A View from the Bridge of Spaceship Earth (part three)

By John F. Sase, Ph.D.
Gerard J. Senick, senior editor
Julie Gale Sase, copyeditor

“People assume that time is a strict progression of cause and effect but, actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it’s more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey… stuff.”
—David Tennant, as the 10th Dr. Who,
“Dr. Who” television series,
“Blink” episode, (BBC-UK, 2007)

In this, the third of a four-part series, we continue to take the intellectual high road during this most interesting electoral cycle that grows more and more bizarrely entertaining on a daily basis with each successive news-cycle. In our view of the best and the worst of humanity at this time, we have chosen to stand in the company of the American architect, Systems Theorist, and author R. Buckminster Fuller through his classic book “Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth” (Simon and Schuster, 1969), which is the jumping-off point for this series of articles. Many members of our reading audience read this work when it first appeared in the politically and culturally polarizing times of the late 1960s. The words of Buckminster Fuller, which were meaningful for those times, are just as relevant today. In Part One, we introduced “Bucky” to a wide audience by means of a short biography and reviewed his thoughts on Comprehensive Propensities and the origins of Specialization. In brief, Comprehensive Propensities address the need for long-distance thinking in order to anticipate generational socio-economic changes. Also, we discussed the relative differences between the Generalist Great Pirates and the Specialists who served them.

In Part Two, we considered the transition from the Age of the Great Pirates to the Modern Age through a discussion of Comprehensively Commanded Automation, which has evolved through the integration of scientific fields and the development of the computer. This blossoming of the Modern Age in the 20th Century has led to a growing awareness of our place in the universe in this century. This month, we explore Fuller’s General Systems Theory and Analysis, his concepts of Synergy and the Universe as Energy, and the application of these theories and concepts to Increasing Wealth.

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General Systems Theory

Fuller asks us, “How do we use our intellectual capability to higher advantage?” Society has contrived atomic-energy technology and, more recently, distance-molecular energy-technology — aka directed-free-energy technology — through our intellectual discoveries, which emanate from what he calls our study of “generalized principles governing the fundamental energy behaviors of the physical universe.” In course, we have gained the awareness that these energy technologies may be used for either war or for peace. For Fuller, this awareness came through the work of the Serbian-American Inventor, Electrical Engineer, Mechanical Engineer, Physicist, and Futurist Nikola Tesla and the American Theoretical Physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer.

In mapping out a grand strategy for the future, we must acknowledge that essential, immediately consumable resources have been sufficient for our past survival. Though these resources eventually may be exhausted, our cushion for error has proven adequate until our present Industrial Age, when we now have begun to recognize a critical moment. Fuller analogizes our current situation with that of a chick in an egg, which has enough nutrients until the time that it locomotes and pecks its way out of its shell. In this brave new world, the chick discovers the next phase of its regenerative sustenance.

Like the chick in its new light, we must dare to fly by the generalized principles of the universe rather than by the superstitious ground rules of the past. We must dare to think competently in order to achieve comprehensive understanding. Some specialists, such as urban and regional planners, maintain a wider focus than most other professionals while battling politicians, financiers, and other heirs to the Great Pirates whom we discussed in Parts One and Two of this series.
Fuller suggests that we “assume the role of planners and begin to do the largest-scale comprehensive thinking of which we are capable.” The more holistically that we think, the more lastingly effective that we will be. Across the past half-century, holistic thinking has developed into General Systems Theory, a comprehensive approach through which we inventory all of the important and known operative variables. The pitfall with this line of thinking is in the risk of omitting unknown-but-critical variables beyond a visualized system. This omission may cause us to generate wrong answers that will mislead us.

As we conceive it, the universe is our largest system. Starting with the whole universe as our system prevents us from omitting any of what Fuller calls “strategically critical variables.” However, he states that humans have been capable of including only “non-simultaneous and…partially overlapping, micro-macro, …omni-complementary but identical events.” Fuller reminds us that we have been able to define the physical universe successfully but not the metaphysical one. Neither have we been able to define the total universe as the combination of both the physical and the metaphysical, a universe in which energy cannot be created or lost. Fuller explains that ours is a universe in which energy is finite, conserved, and equitable. He believes that “[t]he universe is the aggregate of all humanity’s consciously-apprehended and communicated experience with the non-simultaneous, non-identical, and only partial overlapping, always complementary, weighable and unweighable, ever omni-transforming event sequences.”

