In the South Seas there is a cargo cult of people. During the war they saw airplanes land with lots of good materials, and they want the same thing to happen now. So they've arranged to imitate things like runways, to put fires along the sides of the runways, to make a wooden hut for a man to sit in, with two wooden pieces on his head like headphones and bars of bamboo sticking out like antennas--he's the controller--and they wait for the airplanes to land. They're doing everything right. The form is perfect. It looks exactly the way it looked before. But it doesn't work. No airplanes land. 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.

“来自上海的海测队长张良率领兄弟们，坐上小艇，离开大船，前往目标区域探测。印度洋波诡云谲，长桌一般大小的探测艇在海上，就是一叶扁舟，随着波浪起伏不停。就在这样的环境下，海测队员们戴上耳机，打开探测仪，将频率调至37.5 kHz，心里默默祈祷，能有声音传来。时间一天天过去，耳机传来的通常是一片静默，或者是海底的杂音。越是没有声音，队员们越要把耳机捂紧，哪怕耳廓旁勒出了印痕，因为他们怕自己错过任何一个线索，因为这种错过绝对是一种过错”“张亮出发时，家中老母重病缠身，读初三的孩子又在复习迎考的关键时刻生病。队员李永奎接到出发命令时，刚刚给看中的新房付了定金，还没来得及办手续，眼看新房快泡汤，还要支付数万的违约金，急得老婆直哭，幸好最后单位出面，开了证明，才把事情缓和下来。 就算这样，20多天来，每次通过海事卫星连线，队员们从来没有向组织提过任何要求，他们说的最多就是，“请祖国放心，我们会对每一片探测过的海域负责！”