Bucky had a rather unconventional career. He had a great variety of interests and activities, and throughout his life he worked as an engineer, mapmaker, architect, teacher, poet, editor, businessman, inventor, futurist, sailor, scholar, and more. Rather than limiting himself to one particular profession, Bucky preferred to describe himself as a "comprehensive anticipatory design scientist." What he meant by this description was that he felt he was a person who used science and good design to anticipate problems that people might experience in the future. He hoped to use design and science in a comprehensive, complete way to find solutions to these problems. For example, he thought a great deal about the distribution of natural resources in the world. Bucky felt that natural resources (such as wood, metal, coal, water, and so on) were becoming ever more scarce around the world, but that with proper planning and foresight, designers and scientists could develop new ways of using these precious natural resources more efficiently, thus ensuring that there would be enough resources to take care of everybody on the planet.

Throughout his career, Bucky traveled around the world to lecture about the importance of using design science to improve the quality of life for all people on planet Earth. Thus, he inspired many people to think about humanity on a global scale, and to think about what they might do as individuals to solve global problems.