At this juncture in our discussion, let us consider the discoveries of the German-born Theoretical Physicist Albert Einstein. He suggests that, even though the speed of light remains highly stable, it may not be an absolute constant. Our total sum of Matter and Energy in the physical universe may possess an identifiable and measurable disturbance term. This variation suggests that a total universe of near-constant time (“wibbly-wobbly,” as Dr. Who puts it in our opening quote) and space may exist like an egg within infinity and eternity.

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General Systems Analysis

 Like the parlor game of Twenty Questions, we can eliminate all incorrect answers until only the correct answer remains. As our computational terminology has evolved, this method of progressive division into two parts has developed. One part contains the eliminated null and void while the other retains the remaining positive one, which has become known as a “bit” in computer terminology.

This systematic procedure of subdivision produces both the macrocosm of the entire universe outside of the system and the microcosm of the remainder inside. Fuller explains that the total universe is neither simultaneous nor conceptual. Therefore, concepts emerge through the isolation of a thought in that universe, which evolves without a beginning or an end. Furthermore, the simple act of measurement turns this experience into a continuous, nonrepeating evolutionary scenario.

Macrocosmic irrelevancies are too large and too infrequent. These qualities make them impossible — or at least difficult — to tune synchronically. On the other hand, microcosmic irrelevancies are too small or too frequent to be what Fuller calls “differentially resolved.” Therefore, he explains that the process of thinking “consists of self-disciplined dismissal of both the macrocosmic and microcosmic irrelevancies.” This result leaves only clear and relevant considerations.

When considering our focal-entities, comprehension implies that we can identity all of the most unique economical relationships. Fuller explains such comprehension as a thought process that operates by way of mathematical logic. Furthermore, he defines the relevant combination of multiple systems of mathematics as “Synergetics.” Fuller uses Synergetics to measure the behavior of whole systems. He explains that the behavior of these systems is unpredictable by observing just the separate parts of any of these systems. Continuing, Fuller states that the behavior of a system cannot be predicted through any subassembly of its parts. This approach helps to explain the simple but popular definition of Synergy as the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. For example, the behavior of our solar system as a whole is unpredictable by the separate behaviors of sun, moons, and planets. Our enlightenment of the past century has resulted from an understanding of over-specialization, which developed during the preceding centuries.

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Synergy

During the past half-century, we have learned to embrace a powerful set of tools for understanding all types of systems. In order to solve our current world problems, Fuller explains that we need to state our unique problem and to divest ourselves of all of the micro- and macro-irrelevancies. He has taught us to dismiss these residual irrelevancies in order to isolate the thinkable concepts progressively. This synergetic approach can be applied to our Spaceship Earth, to our countries, to our states, to our cities, and to our individual households.

For example, one problem of survival that has ramifications that go beyond planner prerogatives is that of pollution. Fuller states that a too-narrow treatment that “costs too much” never will face up to the solution-insistent problem of “what it will cost when we don’t have the air and water with which to survive.” Furthermore, vast magnitudes of wealth seem to find their way into effective operation whenever lethal emergencies arise. However, the specter of “it costs too much”’ obscures the realization of our capabilities every time that an immediate threat passes. In contrast, Fuller reminds us that we always seem to find the resources to fight the wars brought about by our struggle between the “haves” and the “have-nots.” He puts forth the notion that “macro-comprehensive” and “micro-incisive” solutions to vital problems never cost too much. The creation of new production-tools and energy networks enable us. Fuller says, “[T]o do more work does not cost anything but human time which is refunded in time gained” through greater efficiency. As a result, potential wealth becomes real wealth. In turn, this awareness flushes out a major variable from our general-systems problem in the form of the question of “What is wealth?”

