I hate to use a dictation software to write a piece that I typically write with my own two hands and ten fingers but I’m not entirely sure that I see the difference between typing out a hundred words a minute on a mobile phone versus saying something a little more slowly to a stenographer application. I use Wispr Flow
I’m sure if you are a Paul Kingsnorth type, you would be happy to remind us that we’ve lost the “steno-pools” filled with women whose job was knowing just how to speed their notes to keep the dictation flowing. Those jobs are gone as the personal computer made its debut.
Steno-pools turned into secretaries for executives and eventually secretaries were more ornamental than practical. And then suddenly the private secretaries who worked for the aristocracy were working for any number of corporations, governments and utilities. Imagine if you could become one yourself. Or have access to one for your own personal letters.
The original pitch for Uber wasn’t a taxi for every user but a black car for every person. So I imagine dictation software is a little bit like saying, “We’ve got a stenographer for everyone.”
I don’t mind writing as I can write just a little bit faster than I can talk. And I often find that my dictation is less pulled together than my writing. But isn’t it funny that we should have reached this point so many centuries later? Yeah.