> who is lauded as one of the greatest minds of our time.
Says who, really? A lot of Economics Nobel Prize Winners have been chosen because of their "compatibility" with modern politics, not for the merit of their work.
The economics prize wasn't even one of the orginal prizes that Nobel created. It was almost definitely invented to justify Western political ideology. I believe the other prizes largely serve a similar purpose these days too, just think of that Obama peace prize.
Please explain to me how the 2017 Nobel Prize for "developing cryo-electron microscopy for the high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solution" is meant to "justify Western political ideology." Or maybe the one for "decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves is easier." Or maybe "their discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm."
There's definitely a trend of scientists from e.g. Russia claiming to have been the originators of ideas that others got prizes for.
Academia in general tends to be very Western-centric and so these kinds of issues - and all the other problems with Western cultural hegemony (patriarchy, racism etc.) - are pervasive in all facets of it.
While you certainly have a point, I never suggested that this wasn't the case. Just that these problems are not absent from certain institutions which many of us perceive as being "objective".
Says who, really? A lot of Economics Nobel Prize Winners have been chosen because of their "compatibility" with modern politics, not for the merit of their work.