When Mercer spoke to the academics about matters unrelated to their project, he often shared a disdain for taxes and a skepticism of climate change, recalls Tim Cooper, a physics professor. Once, Mercer rattled off an array of statistics to demonstrate that nature emits more carbon dioxide than humans. Later, when Cooper checked the data, it was accurate, but Mercer had overlooked the fact that nature absorbs as much carbon dioxide as it emits, which mankind does not. “It sounded like someone had got to him,” Cooper says. “Even a smart guy can get the details right but the big picture wrong.”
