Grunch of giants

What Hacker News says

1. laotzuNov 2015
   I'd recommend Critical Path and Grunch of Giants by Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983). Fuller was the former president of the Mensa society and claimed that a universal income became technically feasible in the 1970's.

   Critical Path:

   http://www.btronics.com/files/R.%20Buckminster%20Fuller%20-%...

   >World Game makes it clear that the world electrical systems' energy-network integration and its comprehensive powering of automated, special case machinery would most effectively counter the peril of overspecialization of the humans and would introduce the omni-Universe-operative, time-energy, kilowatt-hours-per-year, commonwealth accounting system. This cosmic accounting will computer-establish the up-to-the-moment-realized cosmic-energy-income-harnessing thus far accomplished; and the technical-efficiency levels attained in the various energy-employing technologies operative around the world; and the resultant per capita individually employable world commonwealth facilities; and the per capita "consumable," "employable," and "enjoyable" "credits" in respect to any specific consumables, commodities, services, conveniences, or tools as manifest on the satellite-relay-integrated world computers and as individually called for and read out on each individual's electronic computer "credit card." The individually available information will govern the individual's design science choices of the highest relative-efficiency systems to be employed. It will also tell people whether they can do this or that, and if so, how they can go most swiftly— for instance, from New York to Australia—and will "book" a travel reservation and will prepay the bill for the travel accommodation. All such in- formation is continually computer-integrated to produce the commonwealth evaluations and their read-out-ability on world-individual's pocket-computer "credit card." These will always register the world individual's share of the ever-increasingly-employable technological savings reserves and their respective technologically operative capabilities. With humanity employing such a world-around, satellite-relayed, and world-integrated computer accounting system, the world can, overnight, physically realize the "Omnibillionaire Commonwealth" of its humans.

   Grunch of Giants:

   https://tripinsurancestore.com/4/grunch-of-giants.pdf

   >There exists a realizable, evolutionary alternative to our being either atom-bombed into extinction or crowding ourselves off the planet. The alternative is the computer-persuadable veering of big business from its weaponry fixation to accommodation of all humanity at an aerospace level of technology, with the vastly larger, far more enduringly profitable for all, entirely new World Livingry Service Industry. It is statistically evident that the more advanced the living standard, the lower the birth rate.

   Show morethread
2. lukiferJan 2021
   I'd be curious to know if he ran afoul of the verboten PC topics (race, gender, sexuality); considering the era in which he lived and worked, it seems not-unlikely that he'd be a "product of his time".

   At the same time, he clearly held many political positions which were much more controversial in his era, but that the left-libertarian-leaning HN crowd wouldn't find objectionable, whatever their status in the 2021 Overton window: staunchly anti-war, anti-corporate [0], and openly pursuing a post-scarcity utopia [1].

   [0] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/285349.Grunch_of_Giants

   [1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1321401.Utopia_or_Oblivi...

   Show morethread
3. carapaceJul 2019
   Er...

   "Grunch\* of Giants" by R. Buckminster Fuller (\*GRoss UNiverse Cash Heist)

   > Here Buckminster Fuller takes on the gigantic corporate megaliths that exert increasing control over every aspect of daily life. In the form of a modern allegory, he traces the evolution of these multinational giants from the post-World War II military-industrial complex to the current army of abstract legal entities known as the corporate world.

   https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/285349.Grunch_of_Giants

   PDF available from here:

   https://fullerfuturefest.com/humanitys-critical-path-from-we...

   Show morethread
4. carapaceMar 2019
   > I’ve researched this extensively and I’m convinced we could have done this in the developed world starting 100 years ago, but individuals in a position of power preferred to accumulate wealth themselves rather than distribute earnings equitably.

   Bucky Fuller wrote "GRUNCH of Giants" which says something similar.

   ("GRUNCH" is GRoss UNiversal Cash Heist)

   https://fullerfuturefest.com/humanitys-critical-path-from-we...

   thread
5. carapaceOct 2017
   You probably know this, one of his books is titled "Grunch of Giants: Gross Universe Cash Heist".

   He had a plan, "Design science revolution", to produce artifacts for consumers that embodied the changes needed.

   The concept of the "trimtab" informed his methods.

   > Trim tabs are small surfaces connected to the trailing edge of a larger control surface on a boat or aircraft, used to control the trim of the controls, i.e. to counteract hydro- or aerodynamic forces and stabilize the boat or aircraft in a particular desired attitude without the need for the operator to constantly apply a control force. This is done by adjusting the angle of the tab relative to the larger surface.

   ~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trim_tab

   no real point, just wanted to mention it. Cheers.

   Show morethread
6. alanwattsApr 2016
   >There exists a realizable, evolutionary alternative to our being either atom-bombed into extinction or crowding ourselves off the planet. The alternative is the computer-persuadable veering of big business from its weaponry fixation to accommodation of all humanity at an aerospace level of technology, with the vastly larger, far more enduringly profitable for all, entirely new World Livingry Service Industry. It is statistically evident that the more advanced the living standard, the lower the birth rate.

   -Grunch of Giants, Buckminster Fuller

   http://www.amazon.com/Grunch-Giants-Buckminster-Fuller/dp/09...

   Show morethread