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Quote by Keith Devlin

“I've never met Hans Rosling, but I just knew him through his many YouTube videos, and they were absolute dynamite.”

Quote by Keith Devlin

Author

Keith Devlin is a renowned mathematician, writer, and public speaker. Born on March 16, 1947, in the United Kingdom, he later moved to the United States. Devlin has conducted extensive research in mathematics, particularly in number theory, graph theory, and combinatorics. His work encompasses a wide range of topics, including mathematics education, mathematical philosophy, and the application of mathematics in modern society. more

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“I saw the first one [video with Hans Rosling ] when he did - I think it was his first one - in 2006, a TED Talk. And for the first time in my life, I thought here's someone who can take statistics that most people regard as dull and boring and bring it alive.”

People Thinking Firsts Saws Alive First Time Regard Boring Video Dull Statistics Ted Talks

Author:Keith Devlin

“There is a connection between environment and stress on both ends, with excessive clutter and excessive attention to detail both holding the power to distract us from our ability to love fully, work productively and relax effectively. So, what makes sense to me is for each of us to think this through on a few fronts: what constitutes a comfortable environment for us, how much effort we're willing to put into it relative to other priorities, and how well-matched we need our partners' preferences to be to ours.”

“All of us assign different values to things, and not all of those values are going to line up with others'.”

Different Values Lines Different Values

Author:Carolyn Hax

“In fact, we tend to think things have been getting much worse. In fact, over the last 50 years, almost everything in the world on a global scale has got better. And the way that Hans [ Rosling] did this - it was very good.”

Thinking World Way Years Has Beens Facts Lasts Very Good Scales

Author:Keith Devlin

“The United States has to move very fast to even stand still.”

Stills States America Moving United United States Progress

Book:Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1963

Source: Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1963

“If you are being shuffled around, then you should feel shuffled around.”

Ifs Feels Should

Author:Carolyn Hax

“Hans Rosling typically would go into the room, and he would ask the audience questions. Often they had to answer them with clickers or raising their hands or something. We get [data] wrong because 50 years ago that wasn't the case and because we haven't had these graphics we don't realize that over the last 30, 40, 50 years things have changed dramatically. And you see how the world has been getting a better, safer, more homogeneous place. It just has.”

World Years Has Beens Hands Lasts Asks Realizing Answers Rooms Cases Audience Havens Changed Years Ago Data Things Have Changed Homogeneous

Author:Keith Devlin

“A lot of support gets withheld out of fear of awkwardness and misspeaking.”

Support Awkwardness

Author:Carolyn Hax

“Some of the justifiable critiques has been by - been so successful in telling this story, you know, there's a danger of saying, oh, well, you know, we don't need to worry about this because that's absolutely not the case. What [Hans] Rosling is doing is showing us an overall global trend, which in a sense tells us how bad things were - doesn't mean to say the problems are gone, doesn't mean to say they're any less.”

Knows Needs Wells Mean Has Beens Stories Problem Cases Worry Gone Successful Danger Bad Things Trends Critique Oh Well

Author:Keith Devlin

“In fact, when you try to use [Hans Rosling] data to predict the future, all sorts of problems arise. But what it does do is say, hey, just catch your breath a minute and see what's really been going on. We do have reason to feel good about the fact we've made progress.”

Feels Trying Doe Made Reason Facts Use Problem Progress Minutes Breaths Arise Feel Good Hey Data

Author:Keith Devlin