Principles of the American Cargo Cult (2003)
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Principles of the American Cargo Cult (2003)
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Re: Principles of the American Cargo Cult (2003)
#2Maybe I'm missing some nuance here, but most of these (excepting maybe "Complicated explanations are suspect" and "All interconnection is apparent") just seem like different manifestations of fundamental attribution error.
Re: Principles of the American Cargo Cult (2003)
#3Maybe I'm missing some nuance here, but most of these (excepting maybe "Complicated explanations are suspect" and "All interconnection is apparent") just seem like different manifestations of fundamental attribution error.
At least those do not seem to be:
> There is no long term
> Certainty is strength, doubt is weakness
> Emulate the purported behavior of successful people
> The end supports the explanation of the means
But you're right in that it can be explained by fundamental attribution error in some part. It's still more understandable when the quite broad cognitive error (it's called fundamental for a reason!) is instantiated to some common manifestations.
Re: Principles of the American Cargo Cult (2003)
#4Maybe I'm missing some nuance here, but most of these (excepting maybe "Complicated explanations are suspect" and "All interconnection is apparent") just seem like different manifestations of fundamental attribution error.
It reads like a list of fairly reasonable (imho) grievances, but except for a few they don't really seem related to the cargo cult phenomenon.
Namely these two do seem related to cargo cults: "The end supports the explanation of the means: A successful person's explanation of the means of his success is highly credible by the very fact of his success." "Emulate the purported behavior of successful people: This is the key to the cargo cult. To enjoy the success of another, just mimic his rituals."
But for instance, this one: "Good intentions suffice: You can always apologize." How is a culture of casual forgiveness related to cargo cults? That sounds like a Protestant approach to the topic of forgiveness, and insofar as Protestantism has been influential in America that approach to forgiveness probably does accurately generalize the American public. But where is the cargo cult angle?
Re: Principles of the American Cargo Cult (2003)
#5Maybe I'm missing some nuance here, but most of these (excepting maybe "Complicated explanations are suspect" and "All interconnection is apparent") just seem like different manifestations of fundamental attribution error.
It reads like a list of fairly reasonable (imho) grievances, but except for a few they don't really seem related to the cargo cult phenomenon. Namely these two do seem related to cargo cults: "The end supports the explanation of the means: A successful person's explanation of the means of his success is highly credible by the very fact of his success." "Emulate the purported behavior of successful people: This is the…
the way i read is it that we have the American Cargo Cult and these are some principles that help explain what it is.
E.g. "Good intentions suffice: You can always apologize." When you see everyone just apologizing you internalize that just having good intentions suffice without understanding why this may be the case.
Re: Principles of the American Cargo Cult (2003)
#6Such a terrible experience on mobile. Sigh. WTB a new Internet where only ten html tags are allowed.
Re: Principles of the American Cargo Cult (2003)
#7Such a terrible experience on mobile. Sigh. WTB a new Internet where only ten html tags are allowed.
Re: Principles of the American Cargo Cult (2003)
#8Such a terrible experience on mobile. Sigh. WTB a new Internet where only ten html tags are allowed.
Is it? I find a raw page like this better for pure reading than the majority of “well designed” websites, and reader mode works wonderfully.
Re: Principles of the American Cargo Cult (2003)
#9I found this very helpful. It gives clear language for a number of things I’ve thought and felt about public discourse in America. To name a few in particular, the belief that complicated explanations are suspect and that certainty is strength. I’ve repeatedly observed that successful people seem to have very strong opinions and wondered if that was a contributor to their success.
While it seems most things in this list stem from one or more logical / informal fallacies, the way the principles are categorized and described makes the fallacy obvious and, for me, familiar. Since 2003 when this was published, I believe the network effects of social media have significantly increased the frequency at which these sorts of fallacies are uttered.
What are the systems at work here that lead to this so-called cargo cult? Is it easier, psychologically speaking for people, and Americans in particular, to walk with these mental crutches? Is our education system broken? What variables are at play here?
Re: Principles of the American Cargo Cult (2003)
#10Maybe I'm missing some nuance here, but most of these (excepting maybe "Complicated explanations are suspect" and "All interconnection is apparent") just seem like different manifestations of fundamental attribution error.
Even if they can all be reduced one one generic complaint, seeing the specific manifestations of is spelled out is quite helpful.
In the same way, we teach students the derived results of mathematics, instead of just telling them the axioms and assume they can figure out the consequences themselves.