Buckminster fuller Quote by Tony Seba
““You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” - Buckminster Fuller””
About This Quote
Source Speech: 1975 talk on design innovation
Change requires creating new systems that render old ones irrelevant, not battling them directly
In simple terms: Build new models to replace outdated ones
Key Takeaway
Innovate rather than fight existing structures
Themes
innovation
system design
progress
obsolescence
Mood
optimistic
challenging
Type
strategic
inspirational
When to use this quote
- business strategy
- technology development
- policy reform
- education curricula
Key Concepts
design theory
strategic disruption
Questions to Reflect On
- How can you design a model that outperforms the old?
- What risks accompany radical redesign?
A Different Perspective
New models may face resistance and resource constraints
![“[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)
![“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 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)
![“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)
![“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)
![“[Buckminster Fuller] could do four, five hours straight where some people would leave, eat, get a snooze and come back and he's still going. He was like a fireplug.” quote by Paul Laffoley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/75c/paul-laffoley-7077_buckminster-fuller_buckminster-fuller-could-do-four-five-ho_543300.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)