Michael Calore: I sit at the window here in the Wired Office, and when I look out the window, I look right on the Bay bridge and I see cybersperse all day.
Zoë Schiffer: Oh my gosh.
Lauren Woode: It’s almost as if the cybertrucks just reproduce in real time. They are appowing, they are appeasing more cybertrucks. Is this the worst lead ever in this episode?
Michael Calore: Do you know what? I’ll take it.
Lauren Woode: Well.
Michael Calore: I will take it absolutely.
This is wired’s Ominous valleyA show about the people, power and influence of Silicon Valley. Today we are talking about the Pronatalism movement, and how the pressure to increase birth rates tends to be among some of the largest and richest names of Silicon Valley. We will talk about some of the history behind Pronatalism, who the big proponents are now, and what shows it all. I am Michael Calore, director of consumer technology and culture here at Wired.
Lauren Woode: I am Lauren Goode, I am a senior writer at Wired.
Zoë Schiffer: And I’m Zoë Schiffer, Wired’s director of business and industry.
Lauren Woode: So, a few weeks ago when we talked about dating apps, I was like, oh no, you are going to lean so heavily on me, because I think among us, I probably had the most experience using dating apps, but now I feel like Mike, me and you are just like, “So, she tells us what it is like to have babies.”
Zoë Schiffer: I feel like I’m doing my part for the population. I had two and I won’t have any more, thank you.
Michael Calore: And Lauren and I and I are both child -free.
Lauren Woode: And Zoë is also one of our big bosses at Wired. So I would just say in a normal environment, not a Podcast area, I might not sit from her and say, “Tell me about your experience of having babies and being a parent,” but for the sake of the podcast.
Zoë Schiffer: Lauren, we bring our whole self to work, come on.
Lauren Woode: Me too.
Zoë Schiffer: And we are friends.
Lauren Woode: Yes, we are friends.
Michael Calore: To start the conversation, I think we need to define what is pronatalism and who the greatest supporters are at the moment of this movement.
Zoë Schiffer: I thought you were going to say: We’re going to define what a baby is. It’s like a small, bare person. Next question.
Ok, so pronatalism at its core is an ideology that promotes people who have babies. And in Silicon Valley specifically, it is linked to this involvement with the population of the population. The idea that people do not have enough babies to supplement the population, and that it creates all kinds of economic problems on the road.