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Buckminster Fuller

17:43 / 12.07.01

Well today, July 12, is R. Buckminster Fuller's birthday. (By the way, Tesla's was I think last week, thursday- July 5.)

Is anyone familiar with him? I've read a little- it's very interesting. He certainly was a visionary, and one of the few 20th Century Magi that actually considered social advances as part and parcel to technological advances. In fact, in much of his more obscure writings such as 'Synergetics' (to which I will heartily deferr to anyone whose actually read both volumes), the line between tech, mental construct, social construct, and prosperity seems to be pretty blurry.

Thoughts?
(Oh, it's also Henry David Thoreau's birthday.)

gentleman loser

20:17 / 20.07.01

I'm somewhat familiar with him by doing some searching on the internet, but I haven't read any of his writings. He has always struck me as someone who was so far ahead of his time that the mainstream didn't pay much attention to him. He was undoubtably a techno-utopianist and though I find his approaches a bit naive, I admire his attempt to solve the fundemental problems facing humankind (i.e. food supply, housing, economic opportunity, the need for renewable energy, etc.). He just didn't seem to understand what greedy bastards we humans can be! We could probably do far better as a species by adopting Fuller's philosophies, but he seems to discount the illogic of human beings and our seeming need to cling to the concept of nation-states.

He was an optimist.

I, unfortuantly, am a pessimist.

Blank Faced Avatar

00:30 / 05.08.01

Lovely.

See Also:

"Synergetics" on the web

and

Synergetics FAQ

[ 05-08-2001: Message edited by: the Humble Crab ]

[ 05-08-2001: Message edited by: the Humble Crab ]