If you look at the history of Bell Labs, the scientists were mostly given free reign of what to work on, with the idea that it would somehow benefit communicati

If you look at the history of Bell Labs, the scientists were mostly given free reign of what to work on, with the idea that it would somehow benefit communications. What did we get out of it? The transistor, the laser, cellular technology, solar cells, and tons of other things that nobody would have bothered to research -- without the simple curiosity of our scientists.