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I dislike this proposed feature as much as the next person, but it's worth noting that the main complaint of this article is fairly unique: they work on a chann

I dislike this proposed feature as much as the next person, but it's worth noting that the main complaint of this article is fairly unique: they work on a channel called Motherboard, and this feature is going to cause the name of their channel to be considered a problem. Most people won't experience that specific error case. It's valid, and points to the kinds of unforeseen consequences you run into when trying to manage speech in this way, but it's not by itself a smoking gun for most people.

dekhn 5y ago
and as we can see, large numbers of people- there are hundreds of us- think that the name of that channel to be highly offensive. Actually, no, wait, nobody actually finds it offensive.
blast 5y ago
It's not valid to censor the word "mother". It's either laughable or sinister, depending on whether the people trying to do it actually have power.
- wincy 5y ago
  This is literally Brave New World stuff. Not exaggerating, the word mother was hugely offensive to the people in that book. Unfortunately we don’t even get the Orgy Porgy parts. It’s like the worst parts of 1984 and Brave New World mixed together.
  - vorpalhex 5y ago
    Be the change you want to see in the world?
mikkergp 5y ago
I think this article hints at an important thing though which is that language is contextual. Even if we think that we should describe mothers as birthing persons or fathers as non-birthing parents in the general context, I should be allowed to refer to myself as a father. People of color can re-claim slurs, which a correction to could probably feel paternalistic. There are lots of contexts where certain language is ok, depending on the speaker or the audience. And I guess it means you're not supposed to use google docs for any kind of emotional writing, as it tries to correct "annoyed" or the f word. That and there is this beauty: > A transcribed interview of neo-Nazi and former Klan leader David Duke—in which he uses the N-word and talks about hunting Black people—gets no notes. Radical feminist Valerie Solanas’ SCUM Manifesto gets more edits than Duke’s tirade; she should use “police officers” instead of “policemen,”
- cowl 5y ago
  > Even if we think that we should describe mothers as birthing persons Mother definitely does not mean birthing person. The easiest example is adoption. Would would you call the mother in that case? Adoptive Female Parent goes again against the 'rule' because it has female in there. Parent 1/Parent 2? no it has Hierarchy.
  - foota 5y ago
    I think you're looking for the word parent?
    - namelessoracle 5y ago
      Single parenthood does seem to be what those of a certain ideological bent push yes.
      - foota 5y ago
        Not sure what you're implying, but I just mean why can't parents just be called parents? There's no need for a gendered word.
    - goatlover 5y ago
      A female parent is a mother. That's what their children call them, not "parent", with allowances for foster children and older adopted kids calling them by their first name.
      - npteljes 5y ago
        I don't think calling a parent 'mother' is something children do by themselves. They call them however they end up calling them, or whatever their parents teach them. Also certainly not 'mother', rather 'mum', 'mom'... and the Turkish children say anne.
- mgdlbp 5y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pragmatics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pragmatics
trollied 5y ago
Ok, but it makes no sense in the first place? “Motherboard” has long been a technical computer term, that even somebody with a passive interest in computers would understand. You would have to make an effort to be offended by it in some way. I fail to understand what’s going on these days. Words change their meaning over decades. A small minority seem hellbent on kicking up a storm to change popular usage, where no offense or other meaning is implied in general modern usage.
imgabe 5y ago
Considering the word “mother” - a concept that is about as universally understood across the whole of humanity as it is possible for a concept to be - “problematic“ is itself a sign that this movement has gone off the deep end. It doesn't even make sense that an AI model trained on normal writing samples would flag that as problematic, since it is not considered so by the vast majority of people. Unless the model was trained exclusively on the most extreme Tumblr posts, it suggests that fringe Google employees are injecting their personal ideology into the products. The vast, vast majority of people do not want their mothers erased from the language.

dekhn 5y ago

and as we can see, large numbers of people- there are hundreds of us- think that the name of that channel to be highly offensive. Actually, no, wait, nobody actually finds it offensive.

blast 5y ago

It's not valid to censor the word "mother". It's either laughable or sinister, depending on whether the people trying to do it actually have power.

wincy 5y ago
This is literally Brave New World stuff. Not exaggerating, the word mother was hugely offensive to the people in that book. Unfortunately we don’t even get the Orgy Porgy parts. It’s like the worst parts of 1984 and Brave New World mixed together.
- vorpalhex 5y ago
  Be the change you want to see in the world?

mikkergp 5y ago

I think this article hints at an important thing though which is that language is contextual. Even if we think that we should describe mothers as birthing persons or fathers as non-birthing parents in the general context, I should be allowed to refer to myself as a father. People of color can re-claim slurs, which a correction to could probably feel paternalistic. There are lots of contexts where certain language is ok, depending on the speaker or the audience. And I guess it means you're not supposed to use google docs for any kind of emotional writing, as it tries to correct "annoyed" or the f word. That and there is this beauty: > A transcribed interview of neo-Nazi and former Klan leader David Duke—in which he uses the N-word and talks about hunting Black people—gets no notes. Radical feminist Valerie Solanas’ SCUM Manifesto gets more edits than Duke’s tirade; she should use “police officers” instead of “policemen,”

cowl 5y ago
> Even if we think that we should describe mothers as birthing persons Mother definitely does not mean birthing person. The easiest example is adoption. Would would you call the mother in that case? Adoptive Female Parent goes again against the 'rule' because it has female in there. Parent 1/Parent 2? no it has Hierarchy.
- foota 5y ago
  I think you're looking for the word parent?
  - namelessoracle 5y ago
    Single parenthood does seem to be what those of a certain ideological bent push yes.
    - foota 5y ago
      Not sure what you're implying, but I just mean why can't parents just be called parents? There's no need for a gendered word.
  - goatlover 5y ago
    A female parent is a mother. That's what their children call them, not "parent", with allowances for foster children and older adopted kids calling them by their first name.
    - npteljes 5y ago
      I don't think calling a parent 'mother' is something children do by themselves. They call them however they end up calling them, or whatever their parents teach them. Also certainly not 'mother', rather 'mum', 'mom'... and the Turkish children say anne.
mgdlbp 5y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pragmatics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pragmatics

trollied 5y ago

Ok, but it makes no sense in the first place? “Motherboard” has long been a technical computer term, that even somebody with a passive interest in computers would understand. You would have to make an effort to be offended by it in some way. I fail to understand what’s going on these days. Words change their meaning over decades. A small minority seem hellbent on kicking up a storm to change popular usage, where no offense or other meaning is implied in general modern usage.

imgabe 5y ago

Considering the word “mother” - a concept that is about as universally understood across the whole of humanity as it is possible for a concept to be - “problematic“ is itself a sign that this movement has gone off the deep end. It doesn't even make sense that an AI model trained on normal writing samples would flag that as problematic, since it is not considered so by the vast majority of people. Unless the model was trained exclusively on the most extreme Tumblr posts, it suggests that fringe Google employees are injecting their personal ideology into the products. The vast, vast majority of people do not want their mothers erased from the language.