Trim tabs, Butterflies, and The Dude
R. Buckminster Fuller, Jeff Bridges, and acknowledging the power of tiny things
Dear CSTers (Coasters? hmm…),
A few days ago I was reminded of one of my favorite people and metaphors: R. Buckminster Fuller and his concept of the small but mighty trim tab.
If you already know the incredible story of the amazing “Bucky” (his preferred name) Fuller (1895-1983), the American inventor, engineer, and problem solver, it may be for his invention of the geodesic dome, a design he came up with while trying to create an affordable shelter that would cover the largest area with the least amount of building materials, resulting in a structure that is one of the strongest and most sustainable buildings ever designed. The dome was typical of Bucky’s approach, which was a mix of genius-level scientific intuition and childlike wonder: “I did not set out to design a geodesic dome,” he once said, “I set out to discover the principles operative in the Universe. For all I knew, this could have led to a pair of flying slippers.”
Fuller is revered today for his incredible contributions to the fields of engineering, architecture, ecology, and systems design, and he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1983, among dozens of other awards. But his career had a rocky start.
Never a good student, Bucky got kicked out of Harvard for spending all his money on vaudeville performances instead of tuition. He served in the US Navy in World War I, then worked at various jobs, including at a meatpacking plant and as a mechanic. By 1927 he considered himself a failure and was despondent at the death of his daughter from polio and spinal meningitis, and he was drinking too much. One night he considered throwing himself into the freezing Lake Michigan and ending it all.* But then he had a moment of epiphany and seemed to hear a voice speak to him:
“From now on you need never await temporal attestation to your thought. You think the truth. You do not have the right to eliminate yourself. You do not belong to you. You belong to the Universe. Your significance will remain forever obscure to you, but you may assume that you are fulfilling your role if you apply yourself to converting your experiences to the highest advantage of others.” (link)
Bucky was transformed. He understood that his entire life could be an experiment, one dedicated to the question of “what a single individual could contribute to changing the world and benefiting all humanity." (NYT)
Enter the trim tab. Eager to find a way to make a small difference in the world for better, he naturally found the perfect metaphor in this obscure, humble rudder attachment. As he put it:
“Something hit me very hard once, thinking about what one little man could do. Think of the Queen Mary. The whole ship goes by and then comes the rudder. And there’s a tiny thing at the edge of the rudder called a trim tab… It’s a miniature rudder. Just moving the little trim tab builds a low pressure that pulls the rudder around. Takes almost no effort at all. So I said that the little individual can be a trim tab. Society thinks it’s going right by you, that it’s left you altogether. But if you’re doing dynamic things mentally, the fact is that you can just put your foot out like that and the whole big ship of state is going to go… “So I said, “call me Trim Tab.” (link)
After his life-affirming moment of clarity on Lake Michigan, Bucky dedicated the rest of his life to using his skills to improve the lives of people around the world in the spirit of the humble trim tab, which led him to develop and design some of the century’s most energy efficient and imaginative housing, cars, and an ecological perspective on our planet and its resources that he called Spaceship Earth: "The most important fact about Spaceship Earth: an instruction manual didn't come with it.” (link)
In short, Bucky Fuller became a trim tab. He even put it on his headstone.
Later in the 20th century other scientists working in the emerging field of chaos theory identified the same principle as the trim tab, which they called sensitive dependence in initial conditions, or more colloquially, the Butterfly Effect, in which tiny changes in initial settings can transform entire systems. Or, if a butterfly flutters its wings in China, it eventually causes a thunderstorm in Paris. You know what I mean.
Just meditating on Bucky Fuller usually makes me feel good. But I felt even better when I discovered a tribute to Bucky by someone who truly exudes Bucky’s whole vibe, his love for people, and his eternal hope for the best. It’s The Dude, of course… Jeff “Lebowski” Bridges, who devoted his 2019 Golden Globes speech to the glory of the trim tab:
JEFF BRIDGES: “One guy, he had nothing to do with the movies, but I’ve taken a lot of direction from him. That’s Bucky Fuller. Bucky, he’s most famous for the geodesic dome, but he made a great observation about these oceangoing tankers. And he noticed that the engineers were particularly challenged by how to turn this thing, you know? They got this big rudder, it took too much energy to turn the rudder to turn the ship. So they came up with a brilliant idea. Let’s put a little rudder on the big rudder. The little rudder will turn the big rudder, the big rudder will turn the ship. The little rudder is called a trim tab.
“Bucky made the analogy that a trim tab is an example of how the individual is connected to society and how we affect society. And I like to think of myself as a trim tab. All of us are trim tabs. We might seem like we’re not up to the task, but we are, man. We’re alive! We can make a difference! We can turn this ship in the way we wanna go, man! Towards love, creating a healthy planet for all of us. So I wanna thank the Hollywood Foreign Press for tagging me, and I wanna tag you all. You’re all trim tabs. Tag, you’re it! Thank you!” (link)
On days like yesterday, during which I puttered around getting little things done yet feeling sort of useless, I thought of Bucky and the trim tab. And although nothing I did yesterday will radically change the world… each one of does, I believe, make a difference. Even if it’s just something tiny. It all matters.
Hope you all have a great week, Coasters! Be the best trim tab you can be.
xo Buzzy
PS: The Walt Disney Co. borrowed both Bucky’s geodesic dome and the phrase “Spaceship Earth” for its Epcot Center in Disneyworld… maybe I’ll run into you there sometime.
*NOTE: If you’re thinking about suicide, are worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, the 988 Lifeline network is available 24/7 across the United States. Just call or text 988 to talk to someone who can help. The 988 Lifeline provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones, and best practices for professionals in the United States.