this evolving glo- more and more confidence about and way that others, limited in their categori- bal network, so I am curious to hear assume responsibility for what they zations of themselves, cannot do as easily. about your vision of how his work will know. Information is experience; expe- My father wanted us to get rid of catego- function on the Web. rience is information. It is the relation rizations as much as possible because he A.F.S.: If Bucky is one contributor (and it between the mind, which Bucky often felt they totally hinder our effectiveness. is important to underline that he was but talked about, and experience and expe- We have so many capabilities, so many one contributor) to this body of knowl- riencing that I found to be the key that interests and directions. Your appetite edge called the universe, which we all unlocks his work and inspired my own. and mine may be at this moment entirely should have access to, then everything we V.V.: Could you say a bit about Bucky's different, yet we are both driving toward have here at the Buckminster Fuller In- relationship with Gilbert Seldes and the the whole; so it is our constant awareness stitute is a part of that contribution. Now, kind of impact this had on his thinking and perception of the whole and our in some areas he was very advanced in his regarding mass media? hunger for understanding at this mo- thinking-he was opening doors that A.F.S.: Bucky was a regular guest (Fig. 4) ment-but within the context of the other people had not yet opened. There when Gilbert Seldes was directing CBS's whole-that drive us as evolving human may be areas today where his thinking experimental television broadcasts to ap- beings. A child when growing up should can still help us, even though he has proximately 100 sets of receivers in New be able to satisfy each of these appetites. been dead for almost 15 years. That is York City in the 1930s, a decade before TV was established Seldes commercially. Fig. 3. Buckminster Fuller with a Dymaxion car in front of his 26-ft (7.9-m) Fly's Eye dome was one of the first critics and writers to during his 85th birthday party at the Windstar Foundation in Snowmass, Colorado, 1981. understand the impact that new media, (Photo: Roger Stoller) including film and the newly emerged television, would have on our world. Seldes's first book, The Seven Lively Arts [8], was a pioneering statement about these issues. Bucky was fascinated with understanding these new media. Educa- tionAutomation [9] evolved from this early introduction to telecommunication. V.V.: One of the most inspiring qualities of Buckminster Fuller was his visionary combination of art and science, particu- larly useful to artists working with tech- nology. A.F.S.: Technology, from my father's point of view, was always meant to be an extension and enrichment of experi- ence, not a substitute for experience. First of all, he wanted us to realize that we are all completely involved with tech- nology, whether we want to admit it or not, and that there is nothing wrong with technology. The universe is technology- the most comprehensive complex tech- nology. Human organisms are the
PullerSnyder with Vesna,Education Automation on Spaceship Earth 291 the basis-we all should be contributing grate his philosophy in existing educa- eventually people will see how much in our own way to this great body of tional environments? more education is going on at home than knowledge. This knowledge should be A.F.S.: One of the expressions my father at school and realize that our educational out there, being worked on by everyone, repeatedly used was "we continually back system is changing before our eyes. shared by everyone-we are one group. into our future." The world changes and V.V.: Is this where your work with dance Now, what also is exciting to me-I see it yet we are not really aware of the change connects with your father ideas? as truly fanning out-is the institute act- until the change is present all around us. A.F.S.: Yes, at the deepest level I think ing as a network within a network, within As I sit at the computer, if I have a ques- that in order to understand Buckminster a network, within a network, connecting tion, I can literally make some good steps Fuller's work, one must, in essence, allow and interconnecting people. We are not forward in my quest to answer it, in my oneself to be a dancer. One must under- yet up to full speed on this at the insti- quest for knowledge and understanding. stand one's body and experience as a tute. We have a Web site [11], but it is It seems to me that more and more way of knowing. In a functional way, just in the first stages of its potential. We people are doing that. I am very sensitive ideas need to be embodied in one's own are just beginning the enormous task of to this idea at the moment