Derek Levine
As China scrambles to catch up to Nvidia in the AI chip race, the United States must recognize the real reason it’s still ahead: not subsidies or sanctions, but a cultural embrace of failure as a stepping stone to innovation.
Nvidia just reached a market cap of about $5 trillion, cementing its role as the crown jewel of the AI revolution. Its GPUs power everything from ChatGPT-like models to autonomous vehicles and military applications. But behind Nvidia’s dominance is not just superior engineering; it’s a culture of risking-taking and learning from setbacks.
In contrast, China’s approach to innovation is often characterized as scaling existing technologies rather than fostering groundbreaking advancements. Despite massive government investments, China has not yet produced an AI chip that can rival Nvidia’s H100 or the newer B200. The gap is not due to a lack of talent or investment, but a deeply cultural aversion to failure.
In Chinese education, failure is frequently viewed as a source of shame, a concept known as “losing face” or mianzi. This cultural norm permeates classrooms, workplaces, and family life, discouraging the risk-taking necessary for true innovation.
Take Chinese schools, for example, Ms. Zhang, a high school teacher in Beijing, noted that there is a strong societal expectation that all students work diligently and perform well. Schools often rank students from 1 to 50. The top students sit in the front rows, while those deemed to be underperforming or unmotivated are relegated to the back. This seating arrangement publicly shames students, highlighting their perceived lack of work ethic and care. The embarrassment extends beyond the classroom, as students fear the consequences of their poor performance at home, where their failure could bring additional shame.
I also observed this firsthand during my time at Renmin University in Beijing. Students were often too intimidated to challenge their professors or question their statements. Even politely pointing out a mistake could result in public humiliation, as the student was seen as arrogant, disrespectful, and overstepping their role. In this system, professors are treated as near-infallible authorities, with their words regarded as unquestionable fact. This environment stifles critical thinking and discourages intellectual independence.
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