In contract law, there's this thing called a “representation”. Example: as part of a contract to sell my house, I might “represent that” the house contains no asbestos. How is this different from me just, y’know, telling someone that the house contains no asbestos? Well, if it later turns out that the house does contain asbestos, I’ll be liable for any damages caused by the asbestos (like e.g. the cost of removing it).

In other words: a contractual representation is a factual claim along with insurance against that claim being false.

I claim[1] that people often interpret everyday factual claims and predictions in a way similar to contractual representations. Because “representation” is egregiously confusing jargon, I’m going to call this phenomenon “assurance”.

Prototypical example: I tell my friend that I plan to go to a party around 9 pm, and I’m willing to give them a ride. My friend [...]

The original text contained 1 footnote which was omitted from this narration.

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