--- title: Microsoft Co-Founder Paul Allen Remembered by Steven Pinker description: The technologist was also the founder of the Allen Institute for Brain Science. canonical: https://time.com/5427637/steven-pinker-paul-allen/ author: Steven Pinker article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-10-18T15:02:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T21:46:26.128Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Microsoft Co-Founder Paul Allen Remembered by Steven Pinker og:description: The technologist was also the founder of the Allen Institute for Brain Science og:url: https://time.com/5427637/steven-pinker-paul-allen/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8e82a1bf07cbc365/69893cdbab6d7755076b3f38/paul-allen.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2405 og:image:height: 1353 og:image:alt: Paul Allen og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Microsoft Co-Founder Paul Allen Remembered by Steven Pinker twitter:description: The technologist was also the founder of the Allen Institute for Brain Science twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8e82a1bf07cbc365/69893cdbab6d7755076b3f38/paul-allen.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Steven Pinker's Tribute to the 'Low-Key Extravagance' of Microsoft's Paul Allen > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=4904e6e4-a84c-4861-8484-7fb67098c89d&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) by [Steven Pinker](https://time.com/author/steven-pinker/) ## Steven Pinker Oct 18, 2018 3:02 PM UTC  Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen discusses his new memoir "Idea Man" during an appearance at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif., in 2011. Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen discusses his new memoir "Idea Man" during an appearance at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif., in 2011. Kim Kulish—Corbis/Getty Images by [Steven Pinker](https://time.com/author/steven-pinker/) ## Steven Pinker Oct 18, 2018 3:02 PM UTC Paul Allen’s nerdiness was deceptive. The [Microsoft co-founder](http://time.com/5425721/paul-allen-microsoft/), who [died](http://time.com/5425387/microsoft-co-founder-paul-allen-dies-after-lymphoma-battle/) at 65 on Oct. 15, could seem shy in person, but beneath the reticence he was voracious—for ideas, people, beauty, insight and opportunities to enhance the lives of others. Though he wore it lightly, his was a truly expansive intellect. Not long after we met, Paul rented a cruise ship and invited the diverse people he’d worked with in his many walks of life on a junket to Alaska. There were scientists like me. There were actors and movie producers. There were athletes from the Seattle Seahawks and the Portland Trail Blazers, teams he bought to keep them in his beloved Pacific Northwest. There were rock musicians who were involved in what was originally called the Experience Music Project, another Seattle institution he founded — or whom he simply wanted to jam with. Where else could you see a brilliant cancer geneticist, an NBA All-Star, and a pantheon of rock musicians whale-watching with [Candice Bergen](http://time.com/3768622/10-questions-with-candice-bergen/), [Bill Gates](http://time.com/5428163/bill-gates-microsoft-paul-allen-death/), Debbie Reynolds and James Cameron? When the first draft of the Human Genome Project was completed, Paul had what he described to me as an epiphany. The deepest scientific mystery of the 21st century, he realized, was how a one-dimensional string of DNA could give rise to a convoluted, trillion-synapse brain capable of creativity, cooperation, conflict, and the rest of human nature. He conceived the Allen Institute for Brain Science, and in another touch of low-key extravagance, summoned his yacht to the Bahamas and invited a dozen scientists to spend a weekend with him there to brainstorm. Paul admitted that his sleek, helipad- and speedboat-equipped cruiser — “yacht” doesn’t do it justice — was a James Bond fantasy. And yet his indulgence in all that life had to offer was by no means just for fun. His philanthropic, commercial, scientific and artistic ventures expressed his double-sided personality: cerebral in conception, flamboyant in execution. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5427637/steven-pinker-paul-allen/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5427637/steven-pinker-paul-allen/"},"headline":"Steven Pinker's Tribute to the 'Low-Key Extravagance' of Microsoft's Paul Allen","datePublished":"2018-10-18T15:02:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T21:46:26.128Z","description":"The technologist was also the founder of the Allen Institute for Brain Science","url":"https://time.com/5427637/steven-pinker-paul-allen/","keywords":["remembrance"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8e82a1bf07cbc365/69893cdbab6d7755076b3f38/paul-allen.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Steven Pinker","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/steven-pinker/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8e82a1bf07cbc365/69893cdbab6d7755076b3f38/paul-allen.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Paul Allen","caption":"Paul Allen Promotes New Memoir","creditText":"Kim Kulish—Corbis/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/remembrance/","name":"remembrance"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5427637/steven-pinker-paul-allen/","name":"Steven Pinker's Tribute to the 'Low-Key Extravagance' of Microsoft's Paul Allen"}}]}] ```