The spiritual practice is West African–derived and earth based, and there’s a process of ancestral veneration that is a hallmark of this tradition. I’m talking to them and seeking their help, petitioning them, thanking them, praising them. Attempting to listen and be led.

I couldn’t have asked for better collaborators on the stage play than John Tiffany (director) and Jack Thorne (writer).

But I was supported by an incredibly strong crew, many of whom I’ve known for years from having worked in New Zealand. It was a very collaborative effort.

I love that there is no privileged access to information. I love that we’re able to all contribute to solving a problem.

Those are important, but there is still a need for any youngster who has any scientific interest at all to continue the lead that we have on technology in the world today, if we are interested in the future of the United States.

I didn’t like it at all. This problem is called Meniere’s syndrome. It causes dizziness, nausea, lack of balance and so on. The prediction was that in some cases it was correctable. I said, “In my case it is going to be correctable.”

In those days, talking in terms of a hero — it had to be Charles Lindbergh. I was very young when he flew across the Atlantic, and very impressed.

And I think that still is true of this business — which is basically research and development — that you probably spend more time in planning and training and designing for things to go wrong, and how you cope with them, than you do for things to go right.

A little bit of overconfidence perhaps. A lack of attention to duty. Little insidious things that happened. You had this great team of dedicated, qualified people, but they get a little bit complacent, and boom! Pretty soon something goes wrong.

To me and, I think, to all of us, it was a realization that our world is finite, it is small, it is fragile, and we need to start thinking about how to take care of it.