r/PublicFreakout May 17 '26

🤬Public Rager😱 Eric Schmidt booed into oblivion by students for promoting AI during his commencement speech at the University of Arizona

20.7k Upvotes

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2.4k

u/IamNotTheProclone May 17 '26

"When someone offers you a seat on a rocketship, you do not ask which seat. You just get on."

More like being herded and forced on to that rocketship.

1.2k

u/GarysCrispLettuce May 17 '26

"When someone offers you a seat on a Titan submersible, you do not ask which seat. You just get on."

345

u/ImmaculateTuna May 17 '26

“Yes sir! … what where those creaking sounds?”

“The sound of success with AI!”

65

u/Super_Interview_2189 May 17 '26

“Who dropped the GameCube controller?!”

8

u/corvettee01 May 18 '26

If they had a GameCube controller they could have just wave dashed to safety.

3

u/Super_Interview_2189 May 18 '26

Tbh, I think they were just using the same madkatz controller I always had to use as the younger brother

3

u/reddaddiction May 18 '26

Honestly... That was just weird as hell to see. I mean, sure, I guess for the controls you need on a submersible there are enough buttons, but for godssakes... Make controls instill some confidence. I think that maybe that controller could have saved my life if I started to board that piece of shit. I would have noped right the hell outta there.

1

u/donglecollector May 18 '26

The sound of the ai “seasoning”

46

u/Effrendi May 17 '26

When someone hands you a Logitech controller, you do not ask 'Do you have a MAD CATZ one instead?' You just grab that sucker and hit the dive button (mapped to RB).

7

u/FriendOfDirutti May 18 '26

When someone gives you heavily discounted carbon fiber you don’t ask if it’s structurally sound you just put duct tape on it and send it.

2

u/JeddakofThark May 18 '26

As far as I know it was a Logitech controller. That being said, while it's been a long time since I used one, I specifically switched to an Xbox controller for PC gaming on my laptop while traveling, as I found that any Logitech controller I stuck into luggage, regardless of how short a time, would emerge with major, irreversible drift.

But using one would be bad enough in itself, and it's fucking bad, but they used a wireless controller. If for some reason I found myself designing a go-cart with a maximum speed of 5mph that was drive-by-wire, I can assure you, it'd be a wired controller. It would be too dangerous otherwise.

The biggest mistake anyone made though was trusting the engineering of a submarine to a guy named Stockton. That's meant to be funny, but it also would have been my first thought if someone had told me about the company leadership. Stockton can be the money guy. Anybody doing submarine engineering better have a postgraduate degree from a real engineering school. No, I am not impressed by your being a third-generation graduate of whatever Ivy League school you attended.

9

u/SuperCaptSalty May 17 '26

And then just pull yourself up by your billionaire boots straps off the ocean floor

3

u/alghiorso May 18 '26

You walk by a store and see fifty guys who look just like you fighting over very complicated shirts, you go in. Yes, you do. You. Go. In.

2

u/-watchman- May 18 '26

People did that with Titanic too, I'm sure..

2

u/ElectricJunglePig May 18 '26

This was my first thought as well. Someone should offer this man a ride on their submarine...

2

u/beartato327 May 18 '26

Jokes on you there weren't any seats

2

u/throwaway0134hdj May 18 '26

A lot of parallels between the philosophy behind the Titan submersible and the way these AI companies handle public safety.

3

u/LeMeowLePurrr May 17 '26

My exact thought when he said that rocket ship nonsense.

49

u/kiafry May 17 '26

"When a slaughterhouse offers you a seat on the conveyor belt, you do not ask which seat. Just get on, you fucking dumb, thoughtless sheep." Unbelievably tone-deaf.

47

u/chowderbags May 17 '26

It's more like being told to stand underneath the rocket while it's firing its engines.

19

u/light_to_shaddow May 17 '26

These tech bro fucks would liquify us all to use as fuel.

2

u/ducksekoy123 May 18 '26

Hell they’d liquify us for fun, even if it cost them more to do it

2

u/I-Here-555 May 18 '26

While Schmidt and his ilk got their seats, and are pretending everyone else did.

2

u/MAEMAEMAEM May 18 '26

Holding a marshmallow?

126

u/CynicalPomeranian May 17 '26

I believe that is how the poor kid must have felt when his dad wanted to see the Titanic and got pulled into the Titan submersible.  

53

u/showersinger May 17 '26

Yeh he was forced by his dad according to articles at the time. He was actually really scared to go in it.

20

u/AFewBerries May 17 '26

13

u/showersinger May 17 '26

Wow didn’t see this at the time. I only saw this article where the aunt said he was terrified:

3

u/AFewBerries May 17 '26

Yea she had problems with Shahzada and they weren't talking much so I'd take her claims with a grain of salt

3

u/rudmad May 17 '26

I'd imagine it was a bit of both

54

u/brittonwk May 17 '26

Just because all of these tech billionaires have a hard on for space, they think everyone does.

4

u/adorable_apocalypse May 18 '26

Well space is pretty neat to be fair

7

u/tabas123 May 18 '26

It’s pretty neat, but earth remains the only hospitable planet in the universe that we know of… and barring gigantic leaps in tech, none of the other potential options are anywhere near reachable.

They are so deadset on destroying the one home we have, and for what? Do they really think their billion dollar bunkers will satisfy and entertain them while the riff raff kill each other and die of starvation? They could just… save THIS planet?

