Comments | politas: Astrology

politas

Astrology - a peer review

Jul 01, 2005 01:06

What is it about Astrology that keeps people interested in it? I just don't understand. I got suckered into the mystique and mystery of it all for a while, but as I grew up, I looked at it critically, and found it even more wanting than religion.

( A rational investigation finds Astrology extremely wanting )

woo, astrology, gravity, heavenly bodies

Comments 14

katytowell June 30 2005, 18:00:56 UTC

EXACTLY! I've been saying that for years. But mostly because I have trouble believing that every baby born the day I was born has the same personality traits and is having exactly the kind of day the horoscope says I should be having. It's a load of tripe.

claidheamhmor June 30 2005, 18:05:04 UTC

Not to mention the fact that every horoscope is different from the ones published in other newspapers...

curufea July 1 2005, 02:12:22 UTC

To this effect, I wrote an horoscope compiler that puts together 5 different sources for readings.

Not only that, I changed which sign got looked up halfway through - and the people reading it didn't notice (ie those looking up aries horoscopes were given leo horoscopes).

http://www.curufea.com/scope.php

claidheamhmor July 1 2005, 05:44:07 UTC

Oh, that one is good! :)

Thread 7

claidheamhmor June 30 2005, 18:03:17 UTC

There's the other problem too - precession of the equinoxes. The constellations the sun moves through now are quite different from the ones the sun moved through when the zodiac was first created, 2000 years ago. I'll type out the relevant dates for the 13 astrological signs and post it...

winterlion June 30 2005, 21:17:57 UTC

Agreed ( ... )

winterlion June 30 2005, 21:19:39 UTC

Addendum to my addendum:
Don't take my comments as defending astrology in any way.

It's BUNK. Like you said :)

ethanthescribe July 1 2005, 01:09:38 UTC

It's *possible* that the only importance of the position of the planets is as a timing device... that's more believable than gravitational forces or weird cosmic influences.

(Not that it stands up to close scrutiny, it's just a thought...)

If Astrology has a use, it's
a) historical (giving us some insight into how the ancients thought, and as something that Astronomy grew out of)
b) Entertainment
c) A decision making tool, along the same lines as the I-ching or the Magic 8 Ball...

To further explain c), if faced with a decision with no clear best choice, I will sometimes toss a coin or roll dice. I won't neccessarily go with those results, but I find it helps me focus, and gets me moving onto more important decisions.

I'm not really defending astrology... it IS bunk in every important sense... but I like to play devil's advocate sometimes. :D