Are you pissed off because it's insufficiently editorialised? It's undoubtedly news — these are some very rich, influential and/or talented people, and all of t

Are you pissed off because it's insufficiently editorialised? It's undoubtedly news — these are some very rich, influential and/or talented people, and all of them attending an event like this is notable. What it "means" is up to you, and different people will have different takes on it. I'd prefer that they just tell me it happened and let me make up my own mind. My take is that society has different tribes of elites: You have old-school aristocracy and royalty, ultra-rich businesspeople, celebrity entertainers, politicians, artists, and top scientists. Each tribe is fascinated by, and envious of the different cachet and influence of the others. But the nature of the capitalist system means that it is the ultra-rich who pull the strings, and so they organise events like this in order to rub up against these other types. In the past, the rich were most interested in rubbing up against the aristocracy, in the hope of acquiring by association the social capital associated with inherited nobility, and eventually becoming aristocrats themselves. Then, as the status of the aristocracy diminished during the 20th century, the rich became more interested associating with celebrities, as their associated glamour was something exotic and interesting. In the 21st century, celebrity and fame has been demystified and become somewhat vulgar. So, now you have a subset of the very rich who are instead interested in associating with scientists, futurologists and researchers, as their air of intellectual achievement and specialised knowledge offers a new type of cachet that they wish to associate themselves with.