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Cargo Cult Science (1974)

physics.brocku.ca

1–10 of 42 posts

Re: Cargo Cult Science (1974)

#2
I know this is a classic and all, but I really feel like this would be a lot better if it actually broke down the mythology of science history rather than just being like, yup, this is the Ultimate Age of Reason™ but there's a lot of people who just can't get with the program for some reason.

Re: Cargo Cult Science (1974)

#3
For reference, previously on HN

- 8 months ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11669004

- 3 years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6543791

- 6 years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1629571

- 7 years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=723140

https://hn.algolia.com/?query=Cargo%20Cult%20Science&sort=by...

Re: Cargo Cult Science (1974)

#5
I feel a lot of the things described in the article is happening in fields like information security now. It was interesting listening to the 33C3 talk "In Search of Evidence-Based IT-Security"[1] a couple of days ago and read this Feynman-article now.

The article may have been posted before, but it was new to me.

[1] https://media.ccc.de/v/33c3-8169-in_search_of_evidence-based...

Re: Cargo Cult Science (1974)

#6
The thing that interests me about Cargo Culting in general is the extent to which it is actually a means of learning - admittedly a very inefficient means.

I wrote down my thoughts on this twice:

http://www.selectedintelligence.com/post/42868061516/cargo-c...

http://www.selectedintelligence.com/post/52795739838/cargo-c...

Re: Cargo Cult Science (1974)

#7

I often use the term 'Cargo Cult Programming'. Not a very large but significant amount of developers fall into that category sadly.

I've always wondered about 'Cargo Cult' with reference to software development. When you write software you are expecting a certain result. Surely if you don't get the result, you try something else.

EDIT: ah right. So you 'may' get the result, but it's not due to the thing you have ascribed it to.

Re: Cargo Cult Science (1974)

#9
post #2

I know this is a classic and all, but I really feel like this would be a lot better if it actually broke down the mythology of science history rather than just being like, yup, this is the Ultimate Age of Reason™ but there's a lot of people who just can't get with the program for some reason.

I'm not sure Feynman was arguing that it was the Ultimate Age of Reason™. Hence "And I've concluded that it's not a scientific world."

Re: Cargo Cult Science (1974)

#10
post #7

I often use the term 'Cargo Cult Programming'. Not a very large but significant amount of developers fall into that category sadly.

I've always wondered about 'Cargo Cult' with reference to software development. When you write software you are expecting a certain result. Surely if you don't get the result, you try something else. EDIT: ah right. So you 'may' get the result, but it's not due to the thing you have ascribed it to.

Wikipedia actually has an article on "Cargo cult programming". They have it as "the ritual inclusion of code or program structures that serve no real purpose".
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