[Turtle]

___I never seem to provoke a response when I invoke my dear friend Bucky. Why is this? Is it that few have read his works? Is it because his work is well read & then discounted as useless?
___I may have said before that I believe they named Buckminster Fullerenes after him out of guilt for the ridicule he received when he he first proposed this structure for carbon. He proposed many similar such outrageous structures & systems which seem still to receive ridicule. What gives?

[Buffy]

He got quite unjustly attached to the hippie movement. Just because Stewart Brand put him in the Whole Earth Catalog. Go figure.

I once designed a house with a triangular hexagonal layout with a Fuller/Geodesic dome on top because I was so facinated by the possibilities going beyond just the basic dome shape, which Bucky always said was "just a starting point." Maybe someday I'll build it....

I also think not many people actually *read* his books which do read kinda like Edward O. Wilson: kinda hard to get through....

Cheers,
Buffy

[Turtle]

___I agree his writing is a difficult style to master; I never let that stop me though. I don't recognize Wilson, but I intend to follow up. Speaking of hard to read, try Metamagical Themas by Doug Hofstater(sp).
___Keeping on Fuller, I hope more of our experts here at Hypography post to this thread as I never see his views of gravity, radiation discussed in the threads on those topics. Phrases of his like inside-out & so on may sound (or at least did sound at the time) like gobblety gook, but as he found vindication in the real discovery & construction of his namesake Fullerenes, I have to wonder if he has considerable more to offer. Just a starting point as Buffy quoted him.

[Buffy]

Originally Posted by Turtle

I don't recognize Wilson, but I intend to follow up.

Wilson is uber hot these days. Try "Concilience"...

Originally Posted by Turtle

Speaking of hard to read, try Metamagical Themas by Doug Hofstater(sp).

True, but to be clear, Doug *edited* that book: its mostly not his writing which is incredibly readable (for a computer scientist! I can make that joke cuz I am one myself....). Try "Goedel, Escher & Bach" instead....

Cheers,
Buffy

[Turtle]

___I agree "Goedel, Escher & Bach" is highly more readable. I had it in mind today when I posted a momnet for Bach; a man who really knew how to count.
___On the topic of counting & Buckminster Fuller, he took the particular view that four is the more significant count over the more accepted three. Casually, Bucky might say "Four is a charm" rather than "three is a charm". More strictly, his division of space into tetrahedrons rather than cubes substantiates mathematically his theories on gravity etc.
___Experts?

[Turtle]

___I looked over some hyperlinks on Wilson; he doesn't seem to have any real science the way Fuller does. Your reference to Whole Earth catalog brings Escher's work to mind as well; don't you think the Catalog popularized his work in the US as well? As Doug points out, his understanding of symmetry is seminal. I used to have a fine work with many Escher's prints as well as notes on his nomenclature regarding symmetry.
___So back again to Fuller, who by any standard also has some seriously deep understanding of symmetry. Experts?

[Buffy]

Originally Posted by Turtle

I looked over some hyperlinks on Wilson; he doesn't seem to have any real science the way Fuller does.

You're right, because Wilson is probably best categorized as a philosopher. Fuller was an engineer...

Originally Posted by Turtle

don't you think the Catalog popularized his work in the US as well?

Now *that* would give Stew too much credit. I knew big time art collectors here in the US who got into him in the 40s and 50s, and the realist and super realist movement in the 60s and 70s was heavily influenced by him and referenced him as well. I had a math book from the seventies that used his work extensively too.

Originally Posted by Turtle

who by any standard also has some seriously deep understanding of symmetry. Experts?

Geez, most of the physicists from the last half of the century. Most of the Standard Model and its extensions are based on symmetry!

I'll think on that one some more though...

Bilaterally,
Buffy

[Dark Mind]

I need to read more...

[Turtle]

___And I don't believe I'm beating a dead horse; the horse is unconciouse, but alive & I'm just administering CPR. I can't believe my buddies here (C1ay ,Boreseun, UnclepAl, Infamouse, Bo, Alexander...uhmmm...you know; the experts. I need you guys to either help me resusitate Fuller or put him once again out of his misery. Bucky once said "death is the yet un-experienced lower freqencies". This drum is for Bucky.

[alxian]

@ 1500$ a gram?

to put that into context for the metrically challenged.. um.. a replica mars bar made from carbon nanostructures like buckminsterfullerene/nanotubes @ 56 grams = 84 grand..

hmmm i think i'll take the mercedes pat!

once the stuff, carbon nanostructures, can be quickly cheapily and produced in mass quantities then processed into final products its not of much use to most people.

Originally Posted by darkmind

I need to read more...

don't we all, those of us who can