Buckminster Fuller sometimes used the illustration of a compact Telstar satellite , weighing just a few hundred pounds, functionally replacing some 750,000 tons of transatlantic cable, as an example of his concept of "ephemeralization." The thinker and author Stewart Brand (who was schooled as a biologist), succinctly conveys Fuller's concept as: "doing more with less" (in Brand's The Clock of the Long Now).

Epemeralization is in turn partially the outcome of multi-functionality , a principle observed in nature. Multi-functionality is a cornerstone concept in ecology, and is a principle explored by Buckminister Fuller's concept of ephemeralization. Fuller adapted multi-functionality from "nature's technologies," as we might say, noting that our designs could accomplish more with less - less human and resource expenditures, less waste.

"Doing more with less" can be illustrated by the myriad electronic devices manufactured especially since the introduction of transistors and silicon microchips. But the principle can be, and is being, applied in the macro worlds of architecture, construction, transport and many other fields.