Ephemerization

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

Ephemerization is a term coined by Richard Buckminster Fuller , which describes the tendency of today's technology , which leads to ever smaller, lighter and more efficient machines or technical applications.

Fuller sometimes used the representation of a satellite to explain his concept: the weight of a satellite is only a small fraction of the 750,000 tons of transatlantic cables, but takes over their functionality . The thinker and author Stewart Brand (actually a biologist) transferred Fuller's concept of “doing more with less” in his book The Ticking of the Long Now (see The Long Now Foundation ) .

Ephemerization is, in part, the realization of multifunctionality , a principle that can be observed in nature . Fuller saw this multifunctionality as the basis of "natural technology". It can be said that the design of “more by less” is accomplished through less human and resource-based expenditure and less waste.

This concept can be seen in electronic devices, especially those made since the invention of transistors or silicon microchips. The principle can and is used in the macrocosm of architecture as well as in other forms of practical design , construction , transportation and many other fields.

Ephemerization only leads to dematerialization if the ecological rucksack does not increase too much. However, this is not the case with most high-tech devices.