The Synergetics Collaborative (SNEC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to bringing together a diverse group of people with an interest in Buckminster Fuller's Synergetics in face-to-face workshops, symposia, seminars, pow-wows, and other meetings to educate and support research and understanding of the many facets of Synergetics, its methods and principles.

Our public meetings are open to anybody who wants to learn more about Synergetics.

Please join the primary SNEC mailing list to receive announcements of all Synergetics Collaborative meetings and other news relating to Synergetics and Buckminster Fuller.

In March 2007, we received a letter from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) apprising us that our application for 501(c)(3) exemption status has been approved! Some of the organizations documents that we are required to make available for public inspection are available through this link.. See IRS Publication 557 for details about the government rules for tax-exempt organizations.

To make a tax deductible contribution to the Synergetics Collaborative please mail a check to

Synergetics Collaborative
240 Copley Road
Upper Darby, PA 19082-4016

The Synergetics Collaborative maintains a private, moderated mailing list, SNEC, to coordinate and announce meetings. An archive of all posts to the list is publically available at http://www.SynergeticsCollaborative.org/pipermail/snec/.

For public, Internet discussions on Buckminster Fuller's work, the following options are available:

• Synergeo
• Kirby Urner's Blog: Control Room: Operation Spaceship Earth

Synergetics is the system of comprehensive thinking which R. Buckminster Fuller introduced and began to formulate. Synergetics is multi-faceted: it involves geometric modeling, exploring inter-relationships in the facts of experience and the process of thinking. Synergetics endeavors to identify and understand the methods that Nature actually employs in coordinating Universe (both physically and metaphysically). Synergetics provides a comprehensive method and a philosophy for problem-solving and design and therefore has applications in all areas of human endeavor.

101.01 Synergy means behavior of whole systems unpredicted by the behavior of their parts taken separately.

102.00 Synergy means behavior of integral, aggregate, whole systems unpredicted by behaviors of any of their components or subassemblies of their components taken separately from the whole.

962.40 Synergetic geometry embraces all the qualities of experience, all aspects of being.

-- R. Buckminster Fuller, Synergetics

Synergetics, in the broadest terms, is the study of spatial complexity, and as such is an inherently comprehensive discipline. ... Experience with synergetics encourages a new way of approaching and solving problems. Its emphasis on visual and spatial phenomena combined with Fuller's wholistic approach fosters the kind of lateral thinking which so often leads to creative breakthroughs.

-- Amy Edmondson, A Fuller Explanation, 1987

• Buckminster Fuller's magnum opus: Synergetics: Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking
• CJ Fearnley's essay Reading Synergetics: Some Tips can help readers wade through Fuller's voluminous text
• The book A Fuller Explanation: The Synergetic Geometry of R. Buckminster Fuller by Amy Edmondson --- Full Text On-Line
• The BFI's Synergetics resource
• Synergetics Dictionary Online: The Mind of Buckminster Fuller
• Kirby Urner's A Roadmap for Synergetics and Synergetics on the Web
• The Synergetics section of the R. Buckminster Fuller FAQ

The Genesis of Synergetics Collaborative, as for many phenomena in Universe, was the confluence of many factors. One thread was Russell Chu's move to Falls Church, VA. Another has been Joe Clinton's retirement and more visible return to Synergetics issues. Another has been the geometrical studies of CJ Fearnley and Jeannie Moberly. Another was the meeting of Fearnley, Moberly, Clinton, Marvin Solit, and David Lovler at the 2002 Bridges: Mathematical Connections In Art, Music, And Science Conference ["Conference Report: Bridges 2002", Nexus Network Journal, vol. 5 no. 1 (Spring 2003), http://www.nexusjournal.com/conf_reps_v5n1-Bier.html]. Kirby Urner provided a critical link by suggesting to CJ Fearnley that he contact Russell Chu which led directly to the meeting on August 24th, 2002, in Upper Darby, PA.

The second (private) meeting was held on the 5th and 6th of October 2002 in Falls Church, VA. Originally we intended the meeting to be the group that met in Upper Darby plus Ed Applewhite. But 12 people were physically present coming from as far away as Japan, California, Oregon, New York, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts, plus John Graham joined via the Internet (call it "12 around one" or a Vector Equilibrium as a Synergeticist might say). We realized that we had found an unfulfilled need in Universe and immediately set about to organize the first public meeting which was held during the weekend of January 25 and 26, 2003 in Tivoli, NY. Since then Synergetics Collaborative has been holding yearly workshops in Oswego, NY and a major Symposium every year or two. Recently we organized as an unincorporated association and held our first meeting of the Board of Directors.