the tale of guinea pig b

let me tell you a tale about guinea pig b - or more specifically, a man called buckminster fuller. maybe you've heard of him. maybe not. he started off in life as a nobody, nothing special, had been expelled from harvard though he himself thought he was not that bright really. he was drinking heavily and wasting his life away. he was jobless, bankrupt and depressed still over his daughters' death.

in 1927 he was standing on the edge of lake michigan, aged 32, about to commit suicide because, well, life sucked didn't it and there was nothing he could do about it.

and that's the thought that stopped him! what if there was something he could do about it. what would it take to improve the world? what if, instead of selfishly thinking of himself and his own misery, he thought about the misery of the world and other people and did something about it?

so he decided there and then to spend the rest of his life as an experiment in what one human being could REALLY achieve if he really wanted to.

i bet you didnt know he became the most visible architect on the planet, after he invented geodesic domes ( www.bfi.org... ) by using the principle of "doing more with less"

the amazing molecule buckkminsterfullerine (aka the buckyball) ( www.3rd1000.com... ) was named after him.

he created the dymaxion map ( www.westnet.com... ) which are far more accurate than traditional maps

he devised something called 'the world game' ( www.osearth.com... ) different to your usual 'war games' in that he collected amazing amounts of data about different countries and their resources and tried to see how they could benefit everybody by disadvantaging nobody and in the shortest amount of time. it has been developed even further into the 'global simulation workshop' a short video of which can be viewed here - www.osearth.com...

he claimed in 1983 that "The fundamental question then of all politics - "it has to be you or me, there's not enough for both" - is no longer valid! We have the capability now to have every person a billionaire on board of our planet and to realise that state within ten years from today by design revolution." think about that!

and think of some of his quotes also -

War is the ultimate tool of politics.
Either war is obsolete, or men are.
The end move in politics is always to pick up a gun.
Don't fight forces, use them.
If humanity does not opt for integrity we are through completely. It is absolutely touch and go. Each one of us could make the difference.
Man knows so much and does so little.
People should think things out fresh and not just accept conventional terms and the conventional way of doing things.
Pollution is nothing but the resources we are not harvesting. We allow them to disperse because we've been ignorant of their value.
We are not going to be able to operate our Spaceship Earth successfully nor for much longer unless we see it as a whole spaceship and our fate as common. It has to be everybody or nobody.

and one of my favourites...

When I am working on a problem, I never think about beauty but when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.

this man, guinea pig b ( www.bfi.org... ) from the lowest point of despair in life, from that moment on, did make a difference.

think about that

Very interesting and inspirational.

Why have I never heard of this guy?

perhaps because most people seem more interested in how much worse the world can get than how much better.

perhaps because bad news, rather than good, sells for some odd reason

perhaps because we dont want a better life and are content with doom & gloom and selfishness and endless wars.

perhaps because the revolution of lowered expectations has suceeded against the revolution of higher expectations

perhaps it will be less than 2 weeks before someone else notices this thread...

and perhaps they might stop to think about it for a while!