[arkx]

I see where you're coming from in the general case; I think it has been well established that leadership positions attract people well described by the dark triad. However, I don't agree that being a leader has to revolve around manipulation and dishonesty, and I've certainly seen this in the real world.

Even if Bill Gates has the dark triad traits I do not think they were on display in this particular email exchange. I truly don't think they were engaging in any "face-saving" here -- Nathan had been working for Microsoft for 10 years at this point, leading Microsoft Research and rising to the first ever Microsoft CTO. They coauthored a book called "The Road Ahead" in 1995. Bill has called him the greatest hire he made at Microsoft.

From every single source I've come across it seems clear that Bill Gates and Nathan Myhrvold are friends and share a deep mutual respect. No wonder they are still working together in 2021! You'd think after a lifetime of supposed abuse Nathan would have stopped working with him after becoming a billionaire, right?