“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”
Buckminster Fuller. Bucky.
One of the most interesting characters of the 20th century.
A futurist in the real sense of the term, really imagining different possible futures.
The inventor who came up with the famous geodesic domes, round houses, round cars even.
Imagined developing what he called “livingry” as a substitute for “weaponry”, applying the same kind of technology that was used for military purposes, imagined applying that for everyday life and finding technological solutions, inventions, that could improve all humanity.
That was his dream.
A lot of it seems a bit overly optimistic now in the 21st century, but he certainly had some interesting perspectives and attempts to change the way that we look at the world.
And so one thing that I find interesting about his view, one interesting statement he made, is about how to change things.
His view is that, in order to change something, we shouldn’t actually directly try to change it.
It’s not about trying to break down something that’s already there, trying to undermine it.
But rather, his view was that, in order to change something, we create a new model, a new system, one that makes the previous system obsolete.
So it really is sort of the inventor’s and the innovator’s way of approaching problems.
You solve the problem by inventing a new way to do the whole thing.
And so I find it interesting to apply this to everyday life.
When we have certain habits or ways of living that seem maybe like they’re not working, it can seem very difficult to challenge them, to change them.
Because of course, we have the strength of our habits, the strength of what we keep doing day after day.
And it seems like it’s hard to change it if we look at change as being here’s the way I am, and now I have to kind of bend that.
I have to just kind of take the way I am now and kind of reshape it and bend it.
But this way of looking at things is to just not worry about the way things are now.
Look for a new solution.
Look for a new way to do things, a new model, a new design.
It’s a designer’s perspective on life.
Design a new way to do something.
Irrelevant the way you’re doing it now.
It’s not about directly changing that, directly modifying that.
But we can really start from the basics and design what we want to do.
And then, when we have a new possible way of doing things, then the old way can simply be allowed to fade away.
And I think this applies to a lot of change.
We don’t have to try to force the change.
We start with a new solution, and the old solution will gradually fade away.
So I find this a hopeful way of thinking about how we can change our lives, or the world.
It may not be possible to solve every problem through design and innovation, and certainly not through technology, but some of that spirit of the inventor and the designer, of whatever the situation is, bringing it down to the basics what is really the root of the problem.
Forgetting about the established system, the established way of doing things.
But just: what is the issue here?
can we find some creative new way of solving the problem?
And if we can find new ways to to do this, then we don’t even have to directly change the old ways.
We can make these new ways of living, and the old ways, these old problems, old patterns, don’t need to be directly changed, but rather can be allowed to fade away as we bring in the new solution.
So possibly overly optimistic, but I think there’s something in it to bring some of that spirit of the creator, designer, inventor, innovator into our lives.
#buildanewmodel #inventormindset #buckminsterfuller