NEW YORK -- Some questions even stump Stephen Hawking.
The famed British astrophysicist and bestselling author has turned to Yahoo Answers, a new feature in which anyone can pose a question for fellow internet users to try to answer. By Friday afternoon, nearly 17,000 Yahoo users had responded.
Hawking's question: "In a world that is in chaos politically, socially and environmentally, how can the human race sustain another 100 years?"
I don't know, Stephen, how did the world make it through the dark ages? How did America make it through the Great Depression? How did America and the rest of the world make it through WWI? Or WWII?
Frankly, I can't even fathom the amount of pessimism that goes into suggesting that the world can't cope for even another century...especially when that amount of pessimism is coming from an American. Historically speaking, these are boom times for America. With unemployment at 4.6% just about every American who wants to is working, and economic growth has been strong and steady for months upon months now.
To paraphrase someone (I can't remember who) much more famous than myself, America is a place where the poor people are fat.
Oh, sure, the North Koreans are testing their limits as are the Iranians, and the war in Iraq has been taxing for all of us. But in the history of this country - where we've seen civil wars, crippling economic depressions, stock market crashes, world wars and civil rights strife - where we are at both economically, politically and socially is a pretty good place to be.
It is astonishing that anyone would think otherwise.