R. Buckminster Fuller and Systems Theory
2004 stamp commemorating Buckminster Fuller1i
In addition to being a successful architect and inventor, R Buckminster Fuller was also known as a systems philosopher.He used the phrase 'Spaceship Earth' to express the need for mankind to use teamwork to fully utilize Earth's limited resources.1Ephemeralization was another systems' term coined by Fuller to express the concept of accomplishing more with fewer resources.2His third system philosophy is Synergetics which is an attempt to combine various scientific disciplines to describe the energy output of an overall system exceeding the output from individual parts of a system.3
Self Disciplines of Buckminster Fuller. In 1927, Buckminster Fuller found himself in financial ruin and personal turmoil. Five years earlier, his first child, Alexandra, has passed away aged four from spinal meningitis. Now his business had failed, leaving him broke with investors, his family and friends who invested in him, at a loss. Leave a Comment on BUCKMINSTER FULLER SYNERGETICS PDF Humans In Universe Synergy Synergetics Universe System Conceptuality Structure Tensegrity. Synergetics: Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking R. Buckminster Fuller, Arthur L. Applewhite on.FREE. Free cadence orcad 10.5 portable reviews 2016 ford. shipping on qualifying.
Table of Contents
Spaceship Earth
Spaceship Earth is Fuller's concept of doing more with less and being able to spread limited resources on the planet to satisfy the growing population.Fuller's was expelled from Harvard in 1914, attempted to and eventually succeeded in joining the Navy from which he was honorably discharged in August 1919.Inspired by his experience in the Navy, he felt that men should be in service to humanity and spent most of his life devoted to that service.He felt that economic profiteering after the war was ruining man's connection to the Human Family and that man should be in service of the public as sailors labour for a common cause.The philosophy of Thomas Malthus was popular at the time promoting the idea that as populations grew, the food supply would decrease leading to disaster.Fuller felt this philosophy was wrong in that it only looked at things from an economic standpoint and didn't factor in scientific advancement.He felt like Henry Ford's assembly line, engineering could be used to solve the problem of finite resources to accommodate the growing population. 4
Another aspect of Fuller's Spaceship Earth philosophy is the concept of ecology and utilitarian philosophy.He had this concept in mind when he developed the Dymaxion House in the 1930's.Dynamic, maximum, and ion were placed together to form the word Dymaxion.He named several inventions under this brand name such as a Dymaxion car, Dymaxion House, and other structures.The Dymaxion House could be put up in less than 24 hours.The roof was designed to utilize the dome effect which ventilated hot air out and forced cooler air downward creating natural air conditioning.4 The house also used packaging toilets which would package waste for composting. The bathroom was a one piece prefabricated unit with fogging shower heads to conserve water. The fogging showerhead used compressed air and water instead of exclusively water.
Example of neighborhood with Dymaxion houses3i
View of the interior of a Dymaxion House4i
Several Dymaxion Houses were bought by the military leading into World War II which led Fuller to design his first dome structures which were also purchased by the military since they were lightweight and easy to construct and could be adjusted to suit a client's needs. Many of these domes where used on military bases including the Distant Early Warning Line near the Arctic Circle which were a series of radar stations built for surveillance during the Cold War. These domes where lightweight and could be built and carried by helicopter to a military base's location.5
DEW line radar station featuring Fuller's dome design5i
Fuller also developed a Dymaxion car in 1933 which was a 3 wheeled car designed for 11 passengers.12 The steering was provided by the pivoting rear wheel with a Ford V8 engine getting 30 miles to the gallon. Fuller said the top speed could go 120 mph, but it only had a top documented speed of 90 mph. During the 1933 World's Fair, an accident occurred in which the car overturned killing the driver and seriously injuring the 2 passengers. Because of this accident, the car was never put into production.13
Contributing to his Spaceship Earth philosophy was Buckminster Fuller's development of polyhedron cuboctahedron map of the world which was a cutout in one of the most popular issues of Life Magazine.6Users were allowed to visualize the Earth as one spaceship in the air age which would soon lead to the space age.Much of the mathematics and design principals used in this map would lead to Fuller's development of the geodesic domes.The map and the domes exemplified his principles of the sum being greater than the parts and using engineering to maximize the end product with minimal materials.
example of Fuller's polyhedron cuboctahedron map of the world2i
During the early 60's, Fuller did a significant amount of travelling and lecturing on the impact of the growing population and how to satisfy its needs.This allowed him to experience different cultures and see things from a global perspective.Writing in 1963, Fuller stated, 'One third of the human family is now doomed to premature death due to causes arising directly from inadequate solution to the housing problem.'6Buckminster Fuller, himself provided solutions this problem with his dymaxion homes and felt designers and scientist in the future would provide solutions to satisfying the needs of the increasing population with finite resources.
