Neil always has been the guy people love to play practical jokes on. In high school, nothing was more fun than rigging his locker so that when he opened the door, his books fell on his head. Jacobson loves the attention. But what he really wants, and wants deeply, is to help people, especially people who've been kept under someone else's thumb. So his research always has a practical purpose and underlying political message.
Most scientists report the results of the experiments they've conducted and stop writing.
Jacobson still likes to argue. He still has great, big, fat opinions that hunker down wherever and whenever they please. But now those opinions have a focus. He's a humanist in the old-fashioned way, and '60s politics and idealism are fundamental to his nature. He believes that the purpose of knowledge is to make people's lives better.