Maybe it's really that Silicon Valley people are mean/assholes. I'm solidly middle class with zero accumulated wealth, but I've spent a lot of time around rich people. In NYC, aside from a handful of alpha stockbroker types, the rich people I've hung out with have been among the nicest, least-pretentious, least-money-obsessed friends I've had. In the Cayman Islands, I have filthy rich friends who are living low-key lives, and you'd never even know they were rich unless you visited them at home. All the social classes mix there and everyone sits at the same bars and goes to the same social events.