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Cargo Cult Science Richard Feynman From a Caltech commencement address given in 1974 Also in Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! During the Middle Ages there were all kinds of crazy ideas, such as that a piece of of rhinoceros horn would increase potency. Then a method was discovered for separating the ideas--which was to try one to see if it worked, and if it didn't work, to eliminate it. This method became organized, of course, into science. And it developed very well, so that we are now in the scientific age. It is such a scientific age, in fact, that...

Reality is more than just superficial appearances.. The progressive obsession with viewing human beings as blank slates is fundamentally flawed.. Many of us are familiar with the metaphor of the “cargo cult.” The term itself was coined by the famous physicist Richard Feynman... Briefly, the phenomenon of the cargo cult was observed in the South Pacific during World War II. Pacific Islanders would observe the Americans building runways and control towers... The islanders would build their own bamboo mockups... expecting that planes full of food and medicines would come to them as well... Ultimately, cargo cults rested on a form...

A tribe living on a remote South Pacific Island who believe Prince Philip is their god and the incarnation of a volcano spirit have offered their condolences to the Royal Family in a video message. The Yaohnanen tribesmen and women on the Vanuatu island of Tanna are devastated with his death and have started a ritualistic mourning process that could last for weeks. The islanders were asleep when the Duke of Edinburgh's death was announced to the world on Friday night and were up early to harvest yams the following morning. They were not aware of the tragic news until...

A new book by Columbia sociology professor Alondra Nelson says that using DNA technology to find their African roots is becoming increasingly popular among Black people. In an interview with NPR, Nelson estimates that about 1 million have taken the test so far. The tests have also been popularized through Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates' show Finding Your Roots, which traces the family history of famous Americans such as Oprah and Chris Rock. Nelson told NPR that discovering their genetic roots was a way for Black people to fill in a missing part of their history. "Part of what I...

This is really not the biggest deal in the world, but every year on August 4, I’m reminded of something kind of creepy in the Cult of Obama. That, my friends, is the obsession with his birthday. I totally get that if you run a monarchy or are a dictator or if you’re a good president, your birthday might be cause for celebration. Oh, it’s the Queen’s birthday? Let’s celebrate. Oh, we’re going to be killed if we don’t pay honor to you, Kim Jong Un (not to be confused with his father who held the titles of “Dear Leader,...

North Korea, Venezuela and other countries have them. Instead of freedom they provide a benevolent hero to worship.The leader of a cult of personality has real power in his own right and/or is a front for others, some of whom are expendable if they might diminish the perceived glory of the leader. That happens frequently in North Korea. Officials once thought necessary to enhance the cult leader's glory are dismissed, sometimes with "extreme prejudice," when they come to be seen as posing dangers to his continued ascension to greater glory. Sometimes personality cults morph into secular religions. North Korea has...

The Greek tragedy continues towards its inevitable end. Whether a coalition of parties in fundamental difference about what to do next is cobbled together this week, or whether another election brings about a government firmly committed to the repudiation of the deal by which Greece is being kept financially afloat at mainly German expense, it cannot be long before the eurozone loses its first member state. Monetary union cannot last without fiscal union. Fiscal union cannot be achieved without political union. Political union is not acceptable to the peoples of Europe. If the cultures and economies are sufficiently alike, monetary...

Professor You Lie, currently on academic leave from the Chicago School of Bureaucratic Socialism, last night arrogantly delivered his usual cookie-cutter Keynesianism Socialist Lecture Number 14.6T to a partial Joint Session of Congress. Judging by the long faces of the assembled Democrats, I sensed an air of defeat. Had their guy thrown in the towel? It was a very tense 32 minutes for them as You Lie brought up the painful subjects of "dismantling the Government," "not raising taxes on anyone during their lifetime," (I guess they could make it retroactive, but I'm not a lawyer), "no more earmarks," and...

..... He is the Cargo Cult President. At least the real Cargo Cult followers built real things that looked like landing strips to get airplanes loaded with food and supplies to land on them. Obama thinks you get factories to produce things and hospitals to fix people by making speeches -- speeches that are reasonably good imitations of speeches given by real leaders. ........

Perhaps when the history of our times is written, ours will be called The Era of Narcissistic Catechisms. To understand why this is the case it is enough to consider the fortunes of two green movements. On the main stage of global affairs this week we have the much touted UN climate change conference in Copenhagen. Standing with 15,000 delegates representing green activism groups and politically correct scientists the world over are international celebrity leaders like Nobel Peace Prize laureates Barack Obama, Al Gore and Desmond Tutu and their fellow celebrities and Oscar and Grammy winners Al Gore, Leonardo Dicaprio,...

Pacific cult hails second coming of its wealthy US messiah By Nick Squires in Sydney (Filed: 17/04/2006) Followers of a South Pacific cult, who worship a mythical Second World War American serviceman they hope will one day return bearing riches, believe that their prayers have been answered. For 60 years, the bizarre John Frum movement on Tanna, in the Vanuatu archipelago, has believed that the great wealth or "cargo" that the United States military brought to their island home in wartime will one day miraculously return. They worship a messiah-like figure, John (or Jon) Frum, thought to be a combination...

In John They TrustSouth Pacific villagers worship a mysterious American they call John Frum - believing he'll one day shower their remote island with riches By Paul Raffaele   In the morning heat on a tropical island halfway across the world from the United States, several dark-skinned men—clad in what look to be U.S. Army uniforms—appear on a mound overlooking a bamboo-hut village. One reverently carries Old Glory, precisely folded to reveal only the stars. On the command of a bearded “drill sergeant,” the flag is raised on a pole hacked from a tall tree trunk. As the huge banner...

<p>CAMP SPRINGS, Md., Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Two U.S. government scientists said Monday their research proves human activities are affecting global climate.</p> <p>Thomas Karl, of the National Climatic Data Center in Camp Springs, Md., and Kevin Trenberth, head of the National Center for Atmospheric Research's climate analysis section in Boulder, Colo., said their research proves industrial emissions have been the dominant influence on climate change for the past 50 years. The most important of these emissions is carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that traps solar radiation and warms the planet.</p>