Viewpoint: Stanford is a world-class science institution … except when it comes to critical thinking about the ‘sustainability myth’ of organic agriculture

Henry Miller | July 27, 2021 

Stanford, which consistently ranks among the top U.S. colleges and universities, is one of the great research institutions in the world. But it is also the source of profound paradoxes — superb science in academic departments, but often uncritically defaulting to embrace trendy, socially attractive notions that actually contradict its well-earned reputation as a cutting-edge, science-grounded institution.

Hardly a month passes without news of a genuinely significant breakthrough in some field of science or technology. One week it might be the discovery of an unorthodox arrangement of wind turbines that increases energy output; the next, a new healing and antibiotic compound from scorpion venom or the application of artificial intelligence to enable people who are paralyzed to communicate by text. But too often, the university allows its relentless virtue signaling to overwhelm rationality and a commitment to science.

Consider the issue of ‘sustainable agriculture,’ a fungible, feel-good term that allows anyone of any ideological persuasion to endorse enthusiastically; after all, who doesn’t want an ecologically healthier world? .............To Read More.....