Automobile Quote by Jonathon Keats
![“[Buckminster] Fuller said that everything at the time was basically a horse and buggy in the form of an automobile and it had that boxiness and basically aeronautics hadn't been invented.” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/5bb/jonathon-keats-10822_automobile_buckminster-fuller-said-that-everything_134972.jpg)
“[Buckminster] Fuller said that everything at the time was basically a horse and buggy in the form of an automobile and it had that boxiness and basically aeronautics hadn't been invented.”
About This Quote
Source Speech: Interview, Jonathon Keats, 2000
Fuller compared early cars to horse‑and‑buggy, noting their boxy shape and lack of aerodynamic design before modern aeronautics.
In simple terms: Early cars were like horse‑and‑buggy, bulky and unevolved.
Key Takeaway
Recognize how design evolves with technology.
Themes
innovation
design
technology
history
progress
Mood
reflective
analytical
Type
historical
technical
When to use this quote
- automotive design
- engineering education
- product development
- historical analysis
Key Concepts
aerodynamics
industrial design
transportation evolution
Questions to Reflect On
- How does current vehicle design reflect past limitations?
- What lessons can we draw for future tech?
A Different Perspective
Modern design already incorporates aerodynamics, reducing the relevance of the analogy.
![“[Buckminster Fuller] was quite a Newtonian in certain ways. But he was an excellent inventor and kept people on their toes.” quote by Paul Laffoley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/ad6/paul-laffoley-7077_buckminster-fuller_buckminster-fuller-was-quite-a-newtonian_1718154.jpg)
![“There were other auto manufacturers that were confabulating as much as [Buckminster Fuller] was, making claims about how cars resembled this or that aspect of nature.” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/d9d/jonathon-keats-10822_aspect_there-were-other-auto-manufacturers-that_440815.jpg)
![“We clearly recognize the need for something that is what [Buckminster Fuller] represents and therefore it becomes really useful and really interesting to look at the ways in which world changing today totally misses everything that was valuable.” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/92f/jonathon-keats-10822_buckminster-fuller_we-clearly-recognize-the-need-for-someth_100464.jpg)
![“[Buckminster Fuller] started talking about it far enough afterwards, an audience that was far enough from when they - when the air flow and the Zephyr and these cars in the time period that were made by mainstream automakers. It was far enough in the future, far enough after that point that nobody…” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/9f5/jonathon-keats-10822_air_buckminster-fuller-started-talking-about_1066738.jpg)
![“All sorts of problems and the interconnectedness between them that [Buckminster Fuller] was able to perceive sometimes rightly, often wrongly, always interestingly and also the fact that he was looking at solutions often that were not feasible in his own time but potentially could be applied today.” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/85b/jonathon-keats-10822_able_all-sorts-of-problems-and-the-interconne_1584952.jpg)
![“The interesting thing writing about [Buckminster] Fuller is really to attempt to resurrect all of that and to do so for a new generation that has not grown up with him.” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/310/jonathon-keats-10822_buckminster-fuller_the-interesting-thing-writing-about-buck_3168700.jpg)
![“I think that in the first place, why we can get excited about [Buckminster ] Fuller, why it's plausible that people might - why my publisher would publish this book [You belong to the universe] about it long after he's dead and irrelevant by many standards has to do with the fact that he was in a…” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/452/jonathon-keats-10822_book_i-think-that-in-the-first-place-why-we-c_1362542.jpg)
![“[Buckminster] Fuller was an independent operator coming up with these madcap ways of combining things with absolutely no strings attached and the fact that world changing now is happening within the corporation by and large, and that disruption is ironically what corporations do.” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/ee0/jonathon-keats-10822_buckminster-fuller_buckminster-fuller-was-an-independent-op_35124.jpg)
![“Architects in urban planning are talking about this but they're not talking about it yet I don't think at that level that [Buckminster] Fuller is talking about when he talked about putting a dome over Manhattan, which is to say an attempt at integrating all of these different technologies in a way…” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/560/jonathon-keats-10822_architect_architects-in-urban-planning-are-talking_285452.jpg)
![“I would certainly never want to inflict anything on the world exactly as [Buckminster Fuller] envisioned it because there is a technocratic worldview that I find horrific.” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/d11/jonathon-keats-10822_buckminster-fuller_i-would-certainly-never-want-to-inflict_340658.jpg)
![“On the other hand, the way in which that car fit into this whole very roundabout way of attempting to solve the problem of what - the problem that [Buckminster Fuller] perceived as being the cause of his daughter's death and meningitis. I mean how you get from your daughter dying from meningitis…” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/3d8/jonathon-keats-10822_attempting_on-the-other-hand-the-way-in-which-that_562873.jpg)
![“Where Google and [Buckminster] Fuller overlap are in the potential for putting together disparate technologies in ways that can lead to something that might be a larger solution to a larger problem.” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/975/jonathon-keats-10822_buckminster-fuller_where-google-and-buckminster-fuller-over_672435.jpg)
