Big Tech Wants You Back in the Office

Lauren Goode: Oh, really?

Zoë Schiffer: Yes.

Lauren Goode: I did not have that experience on Caltrain.

Zoë Schiffer: Well, you weren’t reading Infinite Jest on the Caltrain, were you now? That was my catfishing technique.

Lauren Goode: What was your worst commute, Mike?

Michael Calore: There was a period of time in the early 2000s when I was living out in the Sunset district of San Francisco. Which, there’s a couple of trains that can bring you downtown, but they take an hour. And it was premobile technology, so we had Discman Walkman players, portable CD players, so you had to bring a little book of CDs. And people would read newspapers. I remember one day—

Zoë Schiffer: Sounds really romantic.

Lauren Goode: I was just going to say, folks listening who don’t remember these times, this was a locomotive train and you hand-cranked the Discman.

Zoë Schiffer: It was 200 BCE.

Michael Calore: I just remember there was so much stuff you had to carry just for your commute. And the new Harry Potter book came out, and everybody on the train was reading this 10-pound, thick, hardcover Harry Potter book at the same time and talking about it. Lauren, you have to tell us your bad commute story.

Lauren Goode: There was a period of time on the east coast where I was commuting on the Metro North train, and then once I got into New York City, I had to hop on the subway and head all the way downtown.

Michael Calore: Two trains. Stuffy. A lot of people pushing.

Lauren Goode: Yeah. A lot of people reading the Wall Street Journal.

Zoë Schiffer: Say no more.

Lauren Goode: It was long, and it sucked the life out of me. While the pandemic was not a good thing, it’s a good thing that none of us had to go back into the office anymore. We’re done with that? Welcome to Uncanny Valley from WIRED, a show about the people, power, and influence of Silicon Valley, hosted by me, senior writer, Lauren Goode, and my cohosts.

Michael Calore: I’m Michael Calore, director of consumer tech and culture at WIRED.