Around this time, Fuller and other public figures made reference to 'Spaceship Earth' and began to theorize about structuring the Earth's societies in an orderly fashion such as astronauts on an idealized space colony.In his book Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth, Fuller wrote 'Man is going to be displaced altogether as a specialist by the computer.'He envisioned a master computer with all knowledge and felt the designers and scientists were the only competent group to lead Spaceship Earth and the human family.He wrote, 'So, planners, architects, and engineers take the initiative. Go to work.'7
Fuller taught 'World Planning' while teaching at the SouthernIllinois University.He encouraged students through a multidiscipline approach.'The design scientist would not be concerned exclusively with the seat of a tractor but [with] the whole concept of production and distribution of food', Fuller wrote.8He proposed several miniature Earths which mapped out areas of high population and encouraged thinking towards efficiently satisfying the needs of those areas.He also created a 'World Game' where groups would tackle individual problems such as a lacking resource and discuss how to fulfill the needs of the population.These simulations led to thinking globally and enforcing the concept of earth as a Spaceship.It also enforced Fuller's belief that 'Malthusian philosophy is fallacious'9 and that human creativity and innovation could solve the world's increasing population problem.
Fuller's popularizing a global view and emphasis on allocating resources, many of which are natural, helped to inspire the fledgling environmental movement in the 60's.Some environmentalist felt that the same as Fuller that new technologies would allow the needs of the growing population to be satisfied while other environmentalist felt that the existing resources should be used more efficiently instead of hoping for new technologies to come along.Although Fuller's geodesic domes and inventions aren't as popular as they were during the Cold War, the concept of Spaceship Earth continue to impact the current age especially the global consciousness due largely to the internet and communication technology, using limited resources to satisfy an ever expanding population, and developing technology in harmony with nature.
Ephemeralization
Ephemeralization is the term coined by Fuller to express the drive to use less material for greater results such as for housing and his geodesic domes. Fuller developed this philosophy partly in reaction to the philosophy of Thomas Malthus.Thomas Malthus felt that the finite resources of planet earth coupled with the increase of human population would eventually result in a running out of resources for the human race.Buckminster Fuller disagreed and felt that technology, improved design, and engineering would help to allow mankind to use the existing resources more efficiently causing greater output with decreased input.His goal was to do 'more and more with less and less until eventually you can do everything with nothing.'2He looked to Henry Ford's assembly line as an example of ephemeralization where efficient design was used to increase productivity.Generally, technology increases ephemeralization such as the steam ship replacing wooden sailing ships allowing for faster sea travel. Computers and computing power is also an example of ephemeralization. Based on Moore's Law (named after Intel founder Gordon E. Moore), the number of transistor's on an integrated circuit doubles every two years.13 As a result, computers that used to take up entire rooms have gotten progressively smaller over the past few decades. In spite of speculation that Moore's Law may have reached it's physical limits14, designers and engineers continue to find ways to increase computing power enforcing the principle of ephemeralization.15
Synergetics
'Synergetics is the system of holistic thinking which R. Buckminster Fuller introduced and began to formulate. Synergetics is multi-faceted: it involves geometric modeling, exploring inter-relationships in the facts of experience and the process of thinking. Synergetics endeavors to identify and understand the methods that Nature actually uses in coordinating Universe (both physically and metaphysically). Synergetics provides a method and a philosophy for problem-solving and design and therefore has applications in all areas of human endeavor.'
- Synergetics Collaborative16
'101.01 Synergy means behavior of whole systems unpredicted by the behavior of their parts taken separately.
102.00 Synergy means behavior of integral, aggregate, whole systems unpredicted by behaviors of any of their components or subassemblies of their components taken separately from the whole.
962.40 Synergetic geometry embraces all the qualities of experience, all aspects of being.'
- R. Buckminster Fuller, Synergetics17
Like other Fuller concepts, Synergetics is interested in the production of the machine as a whole and not the individual parts. He wanted to maximize the output of the Spaceship Earth for the benefit of humanity. He explained this largely through geometry and geometric structures. Synergetics is wide ranging study utilizing expertise in various sciences and arts such as thermodynamics, chemistry, psychology, biochemistry, economics, philosophy and theology. Fuller outlined his philosophy in his 2 volume book Synergetics in collaboration with E. J. Applewhite. Looking at Fuller's dome structures, smaller geometric shapes are used as building blocks for the main structure. For example, triangles within the greater shape of his geodesic domes. I think these concepts are easier to understand visually rather than reading a textual explanation. So, the following images and links show some of Fuller's work using his principles of Synergetics.
