To my dear Fellow Earthians,
It’s been a couple of months since the last time, and look how much has changed in the meantime: we’ve been thrusted into this viral crisis like the ground’s been pulled from underneath our feet. Although it’s taken me a month into confinement to finally write something (I left to Twitter all my daily rants), it is important to keep my head straight. As someone with relatives living in China, I caught on the covid news since the end-of-January, which luckily, gave me some foresight to prepare when it hit Europe in March. Although it’s one thing to brace yourself for a tsunami wave to arrive, and another to be swept in the water struggling to escape. I am hoping in this article to paint a picture of the transition that I would like to see happen as we’re navigating this collective trauma experience.
- On the Economy: We are bracing ourselves for an economic crash which is hard to imagine, without benchmarks. It’s safe to say the future prospects of jobs as in business-as-usual will need to be re-examined, and more importantly, to shift towards alternative models that work in harmony for both people and planet. This crisis is also propitious for conversations around pioneering and holistic ideas, like a universal basic income, which as a proponent of the idea for a few years, I have been amazed at the collective enthusiasm and momentum it has gained in the past year, thanks to fellows, like former 2020 US presidential candidate Andrew Yang, writer Scott Santens and historian Rutger Bregman. But we should not think of it as a magic bullet, instead, as only one intermediate pathway that offers a bridge from the now-economy towards next-economy, which work for the benefit of everyone.
- In this article, I will share inspiring works by the late polymath, artist-scientist Richard Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983), as well as present pioneers in the field of regenerative agriculture, who in many ways share a similar vision and values.
This autobiography by Buckminster Fuller is full historical and encyclopaedic information by the late maverick, offering us timely advice for our natural evolution, from the current paradigm predicated on extraction and exploitation of resources, towards a regenerative culture to occur. Fuller was the epitome of an artist-scientist combining mastery of materials as an engineer, while disciplined in the art of boundless visioning. Written in the last few years of his life (85 when the book came out), he has witnessed the drastic shifts of society unleashed by modernity: from the Wright Brothers first flight, to the discovery of electrons, the catastrophic and never-ending war obsession by the powers-that-be, and yet despite that, an unmistaken increase in the quality of life.
In fact, Fuller famously described his vision of creating “4-billion billionaires” (population at the time of writing in ’81) in terms of the quality and comfort of living, if only, we were able to shift from building “weaponry to livingry” thru a “design science revolution”. Thus, I would like to take this present opportunity of global chaos to contribute my stone in re-designing a wiser, and more efficient system for everyone that embodies elements of what Bucky termed ephemeralization, or the trend of evolution in technological abilities “to do more with less” exponentially. It is quite remarkable how Bucky had the foresight with such clarity in his time, and his vision of the increasingly inter-connected trend of humanity, which now seems obvious thanks to ubiquitous internet communication.
To say the book is prophetic, amidst our dealing with a global crisis that is paralyzing the worlds economy, is far too diluted of a term. The 471-pages story takes us through the designer-scientist-artist‘s arduous personal journey, of which almost 60 years as the maverick that he was, illustrating the transformations of his personality throughout his life. He is also known for being the most documented person, where he took down notes of every events at 15-min intervals, daily, for over 60 years, in what is now known as the Dymaxion Chronofile (700-volumes!) archived at Stanford University.
Another illustrious development of his, is the Dymaxion world map, which remains the only cartographic projection of the Earth without distortions that shows all the land-masses as an inter-connected set. This unique perspective is not just an aesthetic choice, but a shift that allows us to transcend the narrow perspectives of a fragmentary worldview. He foresaw for instance, a world electrical grid, see below (Curiously, Nikola Tesla is not mentioned so far by Fuller)
More than his ability to perceive patterns in the million-years scale, however, is his unwieldy commitment to work with eternal truths, i.e., rooted in experiential and demonstrable facts (as opposed to conventional dogmas), as well as his sharpened use of neologisms, like tensegrity (tensional integrity), dymaxion (dynamic; maximum; tension) that literally add new concepts to our toolshed of ideas. Bucky’s World Game was another visionary concept that would consist of crowdsourcing creative intelligence to “Make the world work, for 100% of humanity, in the shortest possible time, through spontaneous cooperation, without ecological offense or the disadvantage of anyone.” There are so many elements in the book that I could dedicate entire articles on, but will out for the sake of time. It is fair to say, Buckminster Fuller was a maverick designer way ahead of his times, and his prophecies are now more relevant than ever before, and I suspect this crisis is giving us a tremendous opportunity for learning about the science of design.
Regenerative Culture for generating abundance
My current assessment is that, paradoxically, despite all the chaos and mismanagement arising in this crisis (conspired or otherwise), overall, we have witnessed tremendous resilience, compliance from people, and a deep sense of how inter-connected we are in light of our superficial differences. Great acts of humility, grace and empathy, showcasing the best of humanity, including, for instance, the recent announcement by the Resonance Science Academy by Nassim Harameins’ cohorts to offer its Unification Course for free (formerly known as the “Delegate Program”) and in more languages. Similarly, many inspiring events and web-exchanges are taking place, such as regenerative practitioner and writer Daniel Christian Wahl, and more recently, this excellent 5-hour session hosted by Dr John D. Liu of Ecosystem Restoration Camps, regrouping an impressive panel of pioneers in the field, and packed with inspiration. Personally, I have been involved volunteering at a nearby CSA farm (Pluk Amsterdam) and feel grateful for the opportunity to work alongside Mother Earth and beautiful, caring people. It’s also just a bliss to spend one day outside. Following the same ethos, I’ve planted many seeds to grow indoor, from peas, tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, and even bamboo, bringing me much solace in this confinement.
Prognostics on foreseeable leaps
This takes me to Peter Senge in his seminal book, The Fifth Discipline on Systems Thinking & Design, where underlines the importance of visioning, using an analogy of a stretched elastic band phenomena: The current circumstances (or reality) being the hand pulling down (and is increasing the tension relatively), and the vision (goal) being the steady hand. The key, according to Senge, is the creative tension present in the band that holds potential for the kinetic energy. To elaborate further in this analogy, the greater the pulling down force (aka stresses of current reality), the greater the rebound potential kinetic energy accumulated in the band, which once launched, will launch the elastic farther out. Thus, to put it more simply, the greater the pain, and the greater it holds potential for unlocking catharsis. While this is only speculation on my part, this principle of resilience (adaptability to environment) is innate, taught to me in my personal life, but also around me, in other humans of course, but also as in the growth of mycelium which grows better after trauma-induced force (shaking the bag, or “shocking” them with temperatures). This innate principle of resilience, expressed by, and in Nature, at every scale is a rather profound truth to meditate on.
If I look back to my personal experiences, crises have been opportunities, that in many way, served as important catalysts, lessons, leading towards further growth, greater sensibility and humility. In fact, I uncovered a pattern, noticing how the omnipotent-omnipresent Mind Universe/God, ever gracefully, has a way of teaching us white by showing us black, by contrast, and to repeat those lessons until we finally grasp it to steer ourselves, if that makes any sense. Thus, we find within Paradoxes (polarities), the most profound truths awaiting to be united to create wholeness, and unity.
Thank you for reading, and I hope that you stay in good mind and health, and that we all will become stronger and more unified in the process.
Geoship offers a regenerative revolution inspired by Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic dome design: http://www.Geoship.is
Quiet Eccentric 
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