Re: What is your outlook?

Description: Tilghman considers herself an optimist, but does feel globally optimistic. She doesn't feel that the right people are stepping up to leadership, and can't see solutions to major issues because of this.

Question: Are you generally optimistic or pessimistic about the way the world is headed?

Transcript: I am an optimist in general. In fact I have always believed that you can’t be a scientist unless you are an optimist, because experiments fail more often than they succeed. But I must say that at the moment, I am not terribly optimistic about where we are globally. I do not see many leaders stepping up and leading. And I think until we see those kinds of people rising up, I don’t see how we are going to solve some of these major issues that we face as a society.

Question: How will this age be remembered?

Transcript: In the United States, I think it’s going to be remembered as a second gilded age. And I think a major question is going to be whether the wealth that has been created in the last 10 to 15 years is going to benefit more than those who created that wealth. And I think we have wonderful role models. I think Bill Gates has provided a tremendous example of turning his extraordinary wealth into opportunities for helping those less fortunate than he is. But I think the . . . what we are going to watch play out over the next five to 10 years is how this great wealth that has been so concentrated in so few hands, how it gets mobilized for the well being of more people.

Recorded on: 8/7/07