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> stereotypes that many have fought hard to progress What stereotypes would this help to alleviate? > the technology we create should follow. Why it's a serv

by monksy 8y ago

> stereotypes that many have fought hard to progress What stereotypes would this help to alleviate? > the technology we create should follow. Why it's a service that communications via artificial audio. Why is it important that you can't have a male or a female voice? People still exist, the voices in question don't have a physical appearance.

jolmg 8y ago
> What stereotypes would this help to alleviate? Though I don't feel strongly either way, my guess is that, since people usually leave software on defaults and female voices are typically chosen for voice assistants, the stereotype might be of women being servants.
- diss 8y ago
  That seems to me like a far reaching problem to solve. I don't believe anyone actually thinks like that, I think this hypothetical issue exists in the minds of people trying to solve it.
  - jolmg 8y ago
    > I don't believe anyone actually thinks like that You'd be surprised. The world is vast and gender roles are traditional in many cultures.
    - diss 8y ago
      It's one thing to subscribe to gender roles traditional to your culture, but a totally different thing to base your attitude towards women on the perceived gender of a virtual assistant on your phone. You can kind of make a logical link if you try, but I don't believe that's how it plays out in reality. It'll possibly be more relevant if/when these virtual assistants become indistinguishable from humans and perhaps have a physical form.
      - jolmg 8y ago
        > but a totally different thing to base your attitude towards women on the perceived gender of a virtual assistant on your phone. Well, if you say "base", then yeah that's very unlikely. However, their attitude doesn't need to be based on that, it could simply be supported by it, even a little bit. If all your life you've seen women in a "serving" sort of role, like seeing only female nurses serving your medicine, female waitresses serving your food, female caretakers serving your kids and elders, female maids serving your house needs, and even your female-sounding phone serving your electronic needs, then in aggregate and in time that sets an idea, even a subconscious one, that contributes to your understanding of how the world works. I don't see this genderless voice as being the solution to a problem. I see it as them just trying to do their small part in a change they want to see.
  - claudiawerner 8y ago
    I'd say there's a big difference between someone consciously thinking in a certain way, and building associations, many of which they don't notice. In fact, it's been one of the principal aims of psychology, sociology and economics to uncover how people act on such opinions without knowing they actually hold them.
- evilotto 8y ago
  "Female voices do however appear to have an advantage in that they can portray a greater range of urgencies because of their usually higher pitch and pitch range. An experiment is reported showing that knowledge about the sex of a speaker has no effect on judgements of perceived urgency, with acoustic variables accounting for such differences." https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14965452 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14965452

by monksy 8y ago

jolmg 8y ago

> What stereotypes would this help to alleviate? Though I don't feel strongly either way, my guess is that, since people usually leave software on defaults and female voices are typically chosen for voice assistants, the stereotype might be of women being servants.

diss 8y ago
That seems to me like a far reaching problem to solve. I don't believe anyone actually thinks like that, I think this hypothetical issue exists in the minds of people trying to solve it.
- jolmg 8y ago
  > I don't believe anyone actually thinks like that You'd be surprised. The world is vast and gender roles are traditional in many cultures.
  - diss 8y ago
    It's one thing to subscribe to gender roles traditional to your culture, but a totally different thing to base your attitude towards women on the perceived gender of a virtual assistant on your phone. You can kind of make a logical link if you try, but I don't believe that's how it plays out in reality. It'll possibly be more relevant if/when these virtual assistants become indistinguishable from humans and perhaps have a physical form.
    - jolmg 8y ago
      > but a totally different thing to base your attitude towards women on the perceived gender of a virtual assistant on your phone. Well, if you say "base", then yeah that's very unlikely. However, their attitude doesn't need to be based on that, it could simply be supported by it, even a little bit. If all your life you've seen women in a "serving" sort of role, like seeing only female nurses serving your medicine, female waitresses serving your food, female caretakers serving your kids and elders, female maids serving your house needs, and even your female-sounding phone serving your electronic needs, then in aggregate and in time that sets an idea, even a subconscious one, that contributes to your understanding of how the world works. I don't see this genderless voice as being the solution to a problem. I see it as them just trying to do their small part in a change they want to see.
- claudiawerner 8y ago
  I'd say there's a big difference between someone consciously thinking in a certain way, and building associations, many of which they don't notice. In fact, it's been one of the principal aims of psychology, sociology and economics to uncover how people act on such opinions without knowing they actually hold them.
evilotto 8y ago
"Female voices do however appear to have an advantage in that they can portray a greater range of urgencies because of their usually higher pitch and pitch range. An experiment is reported showing that knowledge about the sex of a speaker has no effect on judgements of perceived urgency, with acoustic variables accounting for such differences." https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14965452 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14965452