Every former chairman of Intel becomes, by definition, an elder statesman. Gordon Moore and Andy Grove have done us proud.

Craig Barrett (pictured, from the News.Com story) aims to do equally well. And he's off to a fast start, as he told a recent Gartner conference what interests him:

"You would like to think that public leaders are statesmen and have the country's best interests at heart," Barrett said. "We spend $25 billion on agriculture subsidies a year. Yet we spend $5 billion a year on basic research and engineering. Do you think agriculture is the industry of the future? You would like your government leaders to stand up and say something about that. I would like them to stand up and say something about it."

Amen and godspeed, Doc.