I knew I wasn't going to like this article just from the title. This is a common device in modern US journalism. Never ending articles on why "we" do or don't like this or that. And almost inevitably I find myself saying "who's we sucker?"

I agree with Alan4Discussion and others, the reasoning here is weak. There is nothing at all intuitive about saying the earth is 6K years old and the author seems to be reading an awful lot into a few second (or msecond?) delay.

This is the last time I'll promote the book, but I think a much better explanation is in Robert Trivers book The Folly of Fools about human self deception. Many humans are intellectually lazy. They seek out information that confirms their pre-existing beliefs and discount information that contradicts them. They also are less likely to be receptive to ideas that would put them outside the shared beliefs of their friends and family.

Of course for us misanthropes that's not an issue.