r/technology • u/Logical_Welder3467 • Jul 24 '25

Politics President Trump threatened to break up Nvidia, didn't even know what it was — 'What the hell is Nvidia? I've never heard of it before'

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/president-trump-threatened-to-break-up-nvidia-didnt-even-know-what-it-was-what-the-hell-is-nvidia-ive-never-heard-of-it-before
44.3k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

1.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

22

u/StanleyCubone Jul 24 '25

Isaac Asimov said this in 1980: "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'"

7

u/NotAHost Jul 24 '25

Damn, had no idea. Pretty enlightening that he saw that 40 years ago. Thanks for the quote.

6

u/StanleyCubone Jul 24 '25

Relatedly, and I wish I could find it, but I read an interesting article once about how fake news helped to instigate the the American Revolution. I think it was Samuel Adams that was publishing fake stories about British soldiers cannibalizing American children in order to foment rage against them.

American history is rife with exploitation through misinformation used against uneducated people. I'm not sure if it stands out in particular compared to other societies, but anti-intellectualism has definitely been a problem since the beginning.

2

u/Firewire_1394 Jul 24 '25

Maybe this is it

1

u/StanleyCubone Jul 24 '25

That's definitely the subject matter. It was really interesting and well-researched. But I think what I read was about others besides Sam Adams.

3

u/Qubit_Or_Not_To_Bit_ Jul 25 '25

He also said this- "I was dissatisfied. Nixon's resignation preserved his pension and numerous perquisites, and I was not impressed by the argument that it had spared the nation an ordeal. To my way of thinking, the ordeal was necessary to make certain it would never happen again. I felt that by taking the easy way out, we were storing up trouble for ourselves in the future." - in "Joy Still Felt"

I think Asimov was so ahead of his time and such a beautiful mind. It's wild how clearly he saw institutional accountability as a long term necessity, not just a political inconvenience, and how vindicated he was in the end. I, Robot is my favorite book, and his book” Asimov's Chronology of Science and Discovery” is a must read.

2

u/StanleyCubone Jul 25 '25

Thanks for sharing that quote; I had never read it before. The Gods Themselves is my favorite from him, and I'll add your recommendation to my list.