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5.3-Reading Comprehension-Long Passage Cargo Cults

Cargo cults emerged in Micronesia and Melanesia after World War II as native societies misinterpreted the arrival of Western goods as a result of spiritual means. Richard Feynman discusses 'cargo cult science,' where researchers mimic scientific practices without proper understanding or skepticism, leading to flawed conclusions. The term 'cargo cult' is now used to describe superficial adherence to procedures without grasping their true purpose.

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26 views1 page

5.3-Reading Comprehension-Long Passage Cargo Cults

Cargo cults emerged in Micronesia and Melanesia after World War II as native societies misinterpreted the arrival of Western goods as a result of spiritual means. Richard Feynman discusses 'cargo cult science,' where researchers mimic scientific practices without proper understanding or skepticism, leading to flawed conclusions. The term 'cargo cult' is now used to describe superficial adherence to procedures without grasping their true purpose.

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saifulome
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Long Passage

Cargo cults gained and control tower would cause the


prominence in the years following landing of a plane, of course the
World War II as members of tribal 50 mere existence of these structures
societies came into contact with is not sufficient on its own to
5 radios, airplanes, and other “cargo” induce such an event.
brought to Micronesian and In the book Surely You’re Joking,
Melanesian countries as part of the Mr. Feynman!, physicist Richard
Allied war effort. Members of native 55 Feynman dedicates a chapter to
societies, having little knowledge of “cargo cult science,” the product of
10 Western manufacturing, found researchers who create the
soldiers’ explanations of the cargo’s appearance of real science – even
provenance unconvincing and drew with the fastidiousness of those
the conclusion that the “cargo” had 60 who create a full-size Jeep from
come about through spiritual means. bamboo and straw – but without
15 Some concluded that it had been assessing hypothesized cause-effect
created by the deities and ancestors models with appropriate
of the native people, and that the skepticism, practicing empirical
foreigners had attracted the cargo to 65 observation, or referencing the
themselves through trickery, or collective body of accepted
20 through an error made by the deities scientific theory and experiment
and ancestors. Cargo cults arose for developed over centuries.
the purpose of attracting material Feynman gives the example of
wealth back to its “rightful owners” 70 experiments involving rats in a
via religious rituals that sought to maze. In 1937, a researcher named
25 mimic the actions of the foreigners. Young discovered that rats could
The most famous of the cargo cults use the sounds made by the maze’s
still exists on the island of Tanna in floorboards to memorize positions
Vanuatu, where cult members have 75 within the maze, lending to
constructed elaborate airstrips and incorrect conclusions regarding the
30 control towers intended to attract root cause of the rats’ ability to
airplanes, and where an annual navigate the maze. When the maze
celebration features barefoot was put on a floor of sand, the
soldiers in recreated U.S. Army 80 “floorboard” effect was eliminated,
uniforms conducting military and future experiments could be
35 exercises. Cult members wearing conducted untainted. However,
wooden “headphones” can be Young’s research made no impact
observed speaking into coconut whatsoever; other scientists –
“radios,” mimicking the wartime 85 cargo cult scientists – went on
actions of Allied Troops. running rats through mazes with
40 The term “cargo cult” has floorboards just as they had before,
arisen as an idiom in English to publishing their results and going
describe those who mimic the about the motions of science
superficial appearance of a 90 without, as Feynman argues,
procedure without understanding actually doing science.
45 the underlying purpose or
functioning of that procedure.
While it may appear that an airstrip

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