Lauren Goode: Really and truly?
Zoë Schiffer: Yes.
Lauren Goode: I didn't have that experience with Caltrain.
Zoë Schiffer: Well, you haven't read Infinite joke 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 in the early 2000s when I lived in the Sunset neighborhood of San Francisco. There are a few trains that can take you downtown, but they take an hour. And it was pre-mobile technology, so we had Discman Walkman players, portable CD players, so you had to carry a booklet of CDs. And people read newspapers. I remember one day –
Zoë Schiffer: Sounds very romantic.
Lauren Goode: I was just going to say, people listening who don't remember these times, this was a locomotive train and you turned on the Discman by hand.
Zoë Schiffer: It was 200 B.C.
Michael Calore: I just remember having to carry so much stuff just for the commute. And the new Harry Potter book came out, and everyone on the train was reading this 10-pound, hardcover Harry Potter book at the same time and talking about it. Lauren, you need to tell us your bad travel story.
Lauren Goode: There was a period on the East Coast where I commuted on the Metro North train, and once I got to New York City I had to hop on the subway and go all the way downtown.
Michael Calore: Two trains. Stuffy. Lots of people pushing.
Lauren Goode: Yes. A lot of people read the Wall Street Journal.
Zoë Schiffer: Say no more.
Lauren Goode: It took a long time and it sucked the life out of me. While the pandemic wasn't a good thing, it's a good thing that none of us had to go to the office anymore. Are we done with that? Welcome to WIRED's Uncanny Valley, 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 technology and culture at WIRED.
