Uncanny Valley Episode: Weekly Roundup and Analysis

Introduction

In this episode of WIRED’s Uncanny Valley, Zoë Schiffer, the director of business and industry at WIRED, is joined by senior politics writer Jake Lahut. They discuss five significant stories of the week, spanning from satellite – related security issues to the experiences of Cybertruck owners, and also delve into how federal workers are caught in the middle of a political battle during the government shutdown.

Mentioned Stories

1. Satellites Are Leaking the World’s Secrets: Calls, Texts, Military and Corporate Data by Andy Greenberg and Matt Burgess
2. A Plan to Rebuild Gaza Lists Nearly 30 Companies. Many Say They’re Not Involved by Caroline Haskins
3. A Quarter of the CDC Is Gone by Emily Mullin
4. Spit On, Sworn At, and Undeterred: What It’s Like to Own a Cybertruck by Zoë Schiffer
5. Federal Workers Are Being Used as Pawns in the Shutdown by Makena Kelly

Hosts’ Contact Information

You can follow Zoë Schiffer on Bluesky at @zoeschiffer and Jake Lahut on Bluesky at @jakelahut. Write to the show at uncannyvalley@wired.com.

How to Listen

The weekly podcast can be listened to via the audio player on the page. For free subscription to access every episode:
– If on an iPhone or iPad, open the Podcasts app or tap the provided link. You can also download apps like Overcast or Pocket Casts and search for “uncanny valley.” The podcast is also available on Spotify.

Transcript

Note: This is an automated transcript, which may contain errors.

Segment 1: Satellite Data Leakage

Zoë Schiffer welcomes listeners to Uncanny Valley and introduces Jake Lahut. The first story is about satellites leaking sensitive information. A group of researchers from UC San Diego and the University of Maryland found that approximately half of satellite signals are unprotected from eavesdropping. They built a relatively inexpensive, off – the – shelf satellite dish for $800 and set it up on a roof at UC San Diego. Over three years, they collected various private data, including people’s texts and calls from T – Mobile, in – flight Wi – Fi cellular network data, communications with critical infrastructure sites such as electric utilities and offshore oil and gas platforms, and even some US and Mexican military and law enforcement communications revealing the locations of Navy vessels.
– Jake Lahut questions what foreign intelligence services could do, considering the researchers’ success. While some companies like T – Mobile quickly encrypted their communications after being warned, some owners of vulnerable US critical infrastructure, alerted more recently, have yet to add encryption to their satellite – based systems.
– The researchers attribute the unencrypted data availability mainly to the overall security strategy of many global satellite communication systems, which essentially hopes that no one will look up and monitor their communications. Their paper is titled “Don’t Look Up,” referencing the 2021 film.

Segment 2: Gaza Reconstruction Plan

The second story, reported by Caroline Haskins, is about a plan to rebuild Gaza shared with Trump administration officials. The plan, called the GREAT Trust (Gaza Reconstitution Economic Acceleration and Transformation), is presented in a pitch deck featuring the names and logos of dozens of companies like Tesla, IKEA, and Amazon. However, many of these companies told WIRED they were unaware of the plan and are not involved.
– The pitch deck was reportedly created by some businessmen associated with the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has faced criticism from organizations like Doctors Without Borders for bypassing the UN’s aid distribution systems. A former security contractor also alleged that the foundation’s contractor shot at unarmed Palestinians, though the foundation has denied these allegations.
– The pitch deck seems disconnected from the reality in Gaza. It proposes ideas like having Gazans place their privately – owned land in the trust in exchange for a digital token for permanent housing, without offering real money for rebuilding or relocating. Additionally, it suggests a “US – led multilateral custodianship” over the Gaza Strip, involving private contractors distributing aid in coordination with the Israeli Defense Forces.

Segment 3: CDC Layoffs

Emily Mullin reported that after a recent round of layoffs at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the employee union estimates that about a quarter of the agency’s workforce is gone. This includes those laid off and those who accepted the buyout package offered by the Trump administration earlier this year.
– Jake Lahut notes that there are very few leadership positions left at the CDC. A former staffer told Emily that at the highest leadership level, there are no public health or medical professionals to guide CDC recommendations. The senior staff resignations at the CDC occurred en masse after Robert F. Kennedy, the health secretary, fired CDC Director Susan Monarez. Kennedy demanded she sign off on new anti – vaccine recommendations “regardless of the scientific evidence” to dismiss career officials without cause.
– Zoë Schiffer shares that she had previously spoken to someone who worked on studying the impact of diseases on pregnant populations at the CDC, and that entire team was gone. Now, the situation has worsened.

Segment 4: Cybertruck Owners’ Experiences

Zoë Schiffer shares her experience of reporting on Cybertruck owners. Initially, she tried to contact Cybertruck owners by leaving notes on their cars, but got no response. Eventually, she connected with the person who runs the 50,000 – member Facebook group “Cybertrucks Owners Only.”
– The Cybertruck owners see themselves as victims. They claim to be spit at, targeted, and called Nazis, despite not seeing their car purchase as political. For example, Michael Goldman, the Facebook group runner, shared an incident in a Whole Foods parking lot where a woman left a note on his car saying “This is an extension of your small dick.” After replaying the car’s 24/7 recording, he confronted the woman, who said she thought he was a Nazi. They had a reconciliation when he revealed his Jewish identity and she mentioned her wife being Jewish.
– Another man, who was surprised at the political perception of the Cybertruck, was later found to have been arrested and pled guilty to obstructing an official proceeding in the January 6th attack on the Capitol but was pardoned by President Trump.
– Jake Lahut mentions the concept of partisan sorting, where as American politics become more polarized, purchases fall along partisan ideological lines. The Cybertruck can be seen as an example, with people making assumptions about the political leanings of its owners.

Segment 5: Federal Workers in the Shutdown

Makena Kelly reported that federal workers are navigating new layoffs and ongoing political pressures during the government shutdown. As of July, over 150,000 federal workers had resigned since President Trump’s second – term inauguration. Tens of thousands have also been fired. After a lull, on Friday, thousands of employees at eight government agencies were subjected to RIFs (reductions in force).
– The RIFs seem to target offices and programs related to public health, housing grants, homelessness programs, special education programs, and environmental cleanup. This is not the first political move against federal workers during the shutdown. The administration has hijacked government websites and employees’ out – of – office emails, and there have been instances like Kristi Noem blaming Democrats on airport screens.
– Federal employees are reaching out to Makena Kelly, seeking clarity on their job security. One IRS employee said, “So tired of being used as a pawn” and even asked if WIRED was hiring. Jake Lahut and Zoë Schiffer discuss the different strategies of cuts, comparing the initial DOGE approach of random cuts to the current more targeted cuts at what the administration calls “Democratic priorities.”

Conclusion

The show concludes by linking to all the stories discussed in the show notes. Listeners are encouraged to check out Thursday’s episode about a history professor fleeing the US after being targeted by far – right influencers. The episode was produced by Adriana Tapia and Mark Lyda, mixed by Amar Lal at Macrosound, with Pran Bandi as the New York studio engineer. Kate Osborn is the executive producer, Chris Bannon is Condé Nast’s head of global audio, and Katie Drummond is WIRED’s global editorial director.