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THE WORLD GAME

Originated by Buckminster Fuller
as a creative alternative to war games.

by Nick Consoletti

In Bellingham, Washington, on May 10, 1986, one hundred people or so played what is called the World Game. The work shop was facilitated by Medard Gabel, who called himself Buckminster Fullers 'backroom man' in charge of proving Bucky's intuitive grasps with facts and figures. Most recently Gabel had worked with Rodale on the Cornucopia Project now called the Regeneration Project.

After a loose and flexible registration, especially for those who were broke, was a modelling simulation based on The Powers of Ten by Phillip Morrison - a 42 image macro-micro slide show projection of the Universe, as far as is currently known. A couple lying on a blanket represented the median range of this Macro-Micro model. There was a straight line departure from the couple out to the biosphere, a view of the earth, the sun, the milky way, to the solar system, to the super cluster galaxy limit of the background radiation at 10²⁵ from the latest developed telescopes. Within the micro-limit representation the skin looked like cracked mud. We went into the blood, the immune system, to the cell and its genetic makeup, the dna bit, the carbon 12 was the micro limit at unit of mensuration to 10^-16  -- “The particle zoo," as J. Robert Oppenheimer described it.

This model slide show projection prepared us for the 70 by 40 foot map of the world the infamous dymaxion one-air one ocean, least distorted map that exists. Medard Gabel pointed out that this map is appropriate for resource and population modeling, yet might not be so good if one wanted to sail the world. Each one of us was handed a packet that had different items - from balloons in some - to sheets showing resources and their uses in each country of the world. People were asked to volunteer to stand at different places on the map to give game playing participants an idea of the size-to-scale relationships as how the parts fit into the whole. The data on these sheets of paper indicated among other things that each dot on the map was 45-50 million people. At that point in time there were 100 dots on the map. The 100 people or so playing the game were just right, one might say, synergetic.

The packet that was handed to me had India labeled on it. 7,765 million people or so ... 16 to 17 dots. This gave a clear Indication that most of humanity lives in India, China, Indonesia, Bali, Java area. Resource Indicators, like amount of production and consumption, import and export rates, calories of food consumption, amount of appropriations for the military, literacy rates, etc., indicate a standard of living that is high for some, not so for many others. It was quite clear that Industrialized countries produced and consumed the most and are significantly wasteful. Although it was qualified that the U.S.A. did export a lot of what they produced, it was open to question - say hypothetically - if resources are distributed fairly with the implicated questions, social justice and ecological considerations.

We were given the challenge of solving a threatened conflict that would escalate Into war if something wasn't done immediately. The old India Pakistan conflict was resolved by us somehow, I am still not sure now, at the last second. We had a lot of fun with their simulation. The intention was to show that the existing muddled approach to the world's problems - crisis management within 150 Nation States each claiming sovereignty - might possibly not last much longer without some kind of mass catastrophe, be it Nuclear, Ecological, or of a natural order. However, it also could possibly be dissolved If the now 5 billion people on this planet worked together cooperatively on these issues.

Next in this game we blew up balloons, and with 50,000 checker chips and a tape recording sound simulation, we dropped these chips on the map. That's how many missile heads exist. Following this, there what seemed to me a desert silence that lasted forever.

Before we went to lunch we made the world work. We designed the preferred state, using an approach like the game of Twenty Questions but more along the line of current Theory of General Systems. Some of the proposals were food, shelter and clothing for everyone and ecological considerations were articulated, total honesty, elimination of coerced slavery, etc. The intent here seemed to be to break the taboos of what is; also called the problem state, a world divided with its consequential war and deprivation in slow death form. Some more details of the methodology of this approach remained for after lunch.

Therefore we randomly broke up into groups to face the question of hunger and come up with some kind of solution. The idea was to bring the preferred state, food for everyone back to what is currently going on In the world - millions hungry and homeless. The group I was in had many divergent views. The main thing behind this simulation was to show the process type thinking involved in developing strategies for dissolving hunger. The afternoon group interactions didn't so much deal with the complicated questions that seem to lead to impasses that require different approaches for possible solutions.

In the evening we evaluated ourselves on proposals to the as of yet unresolved problem of hunger. Anyone who has ever participated in a world game workshop simulation comes away realizing at least to some extent how a question like hunger is interrelated to energy use, transportation, distribution of resources to communication of values and beyond.

Anyone can play the game. There are rules to the game that revolve around the challenge of quality of life for everyone. It is one thing to allude to the statement, Think Globally and Act Locally and another to elucidate. The World Game could be one of the ways for the beginnings of such elucidations. Medard Gabel described the World Game as a tool whose use is to decentralize the Power Structure. The minimal unit of problem solving the globe is vividly brought home in this game context. The environmental center with the help of Chuck Dingee took the initiative to bring the World Game to Bellingham. The Pillsbury Corporation had been the last ones to play the game. George Bernard Shaw was once asked what he did for fun, he said, "Tell the truth." We had a lot of fun playing this game.

Next summer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, there is going to be a show and tell of proposals to make the world work.

Anyone interested in this or about their workshops, write to:

World Game Projects, Inc.
University City Science Center
3508 Market Street #214
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
(215) 387-0220

For further information on this subject:

Critical Path, Richard Buckminster Fuller, St. Martin’s Press

Energy Earth and Evervone: Food for Everyone, Medard Gabel, Anchor Press, Doubleday

Art of Problem Solving: Redesigning the Future, Russell Ackoff

Systems Approach and Its Enemies, Charles West Churchman

Tools for Thought, Basic

The Man Made Future, Conrad Waddington, St. Martins Press