It was old already in 1998 - there's a 1998 post of it in comp.lang.c++ and the first response was "Hoah, not again....when will this thing die...."
https://groups.google.com/g/comp.lang.c++/c/rEWz7gBYys4/m/JF...
I have a feeling we're not in emerald city anymore by Henry G. Baker, https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/254459.254465
I've been looking for a few minutes for a public copy or transcription, because I doubt I read it in ACM's digital library (though I may have when I was in college). I wonder how much it may have influenced this Stroustrup "interview".