111 Quotes by Evan Davis

When it comes to communication, things never change and yet things are always changing.

It is often by our bullshit that we reveal our allegiance. Our words convey a sense of belonging to a particular club. And because it is a subtle form of communication, it is harder to fake that an explicit statement of loyalty.

We all also suffer from confirmation bias, the tendency to spot evidence in support of a proposition that we already think is true. So it is not always the case that people start with a belief and then set out to communicate it; much of the bullshit to which we are exposed comes from folks who have a compelling reason to communicate something and then come to believe it. Or to think they believe it.

Lacing prose with supposed facts that actually lack meaning is but one case of a more general habit of writing text superfluous to the goal of relaying information.

Our language is shaped by the context in which we are communicating: we select the words that fit our function.

Remember the [burnt] gooseberry tart: the polite comment tells the host nothing about the pudding, but a lot about the guest.

It’s not about the fact of the matter as such, it is about the sentiment beneath. You can apply all the usual fact-checking tools to the literal claim, but the real point is always buried in the subtitles, and no amount of correction will belie that.

The information we are fed is largely based on the information we choose to consume.

...illustrates the complex relationship between language and message. Words are intricate enough, but the way they are said adds a while extra dimension to the problem of interpretation.