Disrupting the Department of Public Works

Zoë Schiffer: It must have been a long journey.

Lauren Goode: I mean, I heard a lot about jujitsu. 56 minutes of the show was taken up on jujitsu, and then it was like, “Also, how to live forever.” I don’t know. Yes.

Michael Calories: I want to hear that, because I was interested when you started talking about it, and Zoë has been talking about her. I don’t want to read his book, but I listen to him on Joe Rogan. Joe Rogan’s big thing for me was Marc Andreessen’s latest appearance.

Lauren Goode: Ooh, how was it?

Michael Calories: It was like 18 hours.

Lauren Goode: Oh. You were deep in broligarchy.

Zoë Schiffer: I listened because you were talking about it, and I was like… And it’s important to our conversation today, but damn, was it long?

Michael Calories: It is so. And the show is not 18 hours long, but it is important for this topic, because we will be talking about DOGE.

Lauren Goode: So once again, broligarchy.

Michael Calories: The broligarchy.

Lauren Goode: Let’s do it.

Michael Calories: This is WIRED’s Uncanny Valley, a showcase of the people, power, and influence of Silicon Valley. I’m Michael Calore, director of Consumer tech and Culture here at WIRED.

Lauren Goode: And I’m Lauren Goode. I’m a senior writer at WIRED.

Zoë Schiffer: And I’m Zoë Schiffer, business and industry director for WIRED.

Michael Calories: Today, we are disrupting DOGE, the government’s most efficient department, meme money. As Lauren calls it, broligarchy. We’ll discuss the key players, what the US government wants, and what we think is behind it all. DOGE. Good. We’re talking about DOGE today, and no, not meme money.

Zoë Schiffer: Even the money of the meme is important here, because it is the main joke. That’s why he chose this acronym. So just to give a little background on what it means, meme money is a type of cryptocurrency that is based on humor. It’s almost like making fun of cryptocurrency itself. So Dogecoin is one that Elon Musk has promoted for a long time now. There are others like BONK and FLOKI which I think is named after his dog, Floki, not BONK. They are actually a type of crypto, but they are based on internet jokes.

Lauren Goode: Wasn’t there a Hawk Tuah coin recently?

Zoë Schiffer: Ew.

Michael Calories: There was. Yes.

Lauren Goode: Yes. And how did it go?

Michael Calories: Not well.

Zoë Schiffer: Yes.

Michael Calories: Meme money often doesn’t go well. But this one has a second life, because it has now been transformed into the Department of Public Works, which Elon Musk is one of the people in charge of.