"We are being taught...to assume as closely as possible the viewpoint, the patience, and the competence of God."

— Buckminster Fuller

"As it became clear to Bucky that political systems were incapable of reforming people in order to bring about a good life to everyone, he announced a "design science revolution". Politics decides who gets to survive. Only by means of "comprehensive anticipatory design science" could the world's resources be fairly distributed among all people, and the need for war made obsolete.

Virtually no other designers were thinkning that way at the time, and few are today. The environmental movement has focused attention on ecologically beneficial (or at least benign) design, but biology-based ecological designers tend to be suspicious of technology. Bucky did not claim to be a scientist, but he asserted that science-base, well-designed technology holds our only chance for survival. With it, we can "reform the environment [ he meant the built environment] instead of people".

[...] By uncovering and analyzing the larger patterns in world commerce, and the rapid improvements in technology, Bucky concluded that there were plenty of resources if we didn't squander them on weapons and inefficient designs, or waste the on fripperies (made and marketed by his imaginary, multinational corporate nemesis, Obnoxico)

[...] With an inventory of available resources in hand, the next step for a designer is to use it well. Comprehensive andticipatory design science demands maximum overall efficiency with the least cost to society and ecology. Being comprehensive is a direction (Bucky called it "comprehensive prospecting") that implies extensive, omnidirectional research. [...[ The goal is to optimize, rather than compromise. Sacrifice, except in the heroic sense should never be necessary. A well-designed product represents thousands of years of refined human experience."

Excerpt from BuckyWorks by Jay Baldwin, pg. 62

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For related content see also:

• Geodesic Domes & Structures
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• Design Revolution Today
• Project Library

C 36 molecule

Physicists Charles Piskoti and Alex Zettl, along with chemist Jeff Yarger, of the University of California, Berkeley, reported in June 25.1998 issue of Nature that they isolated a smaller fullerene sphere that contains just 36 carbon atoms.