Luckily, unreasonable expectations go hand in hand with naive young scientists. The more naive the better - otherwise we would never have the audacity to try and build a 22,000-mile-high space elevator or some sprawling underwater hotel.

I was writing a scene where a guy was choking another guy to death. You can go online and type 'chokeholds' and watch scenes where martial artists choke each other out. You can hear what noises they make when they go unconscious, see how their bodies flop and everything. YouTube is amazing for the more detailed stuff.

People need meaning as much as they need air. Lucky for us, we can give meaning to each other for free. Just by being alive.

How much change can a person absorb before everything loses meaning Living for its own sake isn't life. People need meaning as much as they need air.

Without us here to witness, the universe is just pointless physics unfolding.

Each new generation builds on the work of the previous one, gaining new perspective. New verbs are introduced. We Google strange and dangerous places. We tweet mindlessly to the cosmos. We Facebook our own grandmothers. I, for one, don't want to be left behind.

If the knowledge is spread, it cannot be stamped out.