Ted Rubenstein
Week 3: System

If we are to consider the concept of system in relationship to cities it seems that first we must first be very clear to define the central (indeed intrinsic) role that humans play in any system of human organization. I am struck initially by Buckminster Fuller’s metaphor of “Spaceship Earth” and how he situates humans in relationship to the system of the planet. He claims, “We have not been seeing our Spaceship Earth as an integrally-designed machine which to be persistently successful must be comprehended and serviced in total” (52). In typical Fullerian fashion this is a densely charged statement filled to the brim with assumptions that at the same time makes clear an impassioned plea to the reader. Fuller’s hinging of the sentence on the phrase “have not been seeing” and the word “must” makes his claim a moral call to arms; what has been wrong in the past must be made right in the future. By making this moral plea the grammatical armature of his claim, Fuller is more subtly dislocating humanity – “We” – from the system of the planet, or “Spaceship Earth.” This is important because it posits the “We” / “Spaceship Earth” relationship as a subject / object relationship, a relationship which (even though Fuller’s intentions here are of the noble “big picture” proto-environmentalist strain) grants humanity a willful leverage over the system of the Earth. Fuller’s argument would benefit from the assertion that humanity is inescapably integrated with the Earth.
Stranger still is Fuller’s earlier acknowledgement that humanity’s willful existence outside the system of Spaceship Earth is a modern phenomenon. He says, “Spaceship Earh was so extraordinarily well invented and designed that to our knowledge humans have been on board it for two million years not even knowing that they were on board a ship” (50). It is not clear to me why our knowledge of the Earth would somehow dislodge us from a strictly objective relationship with the planet. Perhaps Fuller puts more faith in our ability to comprehend such a large and chaotic system than I do (especially considering that we cannot draw a picture of this system without being self-referential). Perhaps there is some sort of holy sublimation that humanity can achieve by “thinking big” or holistically (59) that I am not able to grasp.