Cargo cult tech: visit Silicon Valley, copy some striking behavioral traits not practiced in your little corner of the planet and hope that you will "eat the world" somehow.
Cargo cult science (1974)
11–20 of 164 posts
Re: Cargo cult science (1974)
#12If you stumble upon a website that makes the stylistic choice that text should take the whole width of your whole screen, you can toggle the "Reader view" feature in Firefox to put it back into a more usual format (F9 on Windows). If you use Chrome-based browsers, there's bookmarklets (bookmarks with a `javascript:` URI) javascript:(function(){var bod = document.getElementsByTagName("body")[0]; bod.style.margin = "40…
> toggle the "Reader view" feature in Firefox to put it back into a more usual format (F9 on Windows).
Ctrl-Alt-R on Linux.
Re: Cargo cult science (1974)
#13"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts" - Richard Feynman
Re: Cargo cult science (1974)
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
When people talk about essential oils in contexts like these, they're most likely referring to some people having the belief that they have medicinal properties; can cure autism etc.
Lots of people believe essential oils can cure cancer. Any big oncology center has stories about people who show up presenting horrible symptoms well beyond what's normally seen. They spent 2 years just doing essential oils or whatever (often encouraged by some a quack) on some readily treatable thing and when they do finally give in and come to the ER it's basically too late.
Tragedies like these make me very hesitant about "harmless" falsehoods.
I also wonder what cancer survival rates look like if you filter people who self select out of conventional healthcare for a period of time like your example above.
Re: Cargo cult science (1974)
#15If you stumble upon a website that makes the stylistic choice that text should take the whole width of your whole screen, you can toggle the "Reader view" feature in Firefox to put it back into a more usual format (F9 on Windows). If you use Chrome-based browsers, there's bookmarklets (bookmarks with a `javascript:` URI) javascript:(function(){var bod = document.getElementsByTagName("body")[0]; bod.style.margin = "40…
Stylistic choice? Isn’t that literally basic html the way it was meant to be used? I think you were supposed to display it in an actual browser window.
Re: Cargo cult science (1974)
#16"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts" - Richard Feynman
You do realize that was intended to be humorous, yes? It's true that one should not defer blindly to authority, but experts nonetheless know some things that non-experts don't. That's what makes them experts.
Re: Cargo cult science (1974)
#17>I say that’s also important in giving certain types of government advice. Supposing a senator asked you for advice about whether drilling a hole should be done in his state; and you decide it would he better in some other state. If you don’t publish such a result, it seems to me you’re not giving scientific advice. You’re being used. If your answer happens to come out in the direction the government or the politicia…
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Re: Cargo cult science (1974)
#18Sabine Hossenfelder basically posted a rant about particle physicists on Youtube last week, about how they are doing science wrong.
Basically she said you are supposed to change your theory based upon results that don't match the theory, and what they have been doing for decades is looking at gaps in the results, and imagining particle theories that don't alter the expected results in the currently explored energy levels, just in the unexplored ones. Then when people get funding to look into these frontiers/gaps, and find that everything looks the same, they adjust their theories to push them out into the gaps.
That's not Science, she emphatically states.
For myself it sounds like saying, "well you don't know Unicorns don't exist because we haven't looked everywhere, what if they're in ?" Then the Congo gets explored and they say, "well maybe they're in Antarctica".
Re: Cargo cult science (1974)
#19Humans are innately imaginative outside of the bounds of reality. Most people I know believe in things that aren't real, whether it be crystals, chakras, essential oils, random mythologies about random things. Most interestingly, these are generally weak beliefs strongly held. You'll never convince these people that they've divorced themselves from reality, and you have nearly nothing to gain from trying. Psychologis…
Uh, placebos work, and different placebos may work better for different people!
Re: Cargo cult science (1974)
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
Lots of people believe essential oils can cure cancer. Any big oncology center has stories about people who show up presenting horrible symptoms well beyond what's normally seen. They spent 2 years just doing essential oils or whatever (often encouraged by some a quack) on some readily treatable thing and when they do finally give in and come to the ER it's basically too late.
Tragedies like these make me very hesitant about "harmless" falsehoods. I also wonder what cancer survival rates look like if you filter people who self select out of conventional healthcare for a period of time like your example above.
I wonder if belief in alternate medicine correlates with unaffordable healthcare. It is much easier to believe that there is a better way if the correct procedure would ruin you financially.