Alec Nevala-Lee on Buckminster Fuller

In this episode, Samuel Arbesman sits down with Alec Nevala-Lee, author of numerous books, including Inventor of the Future, a definitive biography of Buckminster Fuller.

Buckminster Fuller was an architect, designer, and public intellectual whose influence stretched far beyond blueprints and prototypes. Later in life, he became a lodestar for the counterculture, inspiring the pages of the Whole Earth Catalog and leaving fingerprints all over what would become Silicon Valley’s ethos.

In his biography, Nevala-Lee unravels Fuller’s contradictions — a visionary who struggled to succeed yet profoundly shaped culture, and who in many ways anticipated the archetype of the modern startup founder before such a figure existed.

Samuel and Alec explore Fuller’s radical ideas in design, the curious saga of the geodesic dome, the “virtual corporation” Fuller orchestrated around himself, his sway over the tech world’s imagination, and how he played the role of a mystical, almost messianic presence amid the polished suits of the Mad Men era — and so much more.