WIRED:

Voice is the primordial human medium. Newborns recognize their mother’s voice the moment they’re born, having heard a muffled version of it in utero. In extremis, we scream or cry for help or joy. Even our most abstractly textual or computerized communications are framed as “conversations," mimicking the kind of face-to-face dialogue—rich with body language, subtext, emotional warmth, and innuendo—whose increasing absence has spawned a hundred virtual substitutes. And now that our digital platforms are finally sophisticated enough to turn vocal interactions—listening and/or speaking—into yet another Internet-scale, monetizable platform, voice will soon emerge as the most important content and commerce medium in the world.

Three separate epiphanies got me thinking about this pivot to voice, and while they are highly personal, it turns out there are real numbers behind the anecdata.

New piece by Antonio GarcÁ­a MartÁ­nez on how damned important voice has become to tech.