That’s more a question of taste, and there is nothing wrong with that. I also prefer theoretical physics, although I must admit that it’s very exciting to be in a lab, as long as it is not me collecting the data or fixing the equipment.
My point in the sentence you quoted is that you can perfectly well carry on with some “tasks” without thinking to deeply about them, even in physics. Be it theoretical or experimental or computational. That is something I think is really missing in the whole spectrum of education, not only in science and not only in the universities.
I have to make one comment and disagree in one aspect.
The comment is about determinism. The description we have of nature at the highest energies is based on quantum mechanics, which is deterministic in the sense that the wave function obey a well defined differential equation, but predictions of measurements are only probabilistic. Even considering this degree of determinism you would still not be able to make precise predictions. Of course, you might consider prediction of probabilities deterministic enough to threaten free will.
Now, I have to disagree that the views of the “laws of physics” as compressed descriptions of nature imply free will in the described way. All evidence points to the fact that there are, let’s say, patterns in nature that are not disobeyed. Any decision one makes has to obey those patterns and the collected evidence up to now supports this. For instance, no matter what you decide to do, the firing of your neurons will obey the patterns we call collectively electrodynamics. Although that does not completely decides your actions, it put limits on it. Call it a partial lack of free will if you like, but it is not completely free.