In 1944, the Bretton Woods Conference established the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In 1967, deliberations of the IMF led to the opinion that we need to refine our concept of money because the international balance of payments through the system of gold-demand is inadequate. What we need is an augmentation of our global monetary base. Due to the structure of central banking across the globe, bank money consists of accrued income earned through interest. The measured Gross World Product of our capital assets in the form of industrial production suggests that our monetary gold is far less than 1% of our total capital assets.

Subsequently, Fuller reminds us that gold, jewels, real-estate equities, stocks and bonds, and other marker chips are virtually powerless when a ship is sinking. Through an example reminiscent of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, he reminds us that, unless the holder of such wealth can persuade another person who has the only remaining seat in a lifeboat to accept these markers in exchange, then this wealth-holder will go down with the ship along with his/her meaningless markers.
In respect to land generally and to cities specifically, Fuller reminds us that the validity of real-estate equities go back to the validity of the original muscle of weapons-established, sovereign-claimed lands. Re-deeding turns this real estate into “legal” properties protected by weapon-enforced laws of sovereign nations and their subsequent abstraction into corporate equities. However, Scottish Economist Adam Smith explains that the true wealth of a country is not the gold and silver held by it but that it is the people and their talents, knowledge, and skills (W. Strahan and T. Cadell, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, 1776). To this definition, Fuller adds that wealth is our ability to cope effectively with the environment in order to sustain its healthy regeneration. In effect, this regeneration decreases our restrictions as we move forward in time. He defines such wealth as the number of “forward days” during which we can sustain a specific number of people in a time-and-space-liberating level of metabolic and metaphysical regeneration.

To this point, Fuller believes in the reliance upon our vast amounts of income-wealth in the form of radiation from the sun and gravitational pull from the moon. This is in contrast to our dependence on the fossil-fuel energy-savings that have accumulated over billions of years. He contends that this second path is “lethally ignorant” and “utterly irresponsible” to coming generations. Based upon this definition of wealth, Fuller believes that we can apply General Systems Theory in order to address the next phase of what he defines as our “total survival, prosperity, happiness, and regenerative inspiration.”

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The Universe as Energy

Fuller reminds us that the physical universe is all Energy. Einstein tells us that the mass of matter is explained in terms of radiant surface-wave expansion (MC2). Therefore, Energy is defined in terms of matter and radiation as proven through nuclear fission. Based on this, Fuller explains that Energy is finite in quantity but conserved infinitely. Therefore, the old proposition that the universe resembles a clock that is running down no longer holds. He cites this entropic concept as the basis of past conservatism, a belief in which the expenditure of energy to foster further evolution must be abhorred. The alternative would result in the diminishment of Energy to the point at which the universe would come to an end. Conversely, Fuller redefines the universe as “a mammoth perpetual-motion process” that results in the interplay of ongoing energy patterns. This process results in the continuation of the universe ad infinitum and ad eternum. A conundrum? A paradox?
Fuller proposes that our highly important function as humans within this universe is to intercept and to redirect nearby energy patterns. This is done in order to increase wealth through more effective exploratory investment. In this light, Energy is the physical constituent of wealth and “know-how” is the metaphysical one. Every time that we use our wealth, our know-how increases. Therefore, we may consider wealth as anti-entropic. While our brains are limited to processing only memorized subjective experiences and objective experiments, our minds extract, employ, and integrate generalized principles in order to make anti-entropic gains. Therefore, we may conclude that wealth multiplies continuously, even though our present form of economic accounting identifies and records wealth strictly as matter and know-how just as a salary- or royalty-payable liability.