1949 Autonomous Living Unit.8i
Montreal Biosphere designed by Buckminster Fuller for the 1967 Montreal Expo.9i
Spaceship Earth at Disney's Epcot Center inspired by Buckminster Fuller.9i
[table of contents]
Buckminster Fuller Cosmography Pdf Viewer Download
References
1.Fuller, Buckminster (1963). Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth. (New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1963), 1.4.
2.R. Buckminster Fuller, Nine Chains to the Moon, (Anchor Books [1938] 1971) pp. 252–59.
3.Synergetics, http://www.rwgrayprojects.com/synergetics/synergetics.html
4.Peder Anker, Frank Lloyd Wright, ‘Buckminster Fuller as Captain of Spaceship Earth', Minerva, Volume 45, Issue 4 (December 2007), 417-434.
5.Richard Buckminster Fuller, Ideas and Integrities, ed. by Robert Marks. (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1963), 96.
6. Anonymous, ‘R. Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxian World', Life, 1 March 1943, 40–55.
7.Richard Buckminster Fuller, Ideas and Integrities, ed. by Robert Marks (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1963), 187.
8.Fuller, Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth, (New York: E.P. Dutton & Co. 1963). 44, 133.
9.Richard Buckminster Fuller, Utopia or Oblivion (New York: Overlook, 1969), 293.
10.Edwin Schlossberg quoted in Richard Buckminster Fuller et al., World Game Report (New York: New York Studio School, 1969), Note 37, 1.
11. US Patent 2101057
12. WNET Article'. Thirteen.org. Retrieved 2012-01-22.
13. Moore, Gordon E. (1965). 'Cramming more components onto integrated circuits'. Electronics Magazine. p. 4. Retrieved 2006-11-11.
14. Kaku, Michio. 'Parallel universes, the Matrix, and superintelligence'. Kurzweil. Retrieved 2011-08-22.
15. Ray Kurzweil (2001-05-01). 'The Law of Accelerating Returns'. KurzweilAI.net. Retrieved 2006-06-24.
16. http://synergeticscollaborative.org/. Retreived 2013-11-02.
17. Fuller, Buckminster. Synergetics: Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking (Macmillan Publishing Co. Inc. 1975, 1979). 100.00 Synergy, 900.00 Modelability.
ImageReferences
1i. http://samcarter.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/1-rbfuller.jpg
2i. http://blog.lib.umn.edu/walke541/architecture/fuller_1280x640.jpg
3i. http://images.nymag.com/arts/art/features/houses080623_560b.jpg
4i. http://thirdcoastdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Dymaxion-House1.jpg
5i. http://www.buckminster.info/Pics/Icosahedra/Icos-Dome-Radome-DEW_Line-Greenland.jpg
6i. http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/1300811693-image-5001.jpg
7i. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Transistor_Count_and_Moore%27s_Law_-_2011.svg
8i. http://designmuseum.org/design/r-buckminster-fuller
9i. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Biosph%C3%A8re_Montr%C3%A9al_CA.jpg
10i. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Spaceship_Earth_2.jpg
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Synergetics is the empirical study of systems in transformation, with an emphasis on total system behavior unpredicted by the behavior of any isolated components, including humanity's role as both participant and observer.
Since systems are identifiable at every scale from the quantum level to the cosmic, and humanity both articulates the behavior of these systems and is composed of these systems, synergetics is a very broad discipline, and embraces a broad range of scientific and philosophical buckkinster including tetrahedral and close-packed-sphere geometries, thermodynamicschemistrypsychologybiochemistryeconomicsphilosophy and theology.
Despite a few mainstream endorsements such as articles by Arthur Loeb and the naming of a molecule ' buckminsterfullerene ', synergetics remains an iconoclastic subject ignored by most traditional curricula and academic departments.
Buckminster Fuller coined the term and attempted to define its scope in his two-volume work Synergetics. Haken explored self-organizing structures of open systems far from thermodynamic equilibriumAmy Edmondson explored tetrahedral and icosahedral geometry, Stafford Beer tackled geodesics in the context of social dynamics, and Nystrom proposed a theory of computational cosmography. Buckminster Fuller in his two books Synergetics: Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking and Synergetics 2: Explorations synergrtics the Geometry of Thinking as:.
