Richard Feynman: Do We Live in A Cargo Cult Society?

Absolutely. The biggest offenders in software engineering are the things people integrate into their identity (i.e. "I'm an Agile manager", "I'm a Java architect", "I'm a Lisp hacker"). Another red flag is when there are no clear ways of testing a hypothesis (i.e. "NoSQL databases are better for this task", "This management methodology is best for our organization", "Outsourcing is great if you do so-and-so"). Most, if not all, of the opinions regarding industrial software engineering are based in anecdotal experience, without the tiniest thought given to controlled experiments. C'est la vie.

PS: what's most confusing, for me, is that it seems impossible to fix all of the variables necessary to answer a question like "what technology is best for this real-world problem?". I've yet to hear of any good ways of systematically measuring the effect of technology choices on programmer productivity.

This is also the reason that fields like nutrition science aren't generally all that useful if what you want to do something like offer diet advice. There are just too many shifting pieces to offer a systematic explanation of what's going on, at least with the experimental limits we have right now. You can only track so many variables at once.

You listen to science and not to crackpots who pretend to do science. Note that most advice regarding nutrition appearing in newspapers/blogs is total crap (as opposed to science).

If you can't distinguish science from crap (or can't be bothered to search for science) I would suggest you go with what seems reasonable to yourself.

I feel like we go round and round, dealing with the same problems that our ancestors had to deal with.

What I see here is part of the human condition. Pitfalls that "most" people are doomed to repeat. People are born with similar ways of thinking. I would propose that intuition is most always wrong. This is one reason we must educate people. Unfortunately, Memories and Communication are not precise. And I realize that all job fields require some sort of education or training.

There exist Complex ideas, technologies, material things (eg. biology): that are not comprehensible by one single person at a time. This is why we have groups of people that make products and not individuals.

Also people age, lose their usefulness. If only you could educate people who would increase their intelligence, and never die.

We live in a world of conclusions based on facts. A conclusion can be wrong, a fact cannot. News media, blogs, conversation are an exchange of conclusions. We can't communicate in just facts because we can't work with that much data at a time.

If only, one could link to another: a computer or another brain and be able to access knowledge and its accuracy. Is this possible, I don't know.

There are many problems worth fixing (but probably won't any time soon): a phonetic english alphabet with a different letter for each unique sound, Human Language to AI command compiler, optimize human mental process (engineer the human mind), build biospheres in inhospitable regions of the Earth, Fast internet that is cheap (100Mb/s (and I mean Megabit)) -> HD remote controlled robots, Tactile feedback for TV just like we have visual and sound, Engineer ways of rejuvenating/regeneration of humans so we can control our lifespan, Creating or finding what makes humans "sentient" or "have a soul" or "conscious" or "self-aware" -> Preserve this "consciousness" without a body for long trips of space flight

you have to downgrade from induction to deduction. given the environment humans evolved in and what we know about primate digestive systems, what is unlikely to do me harm? answer: fruit, nuts, eggs. what is the biggest thing we do that monkeys don't? eat tons of processed grains.

simple answer: decrease processed carb intake, replace with fruit (primate diets are often 50% fruit). since eating no grains isn't an option, eat the ones considered healthier: corn, beans, brown rice.