It's important to begin to even consider whether countries can become something that looks very different because people tend to take their countries for granted.

As countries appear and disappear, then I began to ask, what makes countries successful? And it turns out, after a long slog through geographies and ethnicities and all kinds of variables, it's the ability to adapt and adopt, what Darwin talked about.

I've always been interested in why countries appear and disappear. And the curious thing is how often it happens.

Anytime you bring a really powerful new technology to market there are multiple implications. You start changing the relative position of countries.

When I grew up, I simply didn't have mentors that said, "Science is important. Science helps you build a country. Science makes a country powerful." And that's such a simple thought, but when you think about what's powered Taiwan and Korea and Silicon Valley and Cambridge.

There are certain zip codes that generate a disproportionate share of patents, of startups, of wealth, of jobs. And it's really important if other parts of the country are going to want to create these tech centers.