A system of duller employing degree vectorial coordination comprehensive to both physics and chemistry, and to both arithmetic and geometry, in rational whole numbers Synergetics explains much that has not been previously illuminated Synergetics follows the cosmic logic of the structural mathematics strategies of nature, which employ the paired sets of the six angular degrees of freedom, frequencies, and vectorially economical actions and their multi-alternative, equi-economical action options Synergetics discloses the excruciating awkwardness characterizing present-day mathematical treatment of the interrelationships of the independent scientific buckmintser as originally occasioned by their mutual and separate lacks of awareness of the existence of a comprehensive, rational, coordinating system inherent in nature.
Other passages in Synergetics that outline the subject are its introduction The Wellspring of Reality and bukminster section on Nature's Coordination The chapter on Operational Syneregtics So this chapter can help a new reader become familiar with Fuller's approach, style and geometry.
One of Synergegics clearest expositions on 'the geometry of thinking' occurs in the two part essay 'Omnidirectional Halo' which appears in his book No More Secondhand God. Amy Edmondson describes synergetics 'in the broadest terms, as the study of spatial complexity, and as such is an inherently comprehensive discipline. Here's an abridged list of some of the discoveries Fuller claims for Synergetics again quoting directly:. buckminsfer
Synergetics (Fuller)
Several authors have tried to characterize the importance synergefics synergetics. Amy Edmonson asserts that 'Experience with synergetisc encourages a new way of approaching and solving problems. Its emphasis on visual and spatial phenomena combined with Fuller's holistic approach fosters synergdtics kind of lateral thinking which so often leads to creative breakthroughs. A chief hallmark of this system of mensuration was its unit of volume: This tetrahedron anchored a set of concentrically arranged polyhedra proportioned in a canonical manner and inter-connected by a twisting-contracting, inside-outing dynamic named the Jitterbug Transformation.
Corresponding to Fuller's use of a regular tetrahedron as his unit of volume was his replacing the cube as his model of 3rd powering. Frequency and size are the same phenomenon. Prime means sizeless, timeless, subfrequency. Prime is generalized, a metaphysical conceptualization experience, not a special case Generalized principles scientific lawsalthough communicated energetically, did not inhere in the 'special case' episodes, were considered 'metaphysical' in that sense.
An energy event is always special case. Syergetics we have experienced energy, we have special case. The physicist's first definition of physical is that it is an experience that is extracorporeally, remotely, instrumentally apprehensible.
Metaphysical includes all the experiences that are excluded by the definition of physical. Metaphysical is always bukminster principle.
Tetrahedral mensuration also involved substituting what Fuller called the 'isotropic vector matrix' IVM for the standard XYZ coordinate system, as his principal conceptual backdrop for special case physicality:.
The synergetics coordinate system — in contradistinction to the XYZ coordinate system — is linearly referenced to the unit-vector-length edges of the regular buckminter, each of whose six unit vector edges occur in the isotropic vector matrix as the diagonals of the cube's six faces.
The IVM scaffolding or skeletal framework was defined by cubic closest packed spheres CCPalternatively known as the FCC or face-centered cubic lattice, or as the octet truss in architecture on which Fuller held a patent. The space-filling complementary tetrahedra and octahedra characterizing this matrix had prefrequency volumes 1 and 4 respectively see above.
A third consequence of switching to tetrahedral mensuration was Fuller's review of the standard 'dimension' concept. Whereas 'height, width and depth' fkller been promulgated as three distinct dimensions within the Euclidean context, each with its own independence, Fuller considered the tetrahedron fullet minimal starting point for spatial cognition.
His use of '4D' was in many passages close to synonymous with the ordinary meaning of '3D,' with the dimensions of physicality time, mass considered additional dimensions.
Table of Contents
Geometers and 'schooled' people speak of length, breadth, and height as constituting a hierarchy of three independent dimensional states — 'one-dimensional,' 'two-dimensional,' and 'three-dimensional' — which can be conjoined like building blocks.
But length, breadth, and height simply do not exist independently of one another nor independently of all the inherent characteristics of all systems and of all systems' inherent complex of interrelationships with Scenario Universe All conceptual consideration is inherently four-dimensional. Thus the primitive is a priori four-dimensional, always based on the four planes of reference of the tetrahedron. There can never be less than four primitive dimensions.
Synergetics | The Buckminster Fuller Institute
Any buckminzter of the stars or point-to-able 'points' is a system-ultratunable, tunable, or infratunable but inherently four-dimensional. Synergetics did not aim to replace or invalidate pre-existing geometry or mathematics, it was designed to carve out a new foundation with a language that would serve to provide a new source of insights.
