For someone, the most important thing in life is power; for someone else, money; and for someone, the cause he serves. Alexander Smolin—strangely enough—still hasn’t figured out which of the three is the highest priority for him, but to be fair, it doesn’t upset him much. Especially because his life is such that all three of these ideas sometimes intertwine into one, like a knot of snakes right before they slip into their autumn hibernation. And that’s when you shouldn’t expect a quiet life—not for him, nor for those around him.