Tech doesn't get bigger, it gets thinner: Fuller's ephemeralization enters its second wave
sebpaquet · x · 2026-11-02
A widely shared thread revives Buckminster Fuller's 1930s observation: technology primarily evolves toward thinness (ephemeralization) — the transatlantic cable got lighter per message, buildings lighter per enclosed volume, engines lighter per horsepower. Each generation does the same job with less stuff, until only the function remains. The first wave ate objects (a door key became a fingerprint); the thread argues a second wave is underway today, with the original text cut off mid-argument.
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