... questions will do the most good

In John Brockman's book What Are You Optimistic About? the entries range from a single sentence to three or four pages.  When reading I usually skip the longer ones looking for a shorter, better passage.  And I think I've found one.  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, psychologist and director of the Quality of Life Research Center, answered the question simply.  He says "I am optimistic for the simple reason that given the incredible odds against the existence of entities that can ask such questions, of laptops on which to answer them, and so on - here we are, asking and answering!"

I guess one thing I like about his response is that it ends in an exclamation point, which always seems to add optimism to a statement.  Also, it's only one sentence long.  Obviously it's easier for me to interpret and make sense of his response.  But the main appeal is that Mihaly's response, similar to that of Nicholas Humphrey's, is simple, yet still incredibly optimistic. 

Csikszentmihalyi is optimistic simply because people can ask questions and through communication such as the internet, they can be answered.  So as people continue to ask questions and learn the answers we continue to learn.  He is optimistic because people even exist with the capability to want to learn and know.

And I am too.  What if people couldn't ask and find answers?  Where would we be?  Probably no where.  The cavemen would have seen fire and never thought to ask "What is that and how do I make it?".  And the progression of humans would have stopped.  Language wouldn't exist and technology would be unheard of.  So I'm optimistic that questions will continue to further our knowledge.  I'm optimistic that questions will do the most good.