Synergetics

Few people know that Buckminster Fuller had a transforming experience when he was about 35 years old. This event dissuaded him from committing suicide, and launched him on his remarkable career. From that point on Fuller decided to "think for himself," and no longer was subject to the assumptions of science, religion and philosophy. For that reason, he is an American original. This particular book is not light fare for the layperson, and it is much less accessible than his "Operating Manual for Planet Earth." Even so, there is much to fascinate. For example, his diagram on page five demonstrates the principle of synergy in the most vivid way, showing how to make two triangles into four by thinking in three dimensions, rather than two. Coleridge defined science as a "search for beauty," and that may be the best way to describe "Synergetics." Fuller admonishes us, "Dare to be naïve." Indeed, this scientist, philosopher, religionist transcends the typical straight jacket of classic disciplines and offers a remarkable search for truth, beauty, and even goodness.

"Synergetics" was the summation of Fuller's philosophy; the foundation underlaying his other, practical works. As such, the book contains little in the way of immediately applicable information, such as how to design a car, a building, or a society. Fuller instead concentrates on the abstract quality of structure, based on the tetrahedron, the simplest possible three-dimensional form. He takes nothing for granted: properties of objects are not assumed to automatically exist unless they are explicitly stated. Fuller has great contempt for the cube, an inefficient structure that is unstable without redundant triangulation to support it. His reverence for the tetrahedron, however, obscures the fact that on the human scale, cubes are far more efficient in containing space, the ultimate function of any structure. Cubes are stackable without wasted space or material. This is the reason why houses, boxes and other containers are based on the cube, in many different cultures, while tetrahedron-based structures are limited to geodesic domes and camping tents. In recent years, "tensegrity" structures have become more common, primarily as sculpture. These are composed of rods that do not touch each other, but are held in place by a continuous lattice of wires. Fuller explains that the rods themselves could be composed of "tensegrity masts," that is, smaller rod-and-cable structures that duplicate solid rods in shape and function. The rods in these masts could themselves be composed of yet smaller tensegrity masts, and so on until we arrive at the atom. The problem here is that going the other direction, to larger ("practical") scale, even the most efficient tensegrity structure must eventually rest, as we all do, on the redundant, wasteful, solid ground. This is why they are relegated to artwork rather than industry. "Synergetics" contains much more; reminiscence on the author's childhood, a free-verse poem on numbers and linguistic affinities between Polynesians, Zulus, and Vikings, and many beautiful and clear diagrams. The book is written throughout in a highly unusual, but eminently readable language that once experienced, is immediately recognizable as Fuller's unique voice. "Synergetics" and its supplemental volume are vital to an understanding of the author, one of the great visionaries of the 20th Century, and possibly the last Renaissance Man.

The most comprehensive system to understanding the physical world, from kindergarteners who are able to understand nuclear level inter-transformations, to adults who barely know what happens to a sphere when it's bounced on the ground; this book will enlighten you to some new inter/outer working combination you never thought of EVERY time you open it. I suggest a light pass, a medium pass, and a heavy pass in that order, just to shock you as to the amount of substance this book has, you will not walk away the same.

I am, by trade, a contemporary philosopher, with strong interests in the works of the Ancient Greeks, esp. Pythagoras, and of course, the great architect, Plato. Generally speaking, I would not persue the kind of book: huge, statements and claims made without supporting arguments, huge gaps in logical presentation, and leaps into areas such as numerology. Bucky reminds me of a cross between Pythagoras (incl. his mysticism) and DaVinci. I am in the early stages of the work, so all I will say at this time is grab a copy and start the journey.

...Synergetics is the clearest, most comprehensive attempt to explain the universe, and universal phenomena, that I have ever read. It is one man's attempt to link the language of science to the common layman. Fuller defines synergy as follows "behavior of whole systems unpredicted by the behavior of their parts taken separately." (Synergetics, p. 3)Fuller suggests that breaking down a subject and studying its parts separately, as is done in science today, can never lead to a comprehensive understanding of the whole. He writes "nature has only one department and one language." (Synergetics II, p 234). Fuller on PI: "To how many places does nature carry out PI when she makes each successive bubble in the white-cresting surf of each successive wave before nature finds out that PI can never be resolved?... And at what moment in the making of each separate bubble in Universe does nature decide to terminate her eternally frustrated calculating and instead turn out a fake sphere? I answered myself that I don't think nature is using PI or any of the irrational fraction constants of physics." (Synergetics II, p. 233). Fuller explains the universe through geometry. Geometry is the study of structure, and the relationship between objects (and points of perception) within space. The topics covered range from numerology to architecture to the nature and structure of the universe itself. Fuller explains scientific concepts in terms that anyone can understand. His insights are often astonishing. Fuiller understands the universe throught the geometric form called the tetrahedron. The tetrahedron, according to Fuller, is the basis for all structure in existence, and he has built a system of thought, and a geometry, consistent throughout, from the ground up, explaining everything from atomic structure to galaxies. Fuller uses the tetrahedron as the basis to construct his tenegrity structures, the geodesic dome, and the octet truss, among others, which are used in industrial and residential applications. Fuller was a genius, but not an esoteric one. All of his theories have practical applications. This is not an easy book to read, as Fuller's language is dry and precise. But the book is filled with diagrams and charts that flesh out the text. This is a massive work, a work of a true genius. Anyone who is interested in "how things work" should not fail to read this book . There is no math (other than arithmetic) necessary to understand everything in the book. Only an inquiring mind that is open to new ideas.