"Work came later in human history than conversation. We invented work when we became civilized. Unlike friendship, work is a mixed blessing. At its worst, work is slavery. At its best, work is a sustained and lifelong conversation. The more satisfying and enjoyable work is, the more it partakes of the nature of conversation. Science at the working level is mostly conversation. The building where I work has twenty people in twenty rooms. Most of the doors are open. From morning till night the buzz of conversation seldom ceases. That is the way science is done. When I am not talking with friends down the hall, I am writing papers for friends around the world. Without the friends, my activity would be pointless. Scientists are as gregarious a species as termites. If the lives of scientists are on the whole joyful, it is because our friendships are deep and lasting. Our friendships are lasting because we are engaged in a collective enterprise. Our enterprise, the exploration of nature’s secrets, had no beginning and will have no end. Exploration is as natural an activity for human beings as conversation. Our friends the explorers are scattered over the centuries, from Archimedes and Euclid to the unborn genius who will one day understand the mystery of how our exploring minds work."
Freeman Dyson
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