Is Silicon Valley Still the Tech Capital?
Uncanny Valley | WIRED
WIRED
4.1 • 570 Ratings
🗓️ 25 September 2025
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Earlier this month, we took the show to San Francisco for a live recording in front of a great audience at KQED's The Commons. WIRED'S Lauren Goode, Katie Drummond and Jason Kehe asked themselves and answered a perennial question: Is Silicon Valley still the tech capital of the world? Plus, they put themselves to the test with a new game and some questions from the audience.
Join WIRED’s best and brightest on Uncanny Valley as they dissect the collision of tech, politics, finance, and business, from Alexis Ohanian's newest tech venture to the effects of inaccurate information from artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots on social protests.
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, this is Mike. This week, we wanted to share with you the live show that we hosted in partnership with KQED earlier this month. Our global editorial director, Katie Drummond, had a really fun and sharp conversation with Jack Conte, the CEO of Patreon, about what it takes to make authentic work in the era of AI and influencers. Then my co-host Lauren Good and Wired's Jason K. |
| 0:22.7 | joined the stage for a special roundtable discussion. |
| 0:26.2 | I sadly couldn't make it, but I feel very thankful for everyone who came through that night. |
| 0:31.0 | So here's the show. I hope you enjoy it. |
| 0:33.8 | I just want to say before we officially get started, Michael Colore, who a lot of you know and love, |
| 0:39.9 | our beloved snack fight, could not be here tonight because he is weathering COVID. |
| 0:45.2 | He said we can share that. |
| 0:46.6 | But we are so glad to have Jason here in his steed or stead. |
| 0:52.4 | Actually, how do we say that? I suppose you editor, please. I suppose you can say that in my stead, I rode in to save the day on my noble steed. Thank you so much. I forced Jason to come do it tonight. She did. Bullied, it was the word I was using. He's a great speaker. We're so thrilled and he's going to have |
| 1:10.8 | plenty of spicy takes. So without any further ado, welcome again everyone to our first live |
| 1:17.4 | edition of the Uncanny Valley Roundtable here in San Francisco with our partners, KQED. Each week on this |
| 1:24.7 | podcast, we take a close look at the people and power of Silicon Valley |
| 1:28.7 | and its influence on our daily lives. I'm Lauren Good. I'm a senior correspondent at Wired. |
| 1:34.2 | I'm Jason K. I'm a features editor at Wired. And I'm Katie Drummond, Wired's Global Editorial |
| 1:38.6 | Director. And that is our cat. Yes. Name Hugh, Wired Greener. It was very cute, though. |
| 1:45.5 | Not AI generated. |
| 1:47.4 | Tonight, we are going to trace some of the history of Silicon Valley and zoom into the future. |
| 1:52.0 | And yes, we will be talking about AI. |
| 1:54.2 | Along the way, we're going to trace Wired's own history since Wired first launched at the start of that whole consumer internet thing, I think we've heard of. |
| 2:02.6 | And we're going to talk about how we've arrived at a point where it's nearly impossible to disentangle |
| 2:07.6 | tech coverage from politics, healthcare, education, transportation, and more. |
| 2:12.6 | And lastly, we're going to talk about a topic that's pretty near and dearer to people in this room, I think, |
... |
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