WIRED is reporting, in its Backchannel newsletter, on a 2015 encounter that it said illustrated a widening divide in the technology industry. It said Founders Fund hosted a retreat at an eco-resort in British Columbia in September 2015, inviting venture capitalists, executives from companies the firm backed, and a few outsiders, among them computer pioneer Alan Kay, writer Neal Stephenson and the newsletter's author, Steven.
WIRED said that at breakfast one morning, Kay, who conceived the Dynabook, was describing his career when Founders Fund leader Peter Thiel sat down beside him. As Kay told stories about optimizing the computer mouse and advising Steve Jobs, Thiel listened with growing disbelief, the newsletter said. It said Thiel finally demanded, "Who ARE you?"
According to WIRED, Kay was taken aback and began reciting his credentials before realizing that to someone unfamiliar with his record, they would sound wildly exaggerated. It said Kay stopped mid-sentence, sighed, called himself "just an old has-been," and returned to his breakfast.
WIRED said the episode marked a collision of two worlds that failed to connect. It also said some argue technology was always about money and the military, an argument the newsletter urged readers not to accept, saying the field's pioneers strove for something more lofty.