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Increasing Wealth

Social cooperation and individual enterprise interact to produce an increase in wealth. However, Fuller explains that our accounting systems of the past and present are “anti-synergetic.” They reflect a depreciative, entropic act of mortgaging. This reflection occurs even though wealth generates compound interest through Synergy in an anti-entropic manner. Nevertheless, we have assigned an intrinsic value to matter while failing to recognize the synergetic value of inventiveness or the complementariness of products. Hopefully, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) will help to develop both our recognition and understanding of these realized synergetic gains. We can recognize the outcomes of these gains over the past century through evidence of an improved (though unbalanced) standard of living that has been realized across many regions of our planet. We have done more with less. Through the miniaturization of wireless electronics, the advancement in computer-processing abilities, and the development of new types of materials, along with many other advances in public health and nutrition, our industries are capable of making larger quantities of better products through lessened investment of both time and energy. However, equitable distribution of these products remains a challenge. In respect to the topic of Synergy, Fuller concludes that our global industrialization constantly reflects “new capabilities resulting from a variety of synergetic interactions.” He remind us that we are witnessing mind over matter as we escape the limitations of exclusive identity with “sovereignized circumscribed geographical locality” on Spaceship Earth.

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The (W)rap

What is the takeaway from all of this for attorneys and other professionals? As we learn to produce and consume more wisely, we can attain Sufficient Affluence in a Sustainable Economy. By the old way of thinking, our resources are inadequate for continued survival. However, we humans need to take a newer, more holistic approach—one that incorporates both the physical and the metaphysical--to our view of Energy. Though Energy is finite in quantity, it is conserved infinitely.
However, when fossil-fuel energy is improperly exploited, it disappears from our immediate control as defined by the walls of our limited subsystems. In contrast, we need to develop our constantly accessible forms, such as radiant and gravitational energy. In order to do this, a synergetic total systems-approach is needed.

A similar approach applies to the accumulation of wealth. We need to realize and recognize the creation of wealth through an anti-entropic system of economic accounting. Such a system recognizes the synergetic value of inventiveness and the complementariness of products. In order to incorporate such a system, we must redefine the concept of wealth. We must move away from the physical markers that are scarce by their nature to one by which we recognize Energy and know-how as the true constituents of wealth. Like the chick in its new light to which we referred earlier, specialists such as attorneys must maintain a focus that dismisses the constraints of the past while embracing the creative and bringing the power of the mind to bear on Energy, Matter, and ideas. An understanding of the law and the wider scope of human philosophy—an attribute particular to attorneys--will help them to aid in the uniting of the physical and metaphysical components of our universe. This will ensure the survival of our species and of our Spaceship Earth.

Next month, we will conclude this series as we consider Fuller’s thoughts on Integral Functions. Here, we will address the founding of the United States in the late Eighteenth Century, when railroads and steamboats were only a dream, to the present, where our commitment to wealth has allowed us to see far beyond our own solar system. We will conclude with Fuller’s views on the Regenerative Landscape as we struggle to move beyond our perilous age of divisiveness and struggle toward a future in which we can begin to generate new wealth rapidly in order to do great things without destroying our environment. As Fuller suggests, we will fly by generalized principles that govern the universe as we “attempt competent thinking…for comprehensive understanding.”

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PDF copies of this article will be posted at www.saseassociates.com. In addition, we post original and curated videos related to Economics on www.Youtube.com/VideoEconomist.

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Dr. John F. Sase has taught Economics for thirty-five years and has practiced Forensic and Investigative Economics since the early 1990s. He earned a combined Masters in Economics and an MBA at the University of Detroit, and a Ph.D. in Economics at Wayne State University. He is a graduate of the University of Detroit Jesuit High School. Dr. Sase can be reached at 248.569.5228, www.saseassociates.com, and www.Youtube.com/VideoEconomist.
Gerard J. Senick is a freelance writer, editor, and musician. He earned his degree in English at the University of Detroit and was a Supervisory Editor at Gale Research Company (now Cengage) for over twenty years. Currently, he edits books for publication and gives seminars on writing and music. Mr. Senick can be reached at 313.342.4048 and at www.senick-editing.com. You can find some of his writing tips at www.YouTube.com/SenickEditing.
Julie G. Sase is a freelance copyeditor and proofreader. She earned her degree in English at Marygrove College and her graduate certificate in Parent Coaching from Seattle Pacific University. As a consultant, Ms. Sase coaches clients, writes articles for publication, and gives interviews to various media. Ms. Sase can be reached at sasej@aol.com.