Communication

By producing resumes, essays, jokes and even poetry in response to prompts, the software brings into focus not just language models’ arresting power, but the importance of framing our questions correctly.

For all the joy they bring, families and close friendships often involve conflict, betrayal, regret and resentment.

The demise of marriages and relationships in general, is not over money, children, or health but crummy communication styles. 

“Compassionate listening” is critical to interpersonal and political communication, because without it, more talking can exacerbate the existing divides and misunderstandings.

Email is often a means of informal communication. As such, you can dramatically decrease the amount of time spent on email with short, efficient replies. Dispense with formalities whenever possible and in­crease efficiency.

Listening to people talk about views that clash with your own can be galling. Families all over the world avoid controversial topics. In the UK, for example, mention Brexit and watch everyone in the room tense up.

Lying is typically viewed negatively. In fact, being judged a liar is often seen as one of the worst characteristics you can ascribe to someone.

Repeated storytelling is a key method for elders to communicate what they believe to be important to their children and loved ones.  

People’s first instinct when engaging with conspiracy believers is often to try and debunk their ideas with factual and authoritative information.

Events like the riots in Brazil, the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection two years before it and the mass shooting at the Colorado LGBTQ nightclub each occurred after certain groups repeatedly directed dangerous rhetoric against others.

What if you could do something that would help restore memories in some of the people you love?

Sometimes, you just can't relate to your relatives. Whether it's sports, politics, or past events, gathering around a dinner table during the holiday season can be a daunting prospect.

Swearing was long assumed a sign of aggression, weak language proficiency or even low intelligence. We now have quite a lot of evidence that challenges this view, prompting us to reconsider the nature – and power – of swearing.

In conversations with strangers, people tend to think they should speak less than half the time to be likable but more than half the time to be interesting, according to new research

Gossip gets a bad rap – from tabloids full of salacious celebrity gossip, to the badly-behaved teens of television programmes like Gossip Girl.

Collective action is often the key to creating dramatic social or environmental changes, be it reducing pollution and waste, diminishing overfishing by sourcing alternatives, or getting more scientists to openly share their data with others.

Whataboutism is an argumentative tactic where a person or group responds to an accusation or difficult question by deflection. Instead of addressing the point made, they counter it with “but what about X?”.

Writing things down is a good way to practice truth telling.

I don’t believe we ever “master” the art of learning to communicate effectively. But we do get more skilled at witnessing ourselves and making new choices. One note of caution: Speaking your truth does not mean you always say everything you are thinking.

All of us like to be right. We all have egos, some of us stronger than others. Of course, sometimes we are clearly right, and it may be important to stand up for what we know to be true. But other times we are not right.

There’s no doubt many of us avoid giving feedback. It can feel awkward to tell somebody they have something in their teeth, or elsewhere.

For 99.9% of human history, the way we lived was all about connection. What our hunter-gatherer ancestors prioritized above all things was our connection to ourselves, one another, and the Living World.

For 99.9% of human history, the way we lived was all about connection. What our hunter-gatherer ancestors prioritized above all things was our connection to ourselves, one another, and the Living World.