Google CEO Learns About Ethereum from 11yo Son

When he was talking about Bitcoin in front of his family, Google CEO Sundar Pichai was surprised to have his 11 year old son pipe up to say that what he actually means is Ethereum, “which is slightly different.”

The boy used the chance to reveal to his father that he is mining ether on their home PC – one that Pichai built himself, he said at the New York Times DealBook conference last week.

With the sudden rise in technology over the past three decades, many people belonging to younger generations have found themselves having to explain simple concepts like social media or just using the PC to their parents and grandparents. However, it is probably safe to say that teaching your parent who is a CEO of a tech giant is a very rare occurrence – and that Pichai’s son saw a one-in-a-million chance and took it.

Meanwhile, according to Business insider, Pichai said he did have to explain to his crypto-minded son the nation’s monetary system “and how paper money actually works.” He adds, “I realized he understood Ethereum better than how paper money works. I had to talk to him about the banking system, the importance of it. It was a good conversation.”

The youngest generation is often beyond their parents in terms of new technology, it seems. Google co-founder Sergey Brin, currently president of Google’s parent company Alphabet, went through something similar with his own son. “A year or two ago my son insisted that we needed to get a gaming PC. I told him if we get a gaming PC we have to mine cryptocurrency. So we got an Ethereum miner on there and we’ve been making a few pennies and dollars since,” he said at a Morocco blockchain conference in July, adding, “That definitely got me interested and I started to study the technology behind it and found it to be fascinating.”

Also, a German teenager made his fortune trading Bitcoin. He said he believes that you can still become a millionaire, adding, “I say if you do not become a millionaire in the next 10 years, then it’s your own fault.” Thanks, kid. Here’s to learning from new generations.
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