Arguing helps me refine ideas. And writing things down for publication helps me to clarify and justify. Teaching is also a good way to review the fundamentals. I find drawing pictures often helps me to think clearly about something. I think I realized early that I was more likely to succeed with my brain than my brawn.
People are endlessly fascinating.
There are objective truths to uncover and explain. I helped write a code of ethics for software engineers that was recently adopted by both the ACM and the IEEE Computer Society. I plan to mount a campaign for a universal, minimal standard of testing for commercial software. I want to help computer science profs to incorporate computer ethics into their teaching. I hope to do better at grading my students' homework more quickly.