All of Our Hopes and Fears for Tech in 2025

Lauren Goode: I don’t remember that.

Zoë Schiffer: I think she did.

Michael Calore: I don’t know why everybody’s looking at me.

Lauren Goode: Yeah. Mike, what’s your recommendation?

Michael Calore: Mine is actually weirdly ties into this unboxing we just had, because I want to recommend condiments. So everybody has that thing that they love to put on their food. I have a friend who puts Jordanian za’atar on absolutely everything. I have a friend who loves the really expensive, fancy Meyer lemon olive oil that’s $25 a bottle and drizzles it on their breakfast every day. Maybe there’s a chili crisp that somebody is …

Zoë Schiffer: Oh my gosh. I was just going to say.

Michael Calore: Right, because chili crisps can be 20 bucks.

Zoë Schiffer: So expensive.

Michael Calore: So expensive. So just get them a year’s supply. You know they’ll use it. And it’s totally thoughtful. It shows that you care, that you have insight into their life enough to know them well enough as a person to know how to make them happy. So yeah, that’s …

Zoë Schiffer: That’s such a good one.

Michael Calore: If you can’t decide, I don’t know what their size is. I don’t know if they’ve read this book. I don’t know if they would actually use this, get them the thing that you know they love and that you know that they will use.

Zoë Schiffer: That’s such a good one. It’s such a good one, because it’s hard to get yourself. I keep running into this problem because my brother and my mother are both chefs. So they’ll come home, they’ll gift me these really expensive, for example, the Momofuku Chili Crisp, and then I’ll be like, “Well, I’m fully addicted to that. I need it on all of my meals all the time.” And then I go to buy it, and I’m like, “$18 for this tiny …” No, I can’t.

Lauren Goode: That is actually, that’s my favorite topping. Momofuku Chili Crisp.

Zoë Schiffer: You can put it on everything.

Michael Calore: Have you tried the Fly By Jing?

Lauren Goode: No.

Zoë Schiffer: Oh, also really good. It’s a Sichuan chili one.

Michael Calore: Awesome.

Zoë Schiffer: Really yummy.

Lauren Goode: This is great. God, I feel like I literally recommended Snake Oil and everyone’s like, “Oh, Mike. Yes. Thank you.” Now I’m hungry.

Michael Calore: OK, well, that’s our show for today. We’ll be back in the new year. Thanks for listening to Uncanny Valley. If you like what you heard today, make sure to follow our show and rate it on your podcast app of choice. If you’d like to get in touch with us with any questions, comments, or show suggestions, you can write to us at uncannyvalley@wired.com. Today’s show is produced by Kyana Moghadam. Amar Lal at Macrosound mixed this episode. Jordan Bell is our executive producer. Condé Nast’s Head of Global Audio is Chris Bannon.