Being Correct and Being Clear

Louisa Gilder, daughter of George Gilder, recently wrote a book on quantum spookiness. This is fun stuff. Anyway, in her diavlogue with George Johnson on Blogginheads, she makes a neat observation about Bohr's rhetoric. He would speak with such care about not being wrong, qualifying various statements, that it was difficult to know exactly what he meant.

Over on Overcoming Bias, Robin Hansen stresses that people should care primarily about the truth. One problem, as Bohr demonstrates, if you emphasize the truth too much, and are very careful to note exceptions, qualifications, and everything else, it isn't clear what you say.