Who was GENI Project: Fuller's Vision Realized by Marti Kranzberg The problem with a genuinely brilliant idea is that it is often ahead of its time. People, and the political bodies they form, aren't ready to make the quantum leap in consciousness to embrace the idea's feasibility. Time and time again technology lags behind the vision. Visionaries set the stage for future "performers" who are able to create the reality. Such is the relationship of R. Buckminster Fuller to Peter Meisen and the GENI Project. Fuller realized that if humanity is to survive, we must understand that we are all on this "Spaceship Earth" together, and the me-versus-you mentality is not the most productive attitude if we are to thrive. As he points out, "We can assume that nature has many fail-safe alternatives without us if we fail." There's a sobering thought that should help put us in perspective with regards to our place on this earth and who is "running the ship." Fuller seriously reflected on his place in this world. At the age of 32 he viewed himself a failure, and, he found himself on the brink of suicide, much like Jimmy Stewart in the classic movie "It's a Wonderful Life." In the movie an angel named Clarence comes to Jimmy and helps him realize just how great an effect his life has had on others, and Jimmy gratefully lives on to be a contributing member of society. In the real-life Buckminster Fuller version, Clarence is Fuller's own innate sense of clarity and rationality. In a 1979 interview in Quest Magazine he relates his revelation: I told myself: "You do not have the right to eliminate yourself, you do not belong to you. You belong to the universe. The significance of you will forever remain obscure to you, but you may assume that you are fulfilling your significance if you apply yourself to converting all your experience to the highest advantage of others." So I vowed to keep myself alive, but only if I would never use me again for just me - each one of us is born of two, and we really belong to each other. I vowed to do my own thinking, instead of trying to accommodate everyone else's opinions, credos, and theories. I vowed to apply my inventory of experiences to the solving of problems that affect everyone aboard planet Earth. Bucky was, no doubt, an "avowed" freethinker. His life became an experiment. What could just one person do that huge corporations, and even political states couldn't do? His answer: "The individual can take initiatives without anyone's permission." His near-suicide experience was the beginning of a life dedicated to the "invention and development of physical artifacts to reform the environment." He decided that a "plurality of such artifacts had the potential to evoke humanity's most intelligent, interconsiderate qualities." It became clear to him that he would be optimally effective if he "worked always and only for all humanity." Bucky concluded that his purpose was to "abet the inclusion of human beings in the design of the universe." Here was global thinking from one of the greatest futurists of our time. Fuller set about collecting data, and his headquarters, the "Inventory of World Resources, Human Trends and Needs," was his repository of extensive research. A major life quest was centered around ascertaining what it would take to "make the world work." His goal was to develop what he referred to as "Comprehensive Anticipatory Design Science," an attempt to solve major problems through technology. One of Bucky's primary concepts is that of "Dymaxion," a word he coined by combining "Dynamic + Maximum + Tension." It means "doing more with less." His career is filled with designs and innovative ideas that have been based on the principle that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. This is what happens when we are speaking of "synergy" and describing how interactive systems work in such a way as to have a greater impact together than any of the individual elements could "add up" to create. So with this brainstorming principle in mind, in 1969 Bucky gathered a group of people together in order to solve the world's "problems." He created what is known as "The World Game." The game is played in a large space such as a gymnasium, where a 70' by 35' "Dymaxion Map" is spread on the floor. Designed by Fuller in 1938, it is the world's most accurate map of the Earth. What makes it unique is that the globe has been unpeeled in the middle of the oceans and laid out so that the land masses stay intact without breaking apart any of the continents. What we end up with is a flat image of how our planet actually exists - as an island floating in a singular ocean. What's more, with Bucky's map, there are no visible distortions of the size, shape and relative positioning of the land masses, making it true to form. The stated purpose of the World Game is "to make the world work for 100% of humanity in the shortest possible time through spontaneous cooperation without ecological damage or the disadvantage of anyone." It is the opposite of a war game. In this "game" the world's resources are accurately divvied up among players as they attempt to solve global problems by matching human needs with available resources so that everyone's standard of living is improved to the "bare maximum." (While bare minimum refers to mere survival, the concept of "bare maximum" is the set of resources that allows everyone to fully realize their potential.) And what did they, and subsequently thousands of others who have played the game, conclude? The quality of life is directly related to the presence of electricity. Food, water, housing, communication, transportation, industrialization, even the mere economic stability of a country is significantly dependent upon the availability of electricity. Fuller proposed interconnecting regional power systems into a single continuous global electrical energy grid as "the highest priority objective" of the World Game. Using the Dymaxion Map, it is easy to envision how this transmission scheme would link regions and neighboring continents. Transmission lines allow utilities to level the peaks and valleys of demand. This is accomplished between East-West time zones, as well as North-South seasonal variations. In 1971, the United Nations Natural Resources Council corroborated this global option, but it was buried due to the Cold War politics of the time. Fast forward 15 years. In 1986 UCSD engineering graduate Peter Meisen happened upon page 206 of Fuller's epic tome Critical Path. There he discovered Bucky's concept of the global electric grid. He asked the question, "Why not?" Meisen's research indicated that no one was currently working on what appeared to be a brilliant solution to many of the world's problems. Inspired, Meisen set about establishing a non-profit research organization, the Global Energy Network International (GENI), to explore the feasibility of the idea. After he presented the concepts to the international scientific community for evaluation, it became evident that the idea had merit. Over the next ten years he has continued to examine Fuller's vision with some of the most prestigious technological researchers throughout the world, including: United Nations Environment Program, Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers/Power Engineering Society, Society for Computer Simulation and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. The positive response to the idea included verification that we now have the technological capabilities of creating such a global energy grid. GENI continues to research, educate and promote Bucky's dream of "making the world work for 100% of humanity" through global communications via their newsletter, an Internet home page on the World Wide Web (http: //www.geni.org/) and video presentations and exhibits at international forums concerning global issues. July 12, 1995 is the one-hundredth anniversary of the birth of R. Buckminster Fuller and on July 14-16 GENI is presenting "Rediscovering the GENIus in Us All," a symposium and celebration in his honor. The event will be held in San Diego, California and will include an opening ceremony and reception, several World Games, a benefit concert, film festival, children's festival, exhibits, seminars and panel discussions. For information to attend this event refer to the insert on this page. Meisen can be reached at the Global Energy Network International, P. O. Box 81565, San Diego, CA 92138. Phone: 619-595-0139; fax: 619-595-0403. "If the success or failure of this planet, and of human beings, depended on how I am and what I do; How would I be? What would I do?" – R. Buckminster Fuller Table of Contents | 1995 Issues | Subscribe Truth Seeker | Feedback | Freethought.com Webmaster Credit card Orders call: 800-321-9054 or fax: (619)676-0433 Or send check or money order to: Truth Seeker / 16935 W. Bernardo Drive, Suite 103 / San Diego, CA 92127 $20.00 annual U.S. subscription ($35.00 international). Individual issues—$10.00 + $2.50 postage and handling Or be a committed freethinker and send $35.00 for a two year subscription. Truth Seeker is published by Truth Seeker Co., Inc. (ISSN 0041-3712) © 1996