Nothing But the Truth

by Kimberly Chapple

The greatest design engineer I never met graced the stage of The Mercury Theater in Chicago during NDES week in March. His thinking and writings were brought to life in the one-man spoken word, multi-media stage performance, "R. Buckminster Fuller: The History (and Mystery) of the Universe."

A controversial figure, Buckminster Fuller--visionary, engineer and philosopher--lived his life as a self-described seeker of "The truth about everything." Hailed by Einstein as a most amazing young man, Fuller, with 28 patents, is best known for the invention of the geodesic dome--the lightest, strongest, and most cost-effective structure ever devised. Covering more space without internal supports than any other enclosure, the dome becomes proportionally lighter and stronger the larger it is. More than 300,000 dot the planet today, including one of the world's largest down the street from my office at the American Society for Metals facility in Cleveland. Fuller visited the construction site in 1958, and periodically thereafter.

He was one of the earliest proponents of renewable energy sources, incorporating solar, wind and wave energy into his designs. Years ago, he claimed, "There is no energy crisis, only a crisis of ignorance," and demonstrated that humanity could satisfy 100% of its energy needs while phasing out fossil fuels and atomic energy. His research proved that a wind generator fitted to every high-voltage transmission tower in the country would generate three-and-a-half times the total power output in the U.S. (See story, this issue, page 54.)

Fuller also advocated a design science revolution whereby designers use the principles of science in a well thought-out way. The purpose would be to do more with less--or to accomplish greater functionality with fewer energy resources for the benefit of all humanity. He believed that technologically, we should be able to eliminate hunger and poverty in all the world within our lifetime. His self-described enemy was the company that tries to make money out of thin air with little or no appreciable benefit to humankind.

Fuller's spirit lives on in the unfathomable power of the single human being. He encouraged action, saying people are ". . .verbs, and not nouns." Before he died in 1983, Fuller wrote that humanity is ". . .in some kind of final examination as to whether human beings now--with the capability to acquire information and to communicate--are really qualified to take on the responsibility we're designed to be entrusted with. And this is not a matter of examining types of governments; it has nothing to do with politics, nothing to do with economic systems. It has to do with the individual. Does the individual have the courage to really go along with the truth as he or she really sees it--or are they going to be swayed by the crowd?"

For more information: Circle 553 - Buckminster Fuller Institute or connect directly to their website via the Online Reader Service Program at http://www.OneRS.net/105df-553