cargo cult science
English
editEtymology
editCoined by American physicist Richard Feynman in 1974 in his commencement address at Caltech, in reference to cargo cults.[1]
Noun
editcargo cult science (uncountable)
- Practices which have the appearance of being scientific, but do not actually follow the scientific method.
References
edit- ^ Richard Feynman (1974) “Cargo Cult Science”, in Caltech commencement address[1]:
- I think the educational and psychological studies I mentioned are examples of what I would like to call Cargo Cult Science. […] So I call these things Cargo Cult Science, because they follow all the apparent precepts and forms of scientific investigation, but they’re missing something essential, because the planes don’t land.
Further reading
edit
cargo cult science on Wikipedia.Wikipedia