Some of them now qualify for the Order of Celebrityhood. (Not much more can be said of CEOs who pass off their ghost-written banalities in bookstores everywhere.) Is this noise really contributing to a base of public knowledge and reflection that makes for better and richer societies?

FORBES: Sidelines

Last year, in a bid to revitalize the territory's Crisis-battered economy, Tung announced a comprehensive plan to step up public investment in information technology and widen Hong Kong's knowledge base.

CNN: HEADING FOR A PORT IN A STORM

For one prominent New York venture capital firm, part of tapping that knowledge base means working the front lines of social change and public policy.

FORBES: Out in the Streets: When Venture Capital Meets Networked Activism