Chris Anderson, then of The Economist, became EIC in 2001.   A few months into his tenure, he and David Carr of the NYT sat in a booth in the Condé Nast cafeteria as he earnestly explained that Wired was not a confection of the digital age, but a magazine about the culture to come.

“This isn’t the domain of techies anymore. It has gone mainstream in a way that doesn’t diminish its power, but illustrates it,” he said.

Yeah, right, David Carr remembered thinking.

Anderson was right. Magazines like The Industry Standard, Red Herring, Business 2.0, eCompany Now all went down the digital drain, but Wired rowed carefully and slowly away from its geek origins and survived. (Fast Company, another magazine Carr suggested was toast, is managing a similar feat on a smaller level.)

For David Carr’s complete piece in today’s NYT, click here.