Adaptation is a funny thing. For most people, it seems to be generational. As one example, kids are immersed in the computer world quite effectively. People of my generation seem to do all right. People of my parents' generation? Gets a bit iffy. My parents are no dummies (my Dad used to be a chemical scientist), but neither one is comfortable really messing with computers. Oh, they use them plenty, but if something goes a bit off-center, I get the phone calls.

Older people seem to do all right living in a time of tech change, but don't really seem to adopt the changes into their own lives as much as younger ones do. I know people in their 90s who are quite serene about all the things going on, but they don't own a computer either.

Of course, there are major exceptions to this. No two people are alike, and I know major computer geeks in their 80s, and teenagers who couldn't figure out even a Mac interface.

Oddly, the cell phone seems to have penetrated society quite deeply. People like my parents have pretty much dumped their land lines in favor of a phone that works everywhere. You won't see them texting messages or hitting the internet on the phone, though.

As long as the generations turn over, no matter what the future throws at us, there will be plenty of people who will grow up immersed in it, and will handle it just fine.

As for the black actor, Chris Tucker is a stand-up comedy star who picked up a "Razzie" award for that performance, kind of an anti-Oscar. He's currently making a pretty good living working with Jackie Chan in the "Rush Hour" movies, and he's still pretty annoying. But he pulled down $20 million for "Rush Hour 2," so I guess it's a living.