Tuesday, July 05, 2011

The Smarter You Are, The More Likely It Is You Dismiss Global Warming

So say these academics (three of them from Yale!) in a paper they've written on the subject:
On the whole, the most scientifically literate and numerate subjects were slightly less likely, not more, to see climate change as a serious threat than the least scientifically literate and numerate ones. More importantly, greater scientific literacy and numeracy were associated with greater cultural polarization: Respondents predisposed by their values to dismiss climate change evidence became more dismissive, and those predisposed by their values to credit such evidence more concerned, as science literacy and numeracy increased.
But note the last line: if you want to believe in global warming, increased math and science knowledge feeds that belief. Interesting.

5 comments:

  1. That's beautiful, Darren. Beautiful.

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  2. ...I never knew I was a genius.

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  3. Lots of us geniuses out here in the world :-)

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  4. PeggyU11:40 AM

    Was listening to Rush, and apparently some environmental scientist has done a study that concluded that China's burning of coal has produced emissions that have kept global warming in check for the last decade. Michael Mann coauthored the study.

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  5. I read that in the news yesterday, it's supposedly the sulphur in the emissions that's causing it. Hadn't heard that MM was involved, though!

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