He, who can go to the fountain, does not go to the water jar

Leonardo da Vinci always preferred to go to the source when exploring something, as Walter Isaacson wrote in Leonardo's biography.

He also wrote that Leonardo thought about himself as of an ordinary man, not as of somebody genius or of extraordinary capabilities.

The thing is, Buckminster Fuller — fullerenes are named after him — was saying the same. Fuller believed that with such a development of technology that he witnessed in his life — everyone is capable of everything that a man could not even dream about some years ago.

Fuller was born at the era of horse carts, and faced the era of passenger sky liners cruising above the clouds closer to the end of his life. He told once that he was truly astounded when one of those flying machines was heard or seen above — it inspired him and gave him trust in humanity.

Fuller's Dymaxion car tat he designed in 1933:

Another shot dating back to that era:

A regular car of that time (1933) looked like that:

I don’t see the need in presenting Leonardo's bizarre-at-the-time-looking inventions here, for most of us have probably seen his flying vehicles, tanks or Mona Lisa.

So why did those ordinary people, such as Fuller and da Vinci, believe that everyone was capable of what they were doing?