Fuller's geometric explorations provided an experiential basis for designing and refining a philosophical language. His overarching concern was the symergetics relationship between tensile and compressive tendencies within an eternally regenerative Universe. His Universe was 'non-simultaneously conceptual':. Because of the fundamental nonsimultaneity of universal structuring, a single, simultaneous, static model of Universe is inherently both nonexistent and conceptually impossible as well as unnecessary.
Buckminster Fuller Cosmography Pdf Viewer Software
Ergo, Universe does not have a shape. Do not waste your time, as man has been doing for ages, trying to think of a unit shape 'outside of which there must be something,' or 'within which, at center, there must be a smaller something. Synergetics also distinguished between gravitational and precessional relationships among moving bodies, the latter referring to the vast majority of cosmic relationships, which are nondegree and do not involve bodies 'falling in' to one another Fuller took an intuitive approach to his studies, often going into exhaustive empirical detail while at the same time seeking to cast his findings in their most general philosophical context.
Synergetics: Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking by R. Buckminster Fuller
For example, his sphere packing studies led him to generalize a formula for polyhedral numbers: He then related the 'multiplicative 2' and 'additive 2' in this formula to the convex versus concave aspects of shapes, and to their polar spinnability respectively.
These same polyhedra, developed through sphere packing synergetifs related by tetrahedral mensuration, he then spun around their various poles to form great circle networks and corresponding triangular tiles on the surface of a sphere.
He exhaustively cataloged the central and surface angles of these spherical triangles and their related chord factors. Fuller was continually on the lookout for ways to connect the dots, often purely speculatively. As an example of 'dot connecting' he sought to relate the basic disequilibrium LCD triangles of the spherical icosahedron to the plane net of his A module. The Jitterbug Transformation provided a unifying dynamic in this work, with much significance attached to the doubling and quadrupling of edges that occurred, when a cuboctahedron is collapsed through icosahedral, octahedral and tetrahedral stages, then inside-outed and re-expanded in a complementary fashion.
The JT formed a bridge between 3,4-fold rotationally symmetric shapes, and the 5-fold family, such as a rhombic triacontahedron, which later he analyzed in terms of the T module, another tetrahedral wedge with the same volume as his A and Fulleg modules.
He modeled energy transfer between systems by means of the double-edged octahedron and its ability to turn into a spiral tetrahelix. Energy lost to one system always reappeared somewhere else in his Universe.
He modeled a threshold between associative and disassociative energy patterns with his T-to-E module transformation 'E' for 'Einstein'. His demystification of a gyroscope's behavior in terms of a hammer thrower, pea shooter, and garden hose, is a good example of his commitment to using accessible metaphors. His modular dissection of a space-filling tetrahedron or MITE minimum tetrahedron into 2 A and 1 B module served as a basis for more speculations about energy, the former being more energy conservative, the latter more dissipative in his analysis.
His focus was reminiscent of later cellular automaton studies in that tessellating modules would affect their neighbors over successive time intervals. Synergetics informed Fuller's social analysis of the human condition. He remained concerned that humanity's conditioned reflexes were not keeping pace with its engineering potential, emphasizing the 'touch and go' nature of our current predicament. Fuller hoped the streamlining effects of a more degree-based approach within natural philosophy would help bridge the gap between C.
R Buckminster Fuller Website
Snow's 'two cultures' and result in a greater level of scientific literacy in the general population. Fuller hoped to gain traction for his ideas and nomenclature by dedicating Synergetics to H.
Arthur Loeb provided a prologue and an appendix to Synergetics discussing its overlap with crystallography, chemistry and virology. A major error, caught by Fuller himself, involved a misapplication of his Synergetics Constant in Synergetics 1which led to the mistaken belief he had discovered a radius 1 sphere of 5 tetravolumes.
Synergetics refers to synergy: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This article may be too technical for most readers to understand. Please help improve it to make it understandable to non-expertswithout removing the technical details. February Learn how and when to remove this template message.
This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions. For other uses, see Synergetics disambiguation. No More Secondhand God. Further musings on the computational cosmograph'. The Synergetic Geometry of R. Subfields of and scientists involved in cybernetics. Polycontexturality Second-order cybernetics Catastrophe theory Connectionism Control theory Decision theory Engineering cybernetics Information theory Semiotics Synergetics Biological cybernetics Biosemiotics Biomedical cybernetics Biorobotics Computational neuroscience Homeostasis Management cybernetics Medical cybernetics Neurocybernetics Sociocybernetics Emergence Artificial intelligence.
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