What’s Next? Nostalgia for the Future - Out of the Toy Box

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Richard Gottlieb

What’s Next? Nostalgia for the Future
July 10, 2008

One of my favorite 20^th Century visionaries was R. Buckminster Fuller. “Bucky” Fuller gave us the “geodesic dome” and tried to give us the Dymaxion House and Dymaxion Car. The Whitney Museum in New York is doing an exhibit on Fuller and here is how their website describes him:

One of the great American visionaries of the twentieth century, R. Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) endeavored to see what he . . .might do to benefit the largest segment of humanity while consuming the minimum of the earth’s resources . . . He described himself as a ‘comprehensive anticipatory design scientist,’ setting out to solve the escalating challenges that faced humanity before they became insurmountable.”

Dymaxion Car

That’s not just a guy ahead of his time; he’s still ahead of our time too. He really saw the need to, as he put it, “do more with less.”

Not everything he designed went as well as the geodesic dome. The Dymaxion car went the way of the Hindenburg. Its streamlined pod shape, three wheels and a promised speed of 120 mph were (and are) pretty exotic but it killed two investors (never a good idea) and production stopped before it ever got started.

In an age where it is imperative that we consider bold new ideas, it might be time to follow the lead of designers like Fuller and find innovative ways to engineer our products. The way I see it, boldness is muscular optimism. We could use some of that right now.

Posted by Richard Gottlieb on July 10, 2008 | Comments (2)

July 11, 2008
In response to: What’s Next? Nostalgia for the Future
Antonio Jarimba commented:

Richard, Mr. Fuller did it from his heart, he wanted to share with the World better ways to do things, " and do more with less ", that is a really inventor, cientist. In today's world, people invent anything to make money, not to do good for the people of the world. I am an inventor myself, and what i invented is from the bottom of my heart for the good of the people of the world, and you know what is happening? The big companies do not want my products at this time, and you know why? Because my products make a positive difference to the entire families. I had one of my projects presented to a BIG SPORTS company, and you know what the DIRECTOR of NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT said to my " undercovered agent " ? " Will " this is an excellent OUTDOOR FAMILY SPORTS GAME, but what we are looking for is things that the kids can break esay and come in to buy more. People, what do you think about this? These companies do not want anything good for the families, or the people in general, they just want to sell to the people ( children and their families )junk. There are very few Fuller's left in the WORLD. By: ajarimba@hotmail.com

July 23, 2008
In response to: What’s Next? Nostalgia for the Future
Kim Vandenbroucke commented:

Antonio, don't lose the faith you once had. There are times I agree with you 100% and I'm frustrated with what companies are looking for in regards to product. (I am an inventor too.) But just keep in mind that every profitable product you make -- stupid, silly or cool -- will hopefully also create happy memories for the generations to come. So maybe it's not the best item you've ever invented, but someday someone might say "remember that _(blank)_? I loved playing with it!" Heck, the Pet Rock seems silly but if some kid out there got a kick out of nurturing a rock, so be it!