What happened to changing the world?

Maybe this is some delusion I have, but I've always believed that there are people out there who want to change the world. These are the revolutionaries, the visionaries, the ones who look at the world and see something different.

These "revolutionaries" come in differnt flavors. Some have such an idealistic and futuristic vision that they want to completely change the world as we know it. Others are merely content with making some minor (but extremely significant) change to our world.

But all of these "revolutionaries" have one thing in common: they aren't content with the status quo. They see the world as something that can be changed and improved upon. It's not that they see the world as inadequate. They simply see a way to make our world grander and better.

There are many types of these people, from the cancer researcher who believes he can cure cancer, to the high school student reading science fiction books who passionatly believes that humanity's future is in the stars.

They are all idealists with a grand sense of purpose in this world. They are not content with their 9 to 5 jobs. Nor are they content with running a 30 billion dollar hedge fund. Instead, they want to do something revolutionary, something to push the human race forward.

I believe strongly that these types of people exist. I belive they must, progress can not be made in another way.

Granted I am young, only 20 years old. Yet, I have not met any person who fits the above criteria. Nobody that even came close. So my question is where are these "revolutionaries" and why have I not met them? Is there something about our culture that stifles innovation, or have I simply been taking the wrong classes at school and hanging out with the wrong people?


Disclosure (sort of):
This post was inspired by Apple's ad Think Diffrent.