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Larry Hamilton

@ichiloe.bsky.social

3.6K followers 2.2K following 980 posts

Survey research on public views of science & environment; climate change; human/environment interactions; society in the Arctic. Also: walking with my dog through the woods, and gazing at the night sky.

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Larry Hamilton @ichiloe.bsky.social · Aug 6

Can the government control hurricanes? New survey results on conspiracies and science. 🧪 #sociology #survey carsey.unh.edu/publication/...

Abstract

In this brief, author Lawrence Hamilton explores the results of a nationwide 2025 survey that asked over 1,000 people whether they agreed with conspiratorial claims such as government control of hurricanes, flat Earth, or faked Moon landings. Mixed in with the conspiracy questions were others asking about agreement with basic scientific facts such as Earth orbiting the Sun. Nine to 38 percent agreed with the conspiracies whereas 40 to 75 percent agreed with the science; many others were unsure.

Generation and political identity both correlate with conspiracism. Gen X, Millennial, and Gen Z respondents more often agreed with conspiratorial statements; Harris voters were significantly less conspiratorial than Trump, third-party, or nonvoters. Information sources also make a difference: people who seek science information through social media or artificial intelligence (AI) programs hold more conspiratorial views than those consulting search engines, Wikipedia, or science articles.

Comparison of these 2025 results with an earlier 2021 survey that asked some of the same questions found minor shifts, leaning toward greater support for conspiracies or less for science. This two-survey comparison along with generational, political, and social-media/AI patterns all suggest a growing role for conspiracism and weakening regard for science in U.S. public life. Individuals can counter these trends by actively learning to spot differences between science-based information and other claims that are wrong or intentionally misleading, and by sharing their insights in interpersonal or public discussions. Broader progress against conspiracism calls for enacting public policy measures that encourage robust media fact-checking, and laws against presenting AI fabrications as real.

Bar graph showing percent agree, unsure, or disagree with 14 science or conspiracy statements. Agreement ranges from 9% for "rabies vaccine causes dog autism" and 10% for Earth is flat, to 69% for vaccines have mostly been beneficial" and 75% for Earth makes yearly orbit of Sun.

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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 6h

Such a ridiculously obvious hit piece.

What Happens When Socialists Are in Charge? Portland Offers a Glimpse.

www.nytimes.com

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Larry Hamilton @ichiloe.bsky.social · 7h

Back in grade school I read science fiction where the Andromeda galaxy seemed to often play a role. So I took a toy telescope and star chart outdoors and tried to see it for myself. Without much success then, but the sense of wonder has persisted all these years.

Larry Hamilton @ichiloe.bsky.social · 8h

Finding peace at night in my backyard.🔭

Backyard telescope photo of Andromeda galaxy in a field of smaller galaxies and stars.

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Mrs. Betty Bowers @mrsbettybowers.bsky.social · 9h

This sadly demented man doesn't realize *he* was president on Jan 6, 2021. Get him in an assisted living facility ASAP.

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Miaganga @miaganga.bsky.social · 22h

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Alan Dettlaff @alandettlaff.com · 1d

Yesterday I was told that the class I’m scheduled to teach this month, Confronting Oppression & Injustice, is no longer part of our curriculum. This is a required class yet there was no discussion, no faculty vote, just an email saying the class no longer exists. This is what it’s like in Texas now.

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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 1d

Yup.

Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 1d

The reason the ICE videos aren’t producing a backlash of that scale (yet) is that our institutional elites are deeply committed to ignoring them, which both reduces their spread and reduces the sense that this is something important we SHOULD be freaking out about.

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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 1d

Per CDC source: At internal leadership meeting this afternoon, it was shared that 1,257 people were RIF'd at CDC. Number may not be final. Apparently, chief of staff was unaware that RIFs were going to occur so not clear who is making decisions. (Short 🧵)

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Old White Nepo Hat @kenwhite.bsky.social · 1d

Should the New York Times be sold to Pennysaver and its editors sent to work in Amazon warehouses? It depends on who you ask.

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George Conway 👊🇺🇸🔥 @gtconway.bsky.social · 1d

Is it just me, or does it seem the press is actually and completely terrified to report about Donald Trump's physical and mental health the way it would have if anyone else were president?

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Jon Cooper @joncooper-us.bsky.social · 2d

Memo to Future Historians: This Is Fascism, and Millions of Us See It

From Chicago to Portland, James Comey to Letitia James, and so much else—this is no longer America.

