As we approach the 40th anniversary of Gordon Moore's Electronics article, the man himself (Intel co-founder and namesake of this humble blog) has appeared to join the celebration.

While the headlines spoke of Moore's skepticism on materials that might replace silicon, I was more intrigued by his views on Intel, where his foundation still holds a considerable stake.

He's pretty happy. He likes the idea of pushing platforms over performance. It makes sense to him.

Moore also gave an irascible cur whom he quit a half-century ago credit for the creation of what's now Silicon Valley.

William Shockley hired Moore and several other chemists for his Shockley Semiconductor start-up, but his irascibility drove many of them out, and that was the key, Moore recalled.

The "traitorous eight," of which he was a member, found investment banker Arthur Rock, launched Fairchild Semiconductor, then they moved out of Fairchild to help transform the orchards north of San Jose into today's Silicon Valley.

On such small things does history rest.