Shai Agassi

For those of you who have followed NDN for a while, television's must-watch shows hosted familiar faces last night. Jon Stewart hosted Vali Nasr, a professor at the Tufts University and adviser to Richard Holbrooke. Nasr was promoting his new book, Forces of Fortune: The Rise of the New Muslim Middle Class and What It Will Mean for Our World, which sounds like an important entry into the newly forming canon of books on the "rise of the rest." Simon interviewed Nasr, the footage of which can be found below the Stewart interview. 

Beneath that, you can find Shai Agassi, the founder of Better Place. An electric car startup that seeks to radically change transportation, Agassi appeared at NDN's "Moment of Transformation" conference last year. His appearance on Colbert last night is a good update on their progress. 

Nasr on the Daily Show:

Simon interviews Nasr:

Agassi on the Colbert Report:

Agassi at "A Moment of Transformation:"

Rolling Stone has just released its list of 100 people who are changing the world. People who made it onto the list include comedian Tina Fey -- who probably did more to save the republic than any other -- to Danger Mouse, a controversial DJ. 

NDN is proud to note that many of the speakers and guests we've hosted over the years also made the roster: Shai Agassi, electric car innovator; Amory Lovins, energy guru; Arianna Huffington, media mogul and Web entreprenuer; and our guest at a special forum just last week, Joe Rospars, founding partner at Blue State Digital and the Obama presidential campaign's pioneering New Media Director. Talking Points Memo (TPM) founder and netroots maven Joshua Micah Marshall also made the grade.

Congratulations to our friends and speakers. They are indeed changing the world -- for the better. You can watch what they said at NDN below: