When you and I use the word “design,” we use it to mean a complex in which the various components are ordered in respect to one with the other. That’s a design in contradistinction to randomness. There is a deliberate placement and ordering. So I say, then: human mind is gradually discovering—if you are looking at a plurality of generalized principles—a great a priori design of Universe. And the human mind has access to the rules and the design of Universe—a little glimpse of it—because as we keep pulling the curtain up slightly, we realize that there is a lot more that we don’t know.
from Everything I Know (Part 01) (1975)
Richard Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller was an American architect, systems theorist, author, designer, and inventor, renowned for his comprehensive perspective on the world’s problems. For more than five decades, he developed pioneering solutions that reflected his commitment to the potential of innovative design to create technology that does “more with less” and thereby improves human lives. He published more than 30 books, coining or popularizing terms such as “Spaceship Earth,” “ephemeralization,” and “synergetic.” He also developed numerous inventions, mainly architectural designs, and popularized the widely known geodesic dome. Carbon molecules known as fullerenes were named after Buckminster due to their structural and mathematical resemblance to geodesic spheres.
Alphabetic
Date
Duration
Word Count
Popularity
Date
1971
Type
Discussion
Word Count
2,510
Duration
26:05
Quotes
1
Views
227
Mr. Fuller and Maharishi came from different traditions of knowledge, but both talked about the universal basis of life, the individual, and the cosmos.
Date
March 1, 1981
Type
Book
Quotes
44
Views
2,163
Critical Path is Fuller’s master work—the summing up of a lifetime’s thought and concern—as urgent and relevant as it was upon its first publication in 1981. The book details how humanity found itself in its current situation—at the limits of the planet’s natural resources and facing political, economic, environmental, and ethical crises. The crowning achievement of an extraordinary career, Critical Path offers the reader the excitement of understanding the essential dilemmas of our time and how responsible citizens can rise to meet this ultimate challenge to our future.
Date
January 20, 1975
Type
Video
Word Count
19,720
Duration
02:26:39
Quotes
12
Views
400
Date
January 21, 1975
Type
Video
Duration
03:10:09
Views
84
Date
January 22, 1975
Type
Video
Duration
03:09:26
Views
47
Date
January 23, 1975
Type
Video
Duration
02:33:39
Views
38
Date
January 24, 1975
Type
Video
Duration
02:15:54
Views
36
Date
January 25, 1975
Type
Video
Duration
03:29:22
Views
48
Date
January 27, 1975
Type
Video
Duration
03:34:01
Views
19
Date
January 28, 1975
Type
Video
Duration
03:39:38
Views
15
Date
January 29, 1975
Type
Video
Duration
03:40:34
Views
15
Date
January 30, 1975
Type
Video
Duration
04:09:00
Views
12
Date
January 31, 1975
Type
Video
Duration
03:20:48
Views
16
Date
February 1, 1975
Type
Video
Duration
04:47:41
Views
19
Date
1963
Type
Article
Word Count
3,805
Reading time
≈ 21 minutes
Quotes
7
Views
206
The first chapter of the Inventory of World Resources, Human Trends and Needs publication.
Date
1969
Type
Book
Word Count
22,948
Reading time
≈ 2.1 hours
Quotes
19
Views
762
In this essay on man, Mr. Fuller expresses what may well be his penultimate view of the human condition. Here, in a mood at once philosophical and involved, Mr. Fuller traces man's intellectual evolution and weighs his capability for survival on this magnificent craft, this Spaceship Earth, this superbly designed sphere almost negligible in dimension compared to the great vastness of space. Mr. Fuller is optimistic that man will survive and, through research and development and increased industrialization, generate wealth so rapidly that he can do very great things. But, he notes, there must be an enormous educational task successfully accomplished right now to convert man's tendency toward oblivion into a realization of his potential, to a universe-exploring advantage from this Spaceship Earth.
Date
February 11, 1969
Type
Lecture
Word Count
5,620
Duration
39:09
Quotes
3
Views
98
A talk on the impact of science and technology on man's role in the natural world.