It's even more than that too. In Fuller's idyllic world of ivory towers that 1 in 10,000 never gets a chance to make the breakthrough that changes the world. Who the fuck is teaching them? Who is growing their food? Who is manufacturing their computers, mining the raw material for their batteries and powering their labs? The system works from the bottom up, not the top down. People have to work to get food, that's rung #1 on the ladder. Excess food can be traded so that other people don't need to farm/hunt/gather and can create shelter. Those people can trade what they make so that others can teach. And there are 9,997 more steps necessary to allow that 1 in 10,000 genius to change the world. Without them needing to work that genius isn't even born.
That quote by Fuller is one of the 10 dumbest things ever said by an intelligent person.
I agree.