Well... I think Ann Ryan is a hack and a fraud. What if all smart people stopped contributing? Have you ever known a smart person that COULD stop contributing?

One oil company I was with patented 300 new inventions a DAY. The Phds. in the research lab would often come in and work 80 hour weeks if they thought they were on to something. And yes, some of them that were retired would come back and work for free. The thought of changing the world was just to attractive to stay away from. No one cared what they invented since it was Marketings' job to sell things.

Another smart fellow invented the AK-47 while he was laying flat on his back recovering from wounds he received on the battlefield. He knew he would never see a dime from it, but he had to do something besides just lay there and go nuts.

By the way, Ryan ripped off most of A.S. from a 1922 book called "The Driver" It was, under the copyright laws then, just out of copyright.

And her first book about American Samoa? She made all of that up. It reflected her views n life and sold like carzy. But just because someone is popular it does not make them right when the real world shows up.

If all the smart people decided to stop producing someone else would pick up where they left off. Can anyone name a period of history where they have not?