Who are the people in our society who are truly shaping our culture?

[Brandon]

Last night we were having a discussion in our group of friends and came up with a realization. In previous eras we have been able to look back and identify who the people who shaped society are like Nat king Cole and Elvis and Lenny Bruce and other people with great revolutionary tastes and minds.
We came up with a very small list. Dave Grohl, Bill Maher and Morrisey.
I haven't included oprah into this list because i don't feel like shes really changing anything. Im talking about people who truly stand out in society and say or do things that make us question how we act socially. People like Kurt Cobain even for the nineties shaped a lot of peoples minds and lives. At that this could include politicians who are making radical changes (and succeeding) like Joseph McCarthy did.
We felt truly bad that we could not name these people and felt like failures as people because of it. Or is it the current state of society that people are uneducated about social revolutionaries. Or is it that we don't see these people until they pass. I don't think that's the case but it was suggested as a possible solution to our quandary. But from my understand of society, these people are very much revered in their lives. Who are our prevalent social commentary(ist?)

[Jim Glynn]

Today, the people who are shaping the future of our society are the innovators in the fields of microbiology, miniaturization, biotechnology, and electronics. Politically, Barack Obama may emerge from his second term with accomplishments that rival Bill Clinton or even come close to Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

You really can't have a meaningful discussion about change at the end or the twentieth century and beginning of the twenty-first century without mentioning Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Bill Gates. The Internet, which was influenced by Al Gore (really), has reshaped communications. Social media, like Facebook and Twitter may prove to be equally important.

NASA's research into space and James Cameron's descent to the deepest part of the ocean will also have dramatic effects on our future.

Right now, however, we don't have many social activists like Martin Luther King, Lenny Bruce, or any of the leaders of the 1960's movements for equality.