I'm trying to show people that they can activate their own passions and find their own path.
As a species, we've always been discoverers and adventurers, and space and the deep ocean are some of the last frontiers.
As more intelligent computer assistance comes into being, it will amplify human progress.
In the first eight or so years at Microsoft, we were always chained to our terminals, and after I got sick the first time, I decided that I was going to be more adventurous and explore more of the world.
I'm on Twitter, and I have over 10,000 followers. Which is pretty modest compared to Charlie Sheen.
In Seattle, I've talked about how Pete Carroll is such... I'm kind of surprised at the variety of styles that successful coaches can have. Some are very communicative and positive and energized - like, Pete Carroll has all that in spades. Some of them are more cerebral; some are more directive.
In the computer industry, you've got an interdisciplinary team of people who can come together, attack the problem, and work in a collaborative style. You knock down one problem after another, cobble things together, and then hopefully turn the crank at some point.
Sports is such a cyclical thing; it's often feast or famine. But what you try and do as an owner is build a winning organization.
In Portland, I am more involved in the details of trade discussions because I've been around that sport longer and can watch tape and can give some input to the drafting process. In football, not at all. It's so specialized.
Part of life has to be about enjoying life and having different experiences, especially if you're with friends and you're on an adventure on a boat or a submarine - it's a lot of fun.
Somehow, I knew you had to have perfect eyesight to be a test pilot, and so that was it for my astronaut career.
I choose optimism. I hope to be a catalyst not only by providing financial resources but also by fostering a sense of possibility: encouraging top experts to collaborate across disciplines, challenge conventional thinking, and figure out ways to overcome some of the world's hardest problems.
If Microsoft had never existed... The industry would probably be very fragmented.
While I sign off on trades or free agents, I've rarely overruled my basketball people's decisions. But I'm not shy about steering the discussion or pushing deeper if something doesn't make sense to me.
As quickly as it started, our business model evaporated. But while Traf-O-Data was technically a business failure, the understanding of microprocessors we absorbed was crucial to our future success.
Whenever you make the Super Bowl, so many things - you have to have the good general manager and the coach and the great players, and you have to have not too many injuries - everything, game plans and everything, has to fall very much your way for that to happen.
In my own work, I've tried to anticipate what's coming over the horizon, to hasten its arrival, and to apply it to people's lives in a meaningful way.
The promise of artificial intelligence and computer science generally vastly outweighs the impact it could have on some jobs in the same way that, while the invention of the airplane negatively affected the railroad industry, it opened a much wider door to human progress.
In an ideal world, everybody would find it easy to talk to the press... but not everybody is so excited.
What should exist? To me, that's the most exciting question imaginable. What do we need that we don't have? How can we realize our potential?
