Meet Buckminster Fuller: Guinea Pig B

The experiment begins

In 1927 — bankrupt, grieving a daughter, standing at the lake edge — Fuller chose the stranger option: treat his own life as an experiment, 'Guinea Pig B,' devoted to discovering what one unremarkable man could do for everyone. Fifty-six years of domes, Dymaxion designs, and Spaceship Earth followed.

The trim tab

His favorite metaphor sits on his gravestone: the trim tab — the tiny rudder on the great rudder that turns the whole ship. Individuals feel powerless against systems; Fuller's answer was to find the small surface where modest, well-placed pressure redirects everything.

Why they belong at your table

Seat him when the system seems too big to fight. He'll help you stop fighting it — and start designing its replacement.