Coffee With Scott Adams — Knowledge Archive October 12, 2026
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NewsReaction Persuasion

Back to episode — Episode 2574 CWSA 08/22/24

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m on in here and get excited. Good morning, everybody, and welcome to the highlight of human civilization. It's called Coffee with Scott Adams, the best time you'll ever have in your whole life. And if you'd like to take this experience up to levels that nobody can even understand with their tiny shiny human brains, all you need is a cup or mug or a glass, a tankard, chalice or stein, a canteen,…

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p, and it happens now.

Oh, oh, oh. That's good stuff.

Well, let's talk about some fun science updates and then politics. Politics we'll get to it. So there's some research published in Science Advances saying that the simpler your headline, the more clicks you get. That's right. If people reading the news see your headline and they understand what all the words mean, they're more likely to click it. If they don't understand what you're trying to say in the headline or it's a little too clever, they won't click it because why would they? They don't even know what it's about.

Now who could have told you that without the research? Who could have told you that if you understand what the topic is of the story, you're more likely to click it versus not knowing what the story is about because they use big confusing words? Oh, they could have asked me. They could have saved some money. "Scott, we're thinking of doing this study to see if dumbass big freaking academic-looking titles get as many clicks as clear, fun, short ones." And I would have said, "Whoa, good thing you asked me. Save your money. Those clear short ones are going to get more interest."

Now here's the fun part. How many of you remember back in 2015 and 2016 when Donald Trump was considered the dumbest person in all of public life because when he talked, he talked like he had a sixth-grade vocabulary? I mean, my goodness, how could he possibly be a president with a sixth-grade vocabulary? He's always using simple words. And what's wrong with that guy, huh? And then I told you that's perfect. The thing they're criticizing is the best communication style of all time according to every study and every observable experience.

When was the last

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time you heard the media criticize Trump for his simplistic communication style? Bet you didn't realize it completely disappeared, didn't it? What? Honestly, it's been years. I think it's been years since they brought that up. "Oh, he uses simple vocabulary." Do you know why? Because at this point everybody figured out that was the better way to communicate because the world is not as smart as wri…

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