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submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by belluck to c/books@lemmy.world

It just seems incredibly odd for there to be so many lines in a book about gender insisting that there is no way to refer to someone (in the English language, at least) without implying gender. She even mentions the possibility of using „it“ at one point!

I’m liking the book otherwise, but every time the narrators ponder about pronouns without even considering „they“ I have to ask myself if there is any point in ignoring it or if she genuinely just forgot. I don’t think it’s possible for her to have not known about it considering how well-read she was and how long it’s been in use.

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[-] ZDL@lazysoci.al 4 points 2 weeks ago

So you got AI to hallucinate a summary of a 1975 paper.

To talk about a book published in 1969.

Weird that the AI didn't summarize what Le Guin herself said on the topic.

It's almost as if reaching for AI isn't the smartest idea.

[-] atx_aquarian@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

I think you saw me say "AI" and replied too quickly. I didn't cite Le Guin. I used AI as a search tool to highlight one example of a paper discussing how the neutral "they" was commonplace during the time. I know it's just search results, which is why I disclaimed it was as such. Then I included the paper's abstract, which stands on its own enough to make the point that talking about a hypothetical era without the neutral "they" is not applicable to 1969.

this post was submitted on 27 May 2026
34 points (100.0% liked)

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