Fuller at UMass

I recently came across my old 1977 copy of Buckminster Fuller's Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth, originally written in 1969 and now long out of print. Not having read it in over twenty years, I found re-reading the book an interesting experience. 

Back when I was a student at the University of Massachusetts I was something of a Bucky Fuller fan, dating from the afternoon I accidentally met Dr. Fuller in the concourse of the Student Union. He was at a table with a bunch of his books and pamphlets on it, just standing there speaking to a group of students among the jewelry and clothes peddlers who routinely hawk their wares along the passageway between The Blue Wall and the Campus Store. The only difference was that Bucky, who was serving as scholar-in-residence at UMass that year, wasn't selling products, he was pushing design science revolution.

Fuller is best known as the creator of the Geodesic Dome, but he also had a hand in an incredibly wide range of other inventions, ideas and scientific and cultural activities. Originally regarded as a crackpot when he first appeared on the scientific scene in the 1930's, by the time I encountered him in the 70's he was an old man in his 80's who had been nominated for the Nobel Prize and was probably the most respected scientist alive at the time.

Listening to Bucky that day at UMass totally energized me to learn all I could about him and his ideas. I relied especially upon his book Synergetics: The Geometry of Thinking, which among other things attempted to explain the act of thinking and perceiving reality by relying upon mathematical relationships and geometric models. I even stole a notion from the Jesus freaks on campus, who used to memorize a bible verse everyday, only instead of the bible I would take a passage from Synergetics and spend odd moments throughout my day contemplating what that day's passage meant. I believe I benefited enormously from my period as a Buckyhead. The study of synergetics required the most rigorously logical kind of thinking, the discipline of which helped me to drift into the direction of embracing Ayn Rand and Objectivism's reliance on reason.

The book also had a profound effect on my approach to politics. Bucky had no use for politics or politicians. He believed it was science, not politics, that really moved the world and that it was foolish to try to change people by preaching to them. "Change people's environment," he said, "and then they will change their behavior spontaneously." 

Why tell hungry people that it is wrong to steal food? A starving person can't afford to be honest. Make it possible for them to get food on their own and they won't have to steal it. Politicians applied words to problems, where Fuller said you should apply only science-based solutions. When it comes to hunger, one invention increasing the yield of a farmer's field  is worth more that a hundred appeals to honesty, anti-hunger speeches or free food distribution programs.

After his death, Bucky's theories got hijacked by special interest groups, primarily socialists and environmental cultists, who took his teachings out of context to apply them to political goals in ways that Fuller would never have approved of when he was alive. Sadly, that has meant his legacy being less appreciated and respected than it should be, resulting in most of his books going out of print. 

A fierce Massachusetts bred individualist, Fuller had no use for collectivism of any kind, but his desire to use science to produce wealth for all was twisted by socialists to mean advocating massive wealth redistribution by a world government. In truth, Bucky never concerned himself with dividing up the pie in a more equal way, but advocated instead for coming up with scientific and technological recipes to make the pie bigger. 

 

I was surprised when re-reading Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth to see how much of it still holds up. The positive trends which Fuller identified are unfolding much as he predicted, but not, unfortunately, as quickly as the always optimistic Bucky hoped for. I was also pleased to realize how much of a Buckyhead I remain. I still have contempt for politicians and political solutions, I'm still devoted to logic as the primary problem solving tool and to science as the primary path to progress.

What makes me sad is that I don't know where young people today can get turned on to Buckminster Fuller in a way not tainted by political agendas. What is needed is for his books to become available again, so that people can encounter Fuller undistorted by ideological agendas. I don't know what will make that possible, but may the day come soon. 

A Thousand Words

This picture says it all. 

Amen Al



Memo to my remaining daily print colleagues and their nostalgia club: Get over it and get over yourselves. It’s not that the Internet is Mr. Wonderful. Much of it mimics the same bad qualities that drove the public away from daily newspapers. You lost the public to us because - there's no nice or sugar-coated way to say it - you guys really suck at what you do. 

In your arrogance, you established calcified “rules” of “journalism” and false “objectivity” that neutered and spayed all of your reporters, domesticated so they would never again afflict the comfortable or comfort the afflicted. When you took the honest advocacy out of reporting you emptied it of all passion and reason to exist. It was a nice ride on your profit ledger sheet during the recent decades when you turned your rags into propaganda arms for the wealthy and powerful, but a funny thing happened on the way to the ATM machine: You lost the trust of your readers.

- Former Valley Advocate reporter Al Giordano.

 

Homegrown

Northampton's The Green Bean has this chalkboard in front describing all the local places it gets its food from.

South River Miso - Conway Ma.
Gill Greenery - Gill Ma.
Real Pickles - Montague Ma.
El Jardin - Holyoke Ma.
Town Farm - Northampton
Country Hen Organic Eggs - Hubbardston Ma.
Bakery Normand - Northampton
Mapleline Farm - Hadley Ma.
Barrington Coffee Roasters - Lee Ma.
Tea Guys - Hatfield Ma.
Vermont Smoke n' Cure - South Barre Vt.
Snow Shoe Farm - Worthington Vt.
Chicoine Farm - Westhampton Ma.

Broken Record

In Pulaski Park.