Michael Heat: I sit at the window here in a wired office, and when I look through the window, I look straight at the Bay bridge and see the cyber criminals all day.
Zoë Schiffer: Oh my God.
Lauren Goode: It’s almost as if cyberspace just reproduces in real time. Trysze, advise against more cybercriminals. Is this the worst handling in this episode?
Michael Heat: You know what? I’ll take it.
Lauren Goode: All right.
Michael Heat: I will absolutely take it.
This is Wired Uncanny ValleyProgram about people, power and impact of the Silicon Valley. Today we are talking about the movement of pronatalism and how striving to enhance the birth rate is popular among some of the greatest and richest names of the Silicon Valley. We will talk about some stories of pronatalism, who the great supporters are now and what it all indicates. I am Michael Calore, director of consumer technology and culture here in Wired.
Lauren Goode: I am Lauren Goode, I am a senior writer in Wired.
Zoë Schiffer: And I am Zoë Schiffer, Wired business and industry director.
Lauren Goode: A few weeks ago, when we talked about dating applications, I thought: Oh no, you will tilt at me so demanding, because I think that among us I probably had the most experience using dating applications, but now I feel like Mike, you and I will just be like: “Zoë, tell us how it is to have children.”
Zoë Schiffer: I feel like I was doing my role in the inheritance of the population. I had two and I will not have anymore, thank you.
Michael Heat: And by setting a scene here, Lauren and I are free from children.
Lauren Goode: And Zoë is now one of our large bosses in Wired. So I would say in a normal environment, not in the podcast setting, I may not sit opposite her and say: “Tell me about your experience with having children and being a parent”, but because of the podcast.
Zoë Schiffer: Lauren, we bring all ourselves to work, come on.
Lauren Goode: Me too.
Zoë Schiffer: And we are friends.
Lauren Goode: Yes, we are friends.
Michael Heat: Well, to start a conversation, I think we should define what pronatalism is and who are currently the biggest supporters of this movement.
Zoë Schiffer: I thought you would say, we would define what a child is. It is like a petite, bald man. Next question.
Ok, so pronatalism at its foundation is an ideology promoting people with children. In particular, in the Silicon Valley, this was associated with the decrease in the population. The idea that people do not have enough children to complement the population and that they create all kinds of economic problems on the road.