I think this is a well argued plea by Ken Shirriff to stop using the term “cargo cult” and I agree with it but would like to add two things.

With a non-English speaking audience that does not have the same priors, nobody will have an idea what you are talking about if you use the term “cargo cult”. You’ll be stuck explaining the term in a ham-fisted way that will fail to convey the huge amount of history and social science involved.

One problem with rejecting the term is that it lets software engineers off the hook and allows them to pretend the way they work is different from the tribal inhabitants of pacific islands. I argue that most software engineering practice is based on folklore and is deeply tribalistic.

https://www.righto.com/2025/01/its-time-to-abandon-cargo-cult-metaphor.html