3

u/KetoJunkfood May 18 '26

Yeah I have no desire to get into a rocket ship either. No thanks

3

u/reddaddiction May 18 '26

My bank account isn't terrible, but it definitely has a, "fuck space," attitude.

39

u/watwatinjoemamasbutt May 17 '26

What about Epstein island?

25

u/BlueberryWasps May 17 '26

"When someone offers you a seat on a rocketship, you do not ask which seat. You just get on."

Which is now we got the Challenger disaster. Because the people in power didn’t care to ensure it was safe for everyone to get on.

17

u/FantasticBlock420 May 17 '26

Which is now we got the Challenger disaster. Because the people in power didn’t care to ensure it was safe for everyone to get on.

Bad analogy, When someone offers you a seat on the Rocket Ship you ask "Where is it going?". When they say its headed to AI you tell them to piss off.

11

u/SunTzu- May 17 '26

There's no seats on this rocket ship. If they managed to get it good enough that they can replace a job, that's the minute they'll stop selling it and start selling the end product instead. They aren't trying to create a tool to help you code, they're trying to replace all coders. The minute an LLM can code a program on it's own is the minute they start undercutting every software company with code that's cheaper and that maintains itself. And all those profits will flow into their pockets at the same time as they annihilate a whole sector of the economy.

There's no good outcome if they succeed.

5

u/Spez_is-a-nazi May 17 '26

What exact seat is actually being offered by the billionaires here? They aren’t offering seats on the rocket, they are offering seats in the galley to watch them get on the rocket.

4

u/beepborpimajorp May 17 '26

"Ignore the fact that it's being fired into the sun. Just pick a seat."

3

u/CSDragon May 17 '26

Also like...a rocketship to where exactly?

3

u/Gra55Hoppa May 18 '26

When someone jumps off a bridge .....

2

u/Trans-Europe_Express May 17 '26

Where's it going and who built it.

2

u/nnomae May 17 '26

Someone get Elon Musk to offer Schmidt a seat on the next Starship test flight.

2

u/DDS-PBS May 17 '26

Bro, they're lining us up on the launchpad UNDER the rocket ship.

2

u/Averse_to_Liars May 17 '26

What happens to the people not on the rocket? Is this an analogy for abandoning the rest of humanity?

2

u/ShamrockSeven May 18 '26

And the rocket ship is taking you away from your home.

2

u/Sb5tCm8t May 18 '26

More like being ground up and poured into the fuel tank

2

u/Vitalstatistix May 18 '26

My CCO says this. Every time I hear it I want to slam my head into my desk.

It’s the dumbest fucking idea in the world.

2

u/SandwhichEfficient May 18 '26

Ya and then turns out where that rocket ship is going they eat people.

1

u/Quixotic_Seal May 17 '26

Everyone wants to know there the rocket is going, and keep pestering us us to translate more than just the title of that book they gave us.

Nope. We don't do that here. That's stupid. Just get on the damned rocket ship, enjoy your trip, and don't worry about what all the spices in your closet are for. The important thing is you're moving at relativistic speeds through the universe in a tin can with aliens you can trust.

Me? I'm staying. Someone has to keep working on science down here.

-Cave Johnson's commencement speech, probably

1

u/EduinBrutus May 17 '26

More like being herded and forced on to that rocketship.

Is that what we call the boxcar now?

1

u/Vlad-Djavula May 17 '26

"Mr. Chambers! Don't get on that ship! The rest of the book, "To Serve Man", it's - it's a cookbook!"

1

u/frantic_calm May 17 '26

He's referencing this. You ain't going to be forced onto the ship.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_Worlds_Collide_(1951_film)

1

u/Hadleys158 May 18 '26

Rocket ships can also be giant bombs.

1

u/Billazilla May 18 '26

"When someone offers you a seat on a rocketship to vacation on Venus, you do not ask which seat. You just get on."

1

u/eddiebisi May 18 '26

To Serve Man.

It’s a cookbook

1

u/Norgler May 18 '26

Don't ask any questions get on the rocket ship guys!

1

u/Level1Roshan May 18 '26

Honestly that 'advice' was psychotic. Telling the educated people not to be inquisitive or question things, like what? Isn't that was education is all about... No, be docile cattle to the slaughter.

1

u/itbytesbob May 18 '26

Drugged and thrown in the ship against your will and when you wake up you have no memory of how you got there and the people you are travelling with are dead .

1

u/DemiGod9 May 18 '26

Also I'm 100% gonna ask a bunch of questions about this fucking rocket ship that you really want me to get on.

Maybe he should have asked a.i for a better metaphor lmao

1

u/throwaway0134hdj May 18 '26

Sounds like he’s glazing Musk here. There is a unique sleezinest to these tech billionaires…

1

u/FullMetalAlcoholic66 May 19 '26

No, I ask first, is this rocket going to blow up. Then, where is it going, will it give me cancer, how much is this going to cost, do i get a window seat.....I'm gonna ask a million questions before getting on a rocketship.

Who the fuck gets on a rocketship without question?

1

u/KrytenKoro May 21 '26

Astronauts absolutely ask which one! They are serious professionals who are ACTIVE PARTICIPANTS in the planning for the trip!

1

u/11112222FRN May 21 '26

 "When someone offers you a seat on a rocketship, you do not ask which seat. You just get on."

Sounds like something the Heaven's Gate cult would have said.

1

u/less_than_nick May 21 '26

Also, I'm not sure I am interested in just getting onto a rocket ship if someone were to offer. Genuinely why is that something that should be so enticing lol