This looks like a think tank problem more than an NVIDIA problem. If you work at a think tank, and you do research, and public companies are capable of doing harm to your career - your think tank is a weak facade that will give up its core ideals and bow to corporate overlords.
Think tanks should think, and not give a shit what other people think. Unless they’re partisan aligned, and will give up “thinking” to tow the party line. In which case it’s just veiled political influence hiding behind a moniker, which is really what think tanks are. So I’m thinking now - nonstory. Everything is working as intended.
> act of "toeing the line," most likely from a combination of nautical discipline and athletic races. In the Royal Navy, sailors had to stand with their toes against a line on the deck for inspection, while in sports, runners line up with their toes at the starting line
And while I'm here I'll mention a couple other terms I never knew about:
Slave:
> The English word "slave" originates from the word "Slav," which was used in Medieval Latin (\(<<!nav>>sclavus<<!/nav>>\)) to refer to people of Slavic origin who were frequently captured and sold into slavery during the early Middle Ages.
Pothole:
> A (potentially legendary) origin story suggests the name came from potters digging clay from roads, creating the holes
Yes, the metaphor here is that of perhaps a military officer drawing a line and soldiers are expected to stand along the line, so their toes will touch the line. It's about obedience.
Early examples are clearly about standing in an orderly formation, and also sometimes use alternative words such as "mark" instead of "line" - which wouldn't make sense for tow. You could tow a line, but it's unclear how one might tow a mark.
Yes what do harming career even mean? Nvidia filing defamation case or doing something public is probably more problematic to Nvidia than think tank. Now one could imagine doing something more private like blocking the funding, but I don't think Nvidia can pull this off without anyone knowing, at least not to all the think tanks.
Think tanks should think, and not give a shit what other people think. Unless they’re partisan aligned, and will give up “thinking” to tow the party line. In which case it’s just veiled political influence hiding behind a moniker, which is really what think tanks are. So I’m thinking now - nonstory. Everything is working as intended.