Quotes

By age seven, I had a chemistry set and burned a hole in the rug. I built something like a tesla coil. . . . When I turned it on, it knocked out every TV in the neighborhood. The neighbors became very wary of me. I used to fire off rockets that came down in their backyards or through their windows, so they gave me a wide berth.

[on devoting much of his time to interdisciplinary learning] It was not something that I had intended to do with my life, but sometimes when opportunities present themselves you have to jump on them, even if it wasn't on your grand agenda. You have to have made a few serious life mistakes to come to that realization.

The pace of the world has just gotten faster and faster, and it seems we're getting further and further away from immediate experience - direct contact with with other people and the world around us. That's an unfortunate trend, but I don't see any way to reverse it.