Memo to Future Historians: This Is Fascism, and Millions of Us See It

From Chicago to Portland, James Comey to Letitia James, and so much else—this is no longer America.

newrepublic.com

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Dr. Genevieve Guenther (she/they) @doctorvive.bsky.social · 2d

The attack on @frediotto.bsky.social was seeded years ago by Roger Pielke Jr, who started arguing that this table from a recent @ipcc.bsky.social report proved that climate science cannot attribute extreme weather to climate change.

But Roger is of course lying. And we know this for 2 reasons.

🧵

CLIMATEWIRE
Climate critics try to discredit IPCC author for linking
disasters to global warming
By LESLEY CLARK, SARA SCHONHARDT, CHELSEA HARVEY | 10/09/2025
06:22 AM EDT Roger Pielke Jr. and oil industry supporters are attacking climate scientist Friederike Otto, whose
work has been used in lawsuits against polluters.

Table 12.12 | Emergence of CIDs in different time periods, as assessed in this section. The colour contesponds to the confidence of the region with the highest confidence: white cells indicate where evidence is lacking or the signal is not present, leading to overal bu confidence of an emerging signal.

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rabagast @rabagast.bsky.social · 3d

tbh the most unsettling thing about living in norway the day before the nobel peace prize is announced, is being constantly reminded exactly how many people have us confused with sweden (IKEA is not our problem) and/or denmark (our last settlement in greenland was abandoned/died out ~600 years ago).

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Jessica Ellis @baddestmamajama.bsky.social · 4d

Honest to god the biggest scam in America right now is whatever Dem consultants are being paid

Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 4d

Durbin on whether Democrats can use reining in ICE in Chicago as a precondition to rein in the government says “can’t do that. It’s gotta be health care all the way.”

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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 4d

no they're LITERALLY exaggerating this issue. there is absolutely no data backing up their claims. ffs just say that!!

NBC news: The discussions come as Trump has sought to deploy National Guard troops in several major cities — including Los Angeles, Chicago and Portland, Oregon — saying they’re needed to reduce crime and protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials from protesters. Critics have said that the Trump administration is exaggerating issues in those cities.

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 4d

Pritzker: "He said he was going after the worst of the worst. It's not going after the worst of the worst when you're just literally stopping children who happen to be brown & asking them for papers as if they're gonna have proof they're a citizen. Pull out your phones and film everything you see"

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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 5d

Everything they are doing & saying right now is very obviously meant to clear the way for mass repressive violence.

Fact checking is not going to do shit.

Talking about kitchen table issues is not going to do shit.

We need open, unapologetic defiance & conflict.

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Larry Hamilton @ichiloe.bsky.social · 5d

@grahamformaine.bsky.social is a refreshing & hopeful note in dark times. If he can win the nomination he should easily beat Collins.

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Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 5d

bluesky desperately needs a competent comms team

having random devs fling off the cuff retorts at pissed off trans folk ain't it

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Kat Tenbarge @kattenbarge.bsky.social · 6d

All these suspensions are... a really bad omen, to put it lightly

Rick Caruso’s Private Fire Crew @amandasmith.bsky.social · 6d

The all-knowing bsky mods gave Erin Biba a 24 hour suspension for a months-old skeet about Christian Zionism, and I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that this happened when she’s been vocally criticizing Jay

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Mia Farrow @miafarrow.bsky.social · 5d

I think Greta Thunberg deserves a @NobelPrize and more.
But what she really wants is an end to the starvation, maiming and killing of Gaza’s entrapped and helpless civilians, - and of course the respect and care our Earth requires

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David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 6d

Just dug this up as a clear example of fitting a complex nuanced narrative into a single social media post for my masterclass in public science engagement using online tools

Katharine Hayhoe @katharinehayhoe.com · Nov 19

Climate Change:

It's real.

It's us.

It's serious - and already dangerous.

But there are solutions.

The science is clear: the faster we cut emissions, the less suffering we will cause, and the better off we'll all be.

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Julia Carrie Wong @joolia.bsky.social · 5d

its funny how not a single actual journalist has been like, “actually she’s good at journalism”

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The Frito Bandito @thefritobanditoo.bsky.social · 6d

Guys, every person you see on Fox News in a mask is just Robert O'Neill, retired Navy Seal and occasional Fox News contributor. He's the former Antifa, former Gazan, former gang member. His eyes are very unique.

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Joe Walsh @walshfreedom.bsky.social · 6d

There’s just not enough attention being paid to how unqualified, psychologically unfit, and dangerous so many of these new ICE hires potentially are.

If we had a Congress, there’d be investigations & oversight into this.

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