… There has been considerable interest in specific demographic breakdowns of the general public’s answers to science-related questions that Pew Research covered in its recent report on science issues and the gaps between citizens and scientists’ opinions on a range of issues. Here are additional demographic breakdowns of views among […] Read more »
Why you can ignore that survey showing Americans want to label food containing DNA
Here’s the headline: “80% Of Americans Support Mandatory Labels On Foods Containing DNA. DNA!” Hahaha! Americans are so dumb etc etc. … As the philosopher H. P. Grice noted many years ago, people try to give informative answers. And this leads to problems when you try to directly interpret the […] Read more »
How Much Do Our Genes Influence Our Political Beliefs?
It’s been a key question of American politics since at least 1968: Why do so many poor, working-class and lower-middle-class whites — many of them dependent for survival on government programs — vote for Republicans? The debate over the motives of conservative low-income white voters remains unresolved, but two recent […] Read more »
Are Our Political Beliefs Encoded in Our DNA?
In December, 2008, The New York Times Magazine reported on the emerging science of “genopolitics.” “For years,” Emily Biuso wrote, “scholars have assumed that a voter pulls the lever because she grew up in a voting household or perhaps sat through a lot of civics classes. But this year two political […] Read more »