Herbert Hoover and the Rise of the Tech Oligarchy

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At the very beginning of the school, that's mining engineering. So they're training the best mining engineers.
They really focus on promoting their mining engineering program with the idea that they were going to produce great mining engineers who would go into the world and become prominent people.
And this is an incredibly successful plan starting with a member of the first class and a member of the first mining engineering class, just Herbert Hoover, who then becomes president of the United States and really sets the mold for the Stanford man into the future.

Paris Marx is joined by Malcolm Harris to discuss the sordid history of Silicon Valley, including the long influence of eugenics at Stanford, how Silicon Valley profited from the United States’ wars throughout the 20th century, and why the libertarian narrative of tech hide a much darker reality.

Malcolm Harris is the author of Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World. You can follow Malcolm on Twitter at @BigMeanInternet.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

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