Silicon Valley is the textbook case of boom and bust, the longest- running soap opera scrolling on CNBC, the home of what is so five minutes from now. And as the world adjusts to the new reality of accounting scandals, corporate bankruptcies, CEOs in handcuffs and a stock market that appears to suffer from multiple personality disorder, Silicon Valley is . . . optimistic.

This is the wildest ride in the national economy -- a fast- cycling, hype-driven Wonkville of revolutionary innovation and dot- bomb calamity. The Valley has survived the outrageous fortunes of the military industrial complex (1970s), the silicon wafer business (1980s) and the personal computer (1990s), all dead or gone overseas or now established and boring.

[Adrian Scott], 29, was one of the first investors in Napster, the swapping service in which anyone in the world could download songs for free. He was also one of the founders of FlyCode, a Napster of sorts for movies.