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Your premise is based on an improper definition of "cargo cult." > By “cargo-culting”, I was generally referring to doing something without properly knowing wh
by debacle 14y ago
Your premise is based on an improper definition of "cargo cult."
> By “cargo-culting”, I was generally referring to doing something without properly knowing why it might be good or bad.
That is not what cargo culting is.
Cargo culting is creating an expectation ("If A, then B") based on inaccurate or incomplete observations.
You then go on to list examples, of which two are cargo cult. The database indexes one is just stupid.
You're trying to redefine cargo cult to make yourself seem less wrong, and in the end you go back to navel-gazing.
- stdbrouw 14y agoIt's not uncommon to see people use "cargo culting" to refer to doing something without knowing (or being aware of) why. It's not exactly right but it's not exactly wrong either, it's simply attaching a broader meaning to what used to be a more narrow term. Happens all the time.
- cemerick 14y ago"Cargo-culting" has been redefined and repurposed many, many times for different domains (science, programming, software engineering, etc). It's the closest term I know of to name the process I describe, so that's what I used. As you can see from the post, I'm aware of the semantic and etymological difficulty. If you have a better term you'd like to suggest, I'm all ears; having it won't make the process I describe "more wrong" though. To use your characterization, the database index example is where someone has an expectation that adding indexes are a valid reflexive response to slow querying. Of course the post goes back to navel-gazing in the end. It started out with a tweet, so I'm not sure why you'd expect anything less. In any case, I hope the space in between proves useful or thought-provoking to some.
- debacle 14y agoActually, I don't believe it has. Cargo culting, since the very beginning, is the mimicry by a poseur of someone doing the mimicked action in order to produce similar results. There is no semantic or etymological difficulty. The process you describe has nothing to do with cargo cult.
- aleyan 14y agoSounds like your usage of term "cargo cult" has been cargo culted.