Spring, 1992 (v4n3)
	From the Director The Problems of Science Pesticides in water, animal waste problems, automobile pollution, and the lack of urban recycling are examples of the "loop" not being closed in our human systems. These problems are often laid at the doorstep of the scientific community. As scientific technology has become more complex, however, technology may only solve part of the problem, and in some cases may create problems. There are limits to what technology and science can do. How can science improve the way it deals with contemporary issues? The answer to part of the question, I believe, lies in understanding how science is organized. Much of what we believe and how we operate is a result of thinking that was advanced by Bacon, Descartes, and Newton during the 1500s to 1700s. They believed scientists should seek knowledge to dominate and control nature. They also believed all problems could be broken into pieces. Reductionism in science was the belief that all aspects of complex phenomena could be understood by reducing them to their constituent parts. The material universe was considered to behave like a machine. Natural and human-made systems are not machines, yet much of our science starts with this premise. As long as we continue to study pieces of a particular problem, and not examine the whole system, we will come up short. Those of us in academic institutions and other agencies attempting to deal with current problems need to understand that the "small box of reductionism" will continue to cause credibility problems for the scientific community and any "answers" it finds. If as much effort were invested in creative systems approach research as is expended for reductionist research, the result could be more useable information for those of us attempting to manage the vast and complex problems we face. The agricultural systems conference presented at UC Davis last November (see article this page), which focused on relationships between production practices and social and environmental issues, was a positive step toward broadening the way we look at the world's food production system. Bill Liebhardt, director, UC Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education Program. [ Back | Search | Feedback ]