R. Buckminster Fuller – Synergetics. Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking

Автор: R. Buckminster Fuller
Название книги: Synergetics. Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking
Формат: PDF
Жанр: Математика
Страницы: 1839
Качество: Изначально компьютерное, E-book

Synergetics 1 and Synergetics 2 are separate volumes only because of their bulk and the
chronology of their composition. They in fact comprise a single integral work. Each
chapter in the first volume has been expanded in the second, and the sequence of
paragraphs has been numbered to dovetail and provide a shared context.
It is the essence of synergy to produce unpredicted-indeed, unpredictable-results like the
surprise geometrical discoveries of this second volume. Synergetics 2 continues the
exposition of Fuller's radical geometrical cosmos with its landscapes of unfamiliar models
and metaphors; it amplifies and amends-but does not supersede-the earlier volume
published in 1975; it makes more explicit the significance of certain geometrical functions
that are only implicit in Synergetics 1; and it introduces the term epistemography to
describe Fuller's geometry of thinking. The two books together present descriptions that
are explicit as well as contextual.
Buckminster Fuller employs the discipline of a lecturer, recommencing his expositions
from the beginning, reviewing the previous experiments and recalls of experiences. His
written discourse, like his speech, is replete with sustained narrative sequences that
recapitulate the geometrical premises, ever starting back from the beginning . . . as Fuller
says, like the pole vaulter who always goes back to the end of the cinder track before
repeating his sprint.
Although the apparatus of section numbers is handy as a key to context and essential for
indexing and for cross-reference, it tends to obscure the logical continuity of certain
passages that merit the reader's sustained attention. For this reason the Table of Contents is
supplemented with a Table of Scenarios. The new reader seeking an avenue into the work
should choose from the list of Scenarios as a guide; those seeking a specific topic may
refer to the Table of Contents.
The index and cross-references in Synergetics 2 refer to both volumes; references to
Synergetics 1 are in roman numbers and those in Synergetics 2 in italic numerals

The appearance of this sizable book is symptomatic of a considerable revival of
interest in geometrics, a science of configurations. Configurations observed in the
sky constitute the laboratory of our oldest science, astronomy. Patterns and
regularities were discerned, and speculations regarding the influence of celestial
configurations on terrestrial existence gave rise to scientific as well as mystical
systems of natural philosophy. The dividing line between these two is at times
surprisingly diffuse, and varies throughout history.
Platonic and Archimedean solids and such plane figures as the Pentagram were
powerful tools of Applied Magic. The Age of Reason banished such configurations
to the realm of superstition: their power was denied. Orthogonality prevailed, being
rational and very earthbound. Interest in geometrics declined. Buckminster Fuller's
search for a natural and truly rational coordinate system eventually led to the
tensegrity concept and the construction of geodesic domes. Polyhedra and
pentagrams, being proven useful after all, have been rescued from the limbo of
superstition. Now the danger exists that geometrics will become respectable once
more, and it behooves us to take a good look at the very unorthodox peregrinations
of Fuller's mind before stepping into the inviting straitjacket. One of the most
intriguing aspects of the present book is that there are so few ex post facto
rationalizations; Fuller allows us to share his methods, his meanderings, the early
influences.
Like his great aunt Margaret, Fuller is a transcendentalist: he discerns patterns and
accepts their significance on faith. His is not the burden of proof: the pattern is
assumed significant unless proven otherwise. If Fuller had been burdened by the
necessity of proof, he would have been too hamstrung to continue looking for
significant patterns. His own biographical notes in Synergetics show us a mind that
accepts information in a highly unorthodox fashion and refuses to swallow the
predigested. In rejecting the predigested, Fuller has had to discover the world all by
himself. It is not surprising, in fact rather reassuring, that the obvious should
emerge alongside the novel, the obscure together with the useful. Posterity will
have to draw the line between the mystical and the scientific, a line that will
certainly have to be redrawn from time to time.
Fuller expresses himself metaphorically: his poems sometimes convey his meaning
more lucidly than his prose. Gertrude Stein's language really becomes
unintelligible only when analyzed; the sentence “Entropy is not random; it is
always one negative tetrahedron” (Synergetics, Sec. 345) is worthy of a place in
American literature next to Miss Stein's. And if happiness be a warm puppy, why
should not entropy be a negative tetrahedron? I have learned never to reject one of
Fuller's outrageous statements without careful consideration, and even hesitated to
call “Sum of angels around each vertex” in the rough manuscript a misprint. The
truth has usually turned out far stranger than Buckminster Fuller!
Fuller is a Janus: grass-rooted in the past, he creates beacons for the very young.
Ivy- trained, he rejected academic discipline and was highly honored by his alma
mater. In each of these aspects, there is a strong parallel with an older
contemporary, also a latter-day transcendentalist New Englander: composer
Charles Ives. Their playful intuitive experiments nowadays inspire the most
serious, abstract, and learned of the avant-garde. While there is no evidence of a
mutual influence between the two, there appears to be considerable overlap among
their apostles. The Compleat Geometrist might think, not of a circle of admirers,
but of confocal ellipses of apostles around these two focal men, a dangerous simile
if one is to conclude that the inner ellipse would be the most eccentric one!
The appearance of Synergetics seems to mark a watershed; Fuller has this
Januslike quality, looking far into the future with an almost old-fashioned intuitive
approach. The danger of respectability, alluded to previously, lies in the loss of this
innocence, in the guile that kills creativity.
Fuller's hope for the future lies in doing more with less. Again and again he
discovers that there is no such thing as continuity and the infinitesimal: with
sufficient resolution we find that we look at a very large, but finite number of very
small, but finite multiples, put together with very great, but attainable ingenuity.
There always appears to be a structure. Computer technology has already moved in
the direction of doing more with less. The cost of a modern computer would
scarcely be affected if it were made of the most precious metals, for material-wise
there is not very much to a computer. What counts is the knowledge of how to put
things together to perform usefully. Knowledge is the tool of today and tomorrow
and the hope of the day thereafter: education will be the greatest tool-making
industry!
The first prerequisite for continued education is a receptiveness to one's
environment. Calluses worn through a faulty environment dull the learning senses.
We must educate ourselves to do more with less in creating a suitable environment.
Vicious circle? Nonsense: Fuller tells us that no curve can overlap with itself ! This
is an upward spiral into which Fuller propels us. There is no alternative.