I’ve never been particularly interested in accepting reality as it is.

I want to understand what makes it work, preferably by taking it apart until there is nothing left to take apart. A formula is more interesting when I can derive it. A machine is more interesting when I break it to understand what is happening beneath the surface. A difficult problem is more interesting when I attempt it before I have any business doing so. I tend to work backwards, starting with the hardest thing I can reach and then learning everything necessary to understand why it works.

I’ve never been particularly interested in keeping knowledge in separate boxes, either. Mathematics, physics, computing, music, design, hardware or whatever else happens to catch my attention are different languages for exploring the same endlessly strange world. I like moving between them, finding connections that were never supposed to be obvious, and carrying ideas from one place into another. The subject matters less to me than how far I can take it.

I want enough freedom to follow an idea without first asking whether it is practical, conventional, or sensible. I’d rather spend the time cleaving my own way than becoming exceptionally good at walking someone else's.

I’m not particularly interested in knowing what my limits are. I’d rather keep finding them by accident, moving them, and eventually, making the distinction between impossible and not yet considerably less useful.