Cargo Cult Thinking

Everything is like it is, for a lot of reasons.

Sometimes it's working just fine. It just happens to be the best way that works well. No better way has been found yet. But the secret is looking for the best way to do it in the first place. Or asking the question...why is it like this?

Whatever "it" is.

It could be...how to write a function in a spreadsheet. Game design. Programming.

People think about things in different ways. Some people think outside the box, or inside it.
Others think based on things they've seen or heard...and never anything past that.

That last one? There's a name for it. It's right up there, above all this text. In the title.

Cargo Cult Thinking.

The most common example of this way of thinking is this - in World War II, a LOT of islands around the world were used as outposts, small bases, resupply points, that kind of thing.

That's all well and good...but what happens when those islands have people on them? Tribes of people who don't live like we do. They don't live in New York, Auckland, London, or any kind civilisation like we do. They're just hanging out, doing their thing...and suddenly there is a phenomenon, something else that I find fascinating, known as an "outside context problem," which most civilisations tend to only ever encounter once.

Imagine you're one of these people who live on these islands. You forage. You hunt. You're just...living.

Suddenly, there's this giant metal...thing carrying people that shows up.What is it? Are the people friendly? What do they want?

Well, in the case of the people coming to the islands during World War II...the natives to the islands got stuff. You and your people trade with these people who have come to the island. In return...these outsiders have brought food and supplies as well! They give them to you, sometimes for free. It's fantastic!

So planes started to land. Supplies started to be flown in. Planes would come and go, and so would the people. The war goes on. But you don't know about the war. It doesn't concern you.

Then one day...it stops. The war is over! The world goes back to normal...for everyone else.

The planes aren't coming anymore. There's no need to maintain the military outposts. They're packed up, abandoned, and the people are never seen again.

But the people living on these islands...their lives have been changed forever.

That's it, right? Well...not quite.

The people on these islands, they liked the things that were brought in. They want it to continue. But they don't understand how it worked like we did. So...what would you do if you saw these people doing certain things, in a certain way, with zero context as to why they were doing them?

It's a perfectly reasonable assumption that...if you started doing these things in the same way...maybe the planes would come back. Maybe the cargo would return.

So you start to build the things that the people built.

The problem is...you don't know what it is. Not really. You don't know what it's called. Or how it works. Or why it works. But the people who came to the island did! They built it...so that means you need it to succeed.

Right?

You build a plane. It looks just like the planes that came to land. It doesn't work like the planes that came to land...but the people who came to the island had them. So...surely you need one?

The people would wear things on their heads. Over their ears. They would talk into something while sitting in a tower...and the planes would come.

So that means you need one too.

Right?

Where would those people go? They would sit in a tower. So that means you must need one as well!

So now...you speak into your radio as you sit in the tower, with a plane on the runway, next to the structure just like the people that visited your island did.

And...nothing happens. Why? You don't know. You couldn't possibly know. How could you, really? There's no reason why you should be able to.

But the people who visited your island knew how. If you just...mimic what they did. Maybe the planes will come again.

Maybe everything will work the way you think it's supposed to if you just do the same thing that the others did.

Maybe.