As school years come to an end, remote learning has given way to virtual graduation ceremonies. A Sundar Pichai commencement speech on YouTube…
As school years come to an end, remote learning has given way to virtual graduation ceremonies. YouTube hosted a star-studded livestream today with the likes of President Obama, Billie Eilish, and Beyoncé. Sundar Pichai also took part with a commencement speech and shared his advice for the next generation.
The Alphabet and Google CEO started by recognizing the oddity of giving a “commencement speech with no live audience” from his backyard, noting that it provided him with a “much deeper understanding for what our YouTube Creators go through.”
“You will prevail” was Pichai’s general sentiment during the seven-minute address:
The reason I know you’ll prevail is because so many others have done it before you. One hundred years ago, the class of 1920 graduated into the end of a deadly pandemic. Fifty years ago, the class of 1970 graduated in the midst of the Vietnam War. And nearly 20 years ago, the class of 2001 graduated just months before 9/11.
He observes how, “It’s very conventional for every generation to underestimate the potential of the following one.”
It’s because they don’t realize that the progress of one generation becomes the foundational premise for the next.
