Back in high school, my friend Magnus Bodin had inspired me with his contrarian philosophy. Since everyone else sent their letters in rectangular envelopes, he made triangular ones. Ever since, when I see the majority do things one way, I instinctively look for alternatives. For example, all my classmates spent ages on electromagnetism homework during our first year, so I talked our professor into letting me skip this in return for an oral exam at the end of the course. Instead, I spent endless hours in the library feeding my curiosity, learning all sorts of amazing physics that wasn’t in the
...more
