Uncanny Valley: A Memoir

Uncanny Valley’s descriptions of San Francisco are vivid, detailed, and complex, and they evolve as Wiener does over the course of the story. Using examples, analyze her portrait of the city and what comment she offers about the city’s present and possible future. 

The analytics company’s “God Mode” setting is one of Wiener’s first experiences with the power of big data. She explains: “This was a privileged vantage point from which to observe the tech industry, and we tried not to talk about it” (45). Discuss the reasons why such a conversation would be avoided, and provide additional examples in which the acknowledgment of power and privilege is neglected. 

Wiener recounts that while drinking after work, an account manager would ask her to slap him in the face: “I knew it probably carried some sexual gratification for him, but I didn’t care—it was very cathartic” (114). Using examples from the text, explain what conditions may have led Wiener to crave this catharsis, and what this anecdote suggests about the company more broadly.

The CEO at the mobile analytics company ceases to be a part of Wiener’s life in the second half of the book, yet the Epilogue closes on the anecdote of seeing him at lunch. Using examples, explain the CEO’s role in Wiener’s story and the significance of her last line: “I am confident he never saw me” (275).

Wiener’s voyeuristic narrative style tends to depict other characters as agents and actors, while rendering herself as a passive observer. Identify key moments that break this convention and discuss what Wiener’s actions reveal about her character and her journey.

Particularly in Chapters 10 and 21, Wiener makes unusual stylistic choices to demonstrate her experience of technology and the internet as a consumer rather than as one of “the people behind the internet.” Identify and explain three to four of these techniques, and analyze Wiener’s critique of the internet’s effect on everyday communication.

Patrick is a source of both frustration and revelation. Analyze his role in Wiener’s journey, with attention to his final appearance in Chapter 33, in which he becomes “one of the youngest self-made billionaires” (266) while finishing a dinner with Wiener.

Using examples from the text, discuss Wiener’s relationship to resistance and revolution as they manifest both inside and outside the tech industry.