I still hold that in two million years the only thing among any of us that will matter is our genes, and even then, only if they have passed on. I deeply intend to make my genes present in the prevailing species two million years from now, but I must also wonder what dividends are paid down that long road from the letters I type now, or the hours I wasted on my ECE 3041 homework even up to now, locked away again in the Place without Sunlight. It might make a good story someday, this kind of prison being where I “cut my teeth” on phasors and silicon.
I think that as far as my major concentration goes, I will go into photonics and optics. There are a few reasons why, but the most pertinent (other than I do not loathe the subject like I do signal processing) are that I am pretty passionate about the solutions that light has to offer us in the harnessing of energy, and also it relates pretty heavily to the mystical place that light holds in our relationship to the Universe. The fact that light is both a wave and a particle only further sweetens the deal; quantum physics is a large part of why I believe what I believe about the Universe, life, and the mystical things usually relegated to religion. It’s something I can be blissful about.
I am also thankful that I’m not trapped into engineering by an engineering degree. I can do whatever the hell I want to do. I’ll probably just do whatever the hell I want to do.