Bucky Fuller sings: A true genius can deliver a message in many forms including humor (video)

Bucky Fuller and students hanging from one of the first successful geodesic domes

Bucky Fuller (center) and his students hanging
from one of the first successful geodesic dome prototypes.
Photo: Fuller Archives.

Although most people believed that Buckminster Fuller was a very serious person, he also had a sense of humor and knew how to deliver his message in many forms. In a culture on the brink of total devestation, he was able to champion his ideas and inventions in many ways, and we would all do well to follow his lead in making such presentations.

The following is a song he wrote and sang in praise of his most famous invention - the geodesic dome.

"Let architects sing of aesthetics that bring
Rich clients in hordes to their knees.
Just give me a home, in a great circle dome
Where stresses and strains are at ease.

Roam home to a dome,
No banker would back with a dime.
No mortgage to show, no payments to go,
Where you dream, dwell and spend your own time."
(Sung to the tune of “Home on the Range”)
- Bucky Fuller

If you listen to the lyrics on the videos below, you will hear him satirizing the same modern architecture, architects and building methods that criticized his ideas for many decades. He realized that the dome is one of Nature’s key building structures, so he imitated that in his invention of the geodesic dome. And people said that it was not a viable structure for building in order to maintain the status quo where most people have to sacrafice a great deal in order to own a home.

The geodesic dome was also another of his trending trimtab initiatives as it provided him with a simple, very visible means of showcasing some of Universe’s key principles. The geodesic dome is the only structure known that becomes stronger with size. Larger domes are much stronger than smaller domes.

Also, in a demonstration of the natural principle of equanimity, no point on a dome is any more powerful or important than any other. Were we to model this structure in our daily actions and leadership, we would have a world that works for everyone.

The geodesic dome itself is the closest that humans can come with our current building technology to mass producing Nature’s most perfect structure, the circle. Humans need to use “straight” elements in most of our buildings, and the geodesic dome allows us to come close to a circle with straight members. It is not the perfect structure, but it is much closer than other manmade structures.

May we all bring the same lightness that Bucky displays in this song and video to our serious challenges. And may we all someday get to “roam home to a dome with no mortgage to show, no payments to go, where we dream, dwell and spend our own time.”