Charles Mann

If it looked good, I said it looked good.

Simple proposition.

I've always lived that way.

It's nice.

It's pleasant.

If you can do it, I'm lucky.

I'm lucky in my life that I can do that.

And as far as the practical impact of that, I think there has been a lot of practical impact, in particular from the study of quantum devices.

You know, look at the transistor.

Look at integrated circuits.

That has completely transformed our lives.

That comes from our understanding of quantum physics applied to materials.

We have lasers.

We have medical technologies like magnetic resonance imaging.

All these things have had big societal impact.

I like to look at things from the point of view of long-term impact.

And if we're doing things as physicists today, if we're making discoveries and doing explorations where the impact on society in a practical sense may still be decades away, that's fine with me.

Others have a shorter-term focus.

Most companies do.

You know, in the tech industry, 10 years is infinity.