because my 6- thinking/experiencing. Bucky was a digitizing all of our holdings. Yet, we do a year-old granddaughter is in kindergar- dancer in the way that I understand lot of interconnecting. If someone has an ten. She is just on the brink of being in- dance-as a way of knowing-and his appetite and interest in some area of volved with the formal education process; understanding of the universe was Bucky's work, the best we can do at the her parents and even I are questioning through his dancing in his mind. We moment is connect him or her to people what that should be. On the other hand, must all try to be that way eventually. who are working on similar ideas. We do I already see her sitting at her daddy's that on the Web site as well, with wonder- computer. She has hungers and she is be- References and Notes ful links to some very exciting work. The ginning to master the tools that will satis- 1. McLuhan wrote this dedication inside his book Web provides a useful framework to fying her hungers-this may drive her The GutenbergGalaxy: The Makingof TypographicMan and discuss of the self-education I think we are all when he gave it to Buckminster Fuller. Marshall bring up many things process. The The felt were McLuhan, GutenbergGalaxy: Making of Typo- Bucky important. One project going to be sucked into this and some- graphicMan (Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Press, 1962). we are in is the conversion of time the ask ourselves:How did engaged along way 2. The of states that the called the I all theory synergy perfor- videotapes "Everything this change, why do we need schools? mance of a whole is unpredictable by an examina- Know" tapes to a digital format. Under We do need places for our children to tion of its parts or any assembly of the parts. Syn- the of the Bell Labs, 43 hours of learn to socialize. What we now know as ergy also occurs in geometry and chemistry. After auspices finding many examples in nature, Fuller concluded tapes were made in 1978, in which my fa- the physical school is a place for socializ- that all of nature is synergetic. See EJ. Applewhite, ther reviewed his thinking. ing. It also provides the parents with SynergeticsDictionary, 4 Vols. (New York and Lon- don: Garland, 1986) Vol. 1, pp. 3-4. V.V.: Now, at the end of this century, some freedom and the time for doing schools-from elementary to university their own learning and growing, so there 3. Applewhite [2] Vol. 1, p. 583. level-are really struggling with estab- is a function for some of those physical 4. R.B. Fuller, Tetrascroll(New York:St. Martin'sPress, lished systems that are based on special- environments, but that is very different 1975). ization-exactly the opposite of Fuller's from the learning process. The learning 5. R.B. Fuller, Nine Chains to the Moon (Garden City, ideas about what youth needs. Do you will happen more at home, by the self. NY:Anchor Books, 1938). have any ideas about how we can inte- The scenario would seem to suggest that 6. The Dymaxion was Fuller's attempt to redefine the word "car."Fuller did not originally intend to design an automobile, but a small jet that would re- place the car. As a compromise, he decided to start with a car that would become a 4. Buckminster Fuller and Gilbert Seldes from a television screen in the design eventually Fig. photographed flying machine design. In 1933, Fuller completed mid-1930s. Taken at the CBS Experimental TV Broadcasting studios in New York. the first of three prototypes of the Dymaxion. The .f...... -...... -::..-: - ...... shockingly different design caused a media sensa- tion and massive traffic jams. Unfortunately, the first prototype's involvement in a fatal accident caused problems with financing the futuristic project. The car was part of a series of Dymaxion designs, including a four-dimensional Dymaxion house, a Dymaxion Dwelling Machine, a Dymaxion bathroom and, most significantly, a Dymaxion map. 7. The word "synergetics" is a combination of the words "synergy"and "energetic," in reference to en- ergetic geometry. Energetic geometry goes beyond Cartesian geometry, recognizing that everything in the universe is constantly in motion. Because the Cartesian x,y,z coordinate system does not take time into account, it is incomplete. See R.B. Fuller, Criti- cal Path (New York:St. Martin's Press, 1981) p. 151; andJ. Baldwin, BuckyWorks: Buckminster Fuller's Ideas for Today(New York:Wiley) pp. 68, 69.
8. G. Seldes, Seven Lively Arts (New York and Lon- don: Harper & Brothers, 1924). 9. R.B. Fuller, Education Automation (Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois Univ. Press, 1962). 10. Applewhite [2] Vol. 4, p. 135. 11. The Buckminster Fuller Institute's World Wide Web site is at
Manuscript received 27January 1997.
292 FullerSnyder with Vesna,Education Automation on Spaceship Earth