3 ms·

The core premise of this article is convincing: A lot of our software solutions are running to stand still. Occasionally I'll see a video from long, long ago (e

The core premise of this article is convincing: A lot of our software solutions are running to stand still. Occasionally I'll see a video from long, long ago (e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED3jbNCCjok https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED3jbNCCjok from an episode aired in 1983) and I'll marvel at how little we've actually changed. Having said that, it would be awesome if everyone stopped cargo culting on the backs of cargo cult analogies. The number of blog entries and articles describing South Pacific cargo cults, and using it to describe any and all follow-the-leader, copy-paste behaviours is...well it's painfully ironic.

nyokodo 3y ago
> it's painfully ironic It was successful in drawing in my attention initially , but by focusing on that so much it leaves me thinking about how the article arguably isn’t describing a cargo cult. It ultimately comes across as slightly clunky sales copy for Palantir.
randomsolutions 3y ago
You're describing bandwagoning. Cargo cult is misattribution of cause, not follow the leader.
- llm_nerd 3y ago
  Bandwagoning and cargo cult behavior are largely synonymous in practice. Most cases of the former could be described in a trite blog piece by talking about some South Pacific tribe during WW2. Everyone getting into AI? Well, you see there was a tribe in the South Pacific that saw planes bring supplies... People adopting agile methodologies? Well the planes would bring supplies and they thought if they just copied the behaviours... People (and people in the aggregate in the form of orgs) try to copy what they see the "winners" doing. In this case, an uncountable number of viral blog posts have somehow used some South Pacifican tribe as the basis for some profound lesson, exponentially yielding another crop of bloggers talking about cargo cults, rinse and repeat.
robertlagrant 3y ago
> well it's painfully ironic How's it ironic?

nyokodo 3y ago

> it's painfully ironic It was successful in drawing in my attention initially , but by focusing on that so much it leaves me thinking about how the article arguably isn’t describing a cargo cult. It ultimately comes across as slightly clunky sales copy for Palantir.

randomsolutions 3y ago

You're describing bandwagoning. Cargo cult is misattribution of cause, not follow the leader.

llm_nerd 3y ago
Bandwagoning and cargo cult behavior are largely synonymous in practice. Most cases of the former could be described in a trite blog piece by talking about some South Pacific tribe during WW2. Everyone getting into AI? Well, you see there was a tribe in the South Pacific that saw planes bring supplies... People adopting agile methodologies? Well the planes would bring supplies and they thought if they just copied the behaviours... People (and people in the aggregate in the form of orgs) try to copy what they see the "winners" doing. In this case, an uncountable number of viral blog posts have somehow used some South Pacifican tribe as the basis for some profound lesson, exponentially yielding another crop of bloggers talking about cargo cults, rinse and repeat.

robertlagrant 3y ago

> well it's painfully ironic How's it ironic?