Buckminster Fuller: futurist philosopher

Buckminster Fuller was born on July 12, 1895, in Milton, Massachusetts. By 1928, Fuller was living in Greenwich Village, Manhattan and spending much of his time at the popular café Romany Marie’s. Isamu Noguchi arrived during 1929 and Noguchi and Fuller were soon collaborating on several projects, including the modeling of the Dymaxion car. It was the beginning of their lifelong friendship.

For the next half-century, Fuller developed many ideas, designs and inventions, particularly regarding practical, inexpensive shelter and transportation. He documented his life, philosophy and ideas scrupulously by a daily diary (later called the Dymaxion Chronofile), and by twenty-eight publications. Fuller financed some of his experiments with inherited funds, sometimes augmented by funds.

Whilst Fuller might have the been the inventor of some crazy and impractical ideas, there were many times that Fuller was ahead of the curve and could often be seen more as a futurist philosopher than an inventor. My favourite quote from Fuller is “the best way to predict the future is to design it” which is an adaptation from Abraham Lincoln’s quote of “the best way to predict the future is to create it”…