The made the mistake of asking this to my gf who is a teacher for visually impaired kids. Braille is reading, and listening to earbuds is not reading. We teach our sighted kids to read even though they could just all have audiobooks, just like we should teach children Braille even though they can still listen.
Another good argument she made was it's about multiplexing. What if someone wanted to learn the time while listening to an engaging conversation, they wouldn't want to stop listening just to check the time.
What kind of logic is "people need to do something more difficult because it's easier for people who aren't the same as me"?
Also, who's to say that people shouldn't be encouraged to use audiobooks rather then read text-based liturature? When listening to an audio book I can do many other things like study for an exam or program. I can't read a book via text and write software at the same time.
I don't think we should handicap people by making them feel like it's "better" to do something that's harder for them for some reason. Blind or not.
> Another good argument she made was it's about multiplexing. What if someone wanted to learn the time while listening to an engaging conversation, they wouldn't want to stop listening just to check the time.
Most people don't wear watches and it's usualy considered rude to pull out your phone mid-convorsation. I always wear a watch and so people just say "do you have the time"?
If you can't ask Siri you can just ask whoever you're talking to. Also, if you express you want to know the time and they say "I don't know" you can then just ask Siri and tell them. It works out nicely.
> Most people don't wear watches and it's usualy considered rude to pull out your phone mid-convorsation. I always wear a watch and so people just say "do you have the time"?
> If you can't ask Siri you can just ask whoever you're talking to. Also, if you express you want to know the time and they say "I don't know" you can then just ask Siri and tell them. It works out nicely.
The point is that people _can_ look at their watch or smartphone while still listening in on the conversation. It's hard to hear and pay attention to two different things at the same time.
> Why don't you just study for your exam and write code in audio?
I see no reason why, given enough work, a sufficient audio-interfaced IDE cannot be created. I think that is the way we should go. A real AI tied to a speach processor and a polog-like system would be the best UX for programming possible.
Think of Star Trek, "Computer, do X, Y, Z and then run that program".
I definetly don't think text is the best interface with a computer or any system for that matter. That's why I'm saying what I'm saying.
And for now, we're talking about telling the time, not expressing a perfect proof for infinitly complex ideas. I think Siri is good enough for that query as it stands.
Another good argument she made was it's about multiplexing. What if someone wanted to learn the time while listening to an engaging conversation, they wouldn't want to stop listening just to check the time.