  Recently, there has been great progress toward observationally determining
the mean star formation history of the universe. When accurately known, the
cosmic star formation rate could provide much information about Galactic
evolution, if the Milky Way's star formation rate is representative of the
average cosmic star formation history. A simple hypothesis is that our local
star formation rate is proportional to the cosmic mean. In addition, to specify
a star formation history, one must also adopt an initial mass function (IMF);
typically it is assumed that the IMF is a smooth function which is constant in
time. We show how to test directly the compatibility of all these assumptions,
by making use of the local (solar neighborhood) star formation record encoded
in the present-day stellar mass function. Present data suggests that at least
one of the following is false: (1) the local IMF is constant in time; (2) the
local IMF is a smooth (unimodal) function; and/or (3) star formation in the
Galactic disk was representative of the cosmic mean. We briefly discuss how to
determine which of these assumptions fail, and improvements in observations
which will sharpen this test.
