How has Silicon Valley changed our lives, our jobs, our habits? Those are some of the questions here on this week's reliable sources podcast.

So welcome in. I'm your host Brian Stelter.

And this weekly podcast is our chance to go in-depth with media leaders and newsmakers.

Stepping out from the daily minute by minute news cycles,

all the talk of impeachment and other stories,

let's dig deep this week talking about big tech and the consequences and the

roles of these companies in our lives. You might have heard of the new book

Uncanny Valley.

It's an acclaimed memoir.

It's getting rave reviews.

It comes from the author Anna Wiener,

who's right now a contributing writer at the New Yorker.

But years ago, she left her New York publishing industry job

and moved out west, taking jobs at a number of startups in Silicon Valley.

And her memoir describes and takes people into those experiences

in a illuminating new way.

Her book is full of insights, so let's get right to it.

Anna, thanks for joining me. Congratulations on the book.

Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Uncanny Valley is a term of art that I know the meaning, maybe some listeners know the original meaning of

this term, but define it for us and then help us understand why you selected it for your title.

It's a concept often used in robotics that describes the emotional

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