Zucka Kappa Meta

Uncanny Valley | WIRED

WIRED

Technology

4.1 • 572 Ratings

🗓️ 21 July 2022

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Facebook has nearly three billion users, which means that when it makes a change to its business, it affects nearly half the planet. Facebook's ambitions have often manifested in chaotic, unpredictable ways and had profound societal impacts for years after they've been implemented. So when the company decided to rebrand to Meta and funnel billions of dollars toward building its own virtual alternate reality, it's a move that's bound to come with some big consequences—if nothing else, for Meta itself.

This week on Gadget Lab, we're joined by Shirin Ghaffary from Recode and Alex Heath from The Verge. The new season of their podcast, Land of the Giants, is all about Facebook's transformation into Meta and what it means for the billions of people on Facebook, and in the world at large.

Show Notes

Listen to the Land of the Giants podcast here or wherever you listen to podcasts. Read Alex’s interview with Mark Zuckerburg about Facebook rebranding as Meta.

Recommendations

Shirin recommends the book Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. Alex recommends the show The Bear on Hulu. Lauren recommends Taylor Blake’s TikTok channel and the viral videos of her emu, Emmanuel. Mike recommends the book Whole Earth: The Many Lives of Stewart Brand, by John Markoff.

Shirin Ghaffary can be found on Twitter @shiringhaffary. Alex Heath is @alexeheath. Lauren Goode is @LaurenGoode. Michael Calore is @snackfight. Bling the main hotline at @GadgetLab. The show is produced by Boone Ashworth (@booneashworth). Our theme music is by Solar Keys.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Lauren.
0:00.7	Mike.
0:01.3	Lauren, how can you never like any of my posts on Facebook?
0:03.8	Because I try to stay off Facebook as much as possible.
0:07.3	What about Instagram and WhatsApp?
0:09.9	All right.
0:10.7	Therein lies the rub.
0:11.7	I do use Instagram quite a bit.
0:13.7	Sometimes I even message you on Instagram or send you cat photos or other weird memes.
0:18.1	I do use WhatsApp, particularly with friends who live outside of the U.S.
0:22.4	Sometimes I even use the Oculus headset at night, like a real nerd.
0:26.4	Wow.
0:26.9	What about you? How much time do you spend on Facebook these days?
0:29.8	I used to spend hours on Instagram, but I set up a notification on my phone to turn it off after 15 minutes.
0:36.4	And you actually heed that.
0:38.0	Yes, I ring the bell every day. Really? Yes. You don't just like swipe it away and you're like, oh no, I really got to go back to that cat content that Lauren sent me. No, it literally turns it off. Oh, wow. This is impressive. Yeah. Do you think that all of us should be, I don't know, taking a step back from Facebook these days? That's a personal choice, but it's one that we should ask our guests.
0:57.3	Let's talk about it.
1:04.6	Hi, everyone. Welcome to Gadget Lab. I am Michael Collori. I'm a senior editor at Wired.
1:08.8	And I'm Lauren Good. I'm a senior writer at Wired.
1:29.4	And this week, we are joined by Shereen Gaffari, a senior correspondent at Recode, and Alex Heath, deputy editor at The Verge. Welcome, both of you. Hi. Thanks for having us. Yeah, thanks for having us. Now, you two are the co-hosts of the new season of the podcast, Land of the Giants. The show covers a different company every season. Past seasons have looked at pivotal moments in the histories of Netflix, Amazon, and
1:34.9	Apple, among others. Season six, which premiered last week, is about Facebook's messy growth
1:40.8	from a tiny startup and its transformation into the giant company we now call
	...

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