{"id":48706,"date":"2026-01-29T22:41:48","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T22:41:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=48706"},"modified":"2026-01-29T22:41:48","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T22:41:48","slug":"uncanny-valley-podcast-ice-minneapolis-tiktok-moltbot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2026\/01\/29\/uncanny-valley-podcast-ice-minneapolis-tiktok-moltbot\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Uncanny Valley\u2019: Minneapolis Misinformation, TikTok\u2019s New Owners, and Moltbot Hype"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><span class=\"lead-in-text-callout\">In today\u2019s episode,<\/span> hosts Brian Barrett and Zo\u00eb Schiffer are joined by Tim Marchman, WIRED\u2019s director of science, politics, and security, to discuss the news of the week\u2014including how far-right influencers spread misinformation in Minneapolis, and why TikTok\u2019s US version is off to a rocky start. Plus, we dive into why some people are currently obsessed with the AI assistant Moltbot.<\/p>\n<figure data-testid=\"cne-audio-embed-figure\" class=\"CneAudioEmbedFigure-bWHoMv hIHLrt\"\/>\n<p class=\"paywall\"><strong>Articles mentioned in this episode:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">You can follow Brian Barrett on Bluesky at @brbarrett, Zo\u00eb Schiffer on Bluesky at @zoeschiffer, and Tim Marchman on Bluesky at @timmarchman. Write to us at uncannyvalley@wired.com.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"paywall\">How to Listen<\/h2>\n<p class=\"paywall\">You can always listen to this week&#8217;s podcast through the audio player on this page, but if you want to subscribe for free to get every episode, here&#8217;s how:<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">If you&#8217;re on an iPhone or iPad, open the app called Podcasts, or just tap this link. You can also download an app like Overcast or Pocket Casts and search for \u201cuncanny valley.\u201d We\u2019re on Spotify too.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"paywall\">Transcript<\/h2>\n<p class=\"paywall\"><em>Note: This is an automated transcript, which may contain errors.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\"><strong>Brian Barrett:<\/strong> How is everybody doing?<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\"><strong>Tim Marchman:<\/strong> I&#8217;m doing great.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\"><strong>Zo\u00eb Schiffer:<\/strong> Wow.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\"><strong>Brian Barrett:<\/strong> That is something.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\"><strong>Zo\u00eb Schiffer:<\/strong> Shocking, I would say.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\"><strong>Brian Barrett:<\/strong> Yeah. Tim, what&#8217;s your secret?<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\"><strong>Tim Marchman:<\/strong> I am trying and doing an actually pretty good job of keeping in mind that my anxious perceptions do not reflect reality, and that they have to be looked at logically.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\"><strong>Brian Barrett:<\/strong> That&#8217;s a better coping mechanism than mine, which is that my kids have discovered <em>Mario Kart<\/em>, so I&#8217;m playing a lot of <em>Mario Kart<\/em>. Zo\u00eb?<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\"><strong>Zo\u00eb Schiffer:<\/strong> I&#8217;m doing fine. I would say that I think I have hit a bit of a mental-emotional wall with what is happening, and I&#8217;m really grateful to be doing the work that we do because if I was trying to pretend that my corporate job mattered as I was during the early days of the first Trump presidency when I worked in tech, I&#8217;m just so glad not to be back there. That was a tough time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\"><strong>Brian Barrett:<\/strong> But Zo\u00eb, is there anything you&#8217;re looking forward to, say, in a day or so?<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\"><strong>Zo\u00eb Schiffer:<\/strong> OK. Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Showing how well-rounded I am, I am going to be seeing the premiere of the Melania Trump movie.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\"><strong>Brian Barrett:<\/strong> Yes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\"><strong>Zo\u00eb Schiffer:<\/strong> The movie that Amazon Studios poured millions and millions and millions of dollars into the trailer. I thought\u2014<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\"><strong>Tim Marchman:<\/strong> I have never been more jealous.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\"><strong>Zo\u00eb Schiffer:<\/strong> I know. I know. Exceptional work. They made it so dramatic. That woman, as far as I can tell, sorry to say this, does not have any perceptible personality of any sort, but they tried everything to cover that up.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\"><strong>Brian Barrett:<\/strong> Tim, in fairness, I think there&#8217;s a safe bet you could still score a ticket.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\"><strong>Zo\u00eb Schiffer:<\/strong> Yeah. Oh yes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#Uncanny #Valley #Minneapolis #Misinformation #TikToks #Owners #Moltbot #Hype<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In today\u2019s episode, hosts Brian Barrett and Zo\u00eb Schiffer are joined by Tim Marchman, WIRED\u2019s director of science, politics, and&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48707,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mzansi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48706"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48708,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48706\/revisions\/48708"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}