Astrology

[Tiberius]

Ok, so apparently for some reason Rhizo believes in astrology, and I think most people here find that surprising and ridiculous. Astrology is based on faulty star charts that were made thousands of years ago, is so vague you can read pretty much any horoscope and agree with it, and it has no reasonable or rational explanation of how (or indeed why) the movement of planets and stars have some kind of affect on our lives.

Not only that, but astrology claims to be able to separate people into 12 distinct groups (never mind there are actually 13 constellations the Sun passes through...OOPS!) based on where the Sun was when they were born. Apparently the people in these groups are all similar in terms of wealth, ability, and personality, despite the fact that there is absolutely no correlation between the time in the year you were born and your success / persona.

Scientific observation has concluded that when given a generic reading and not told who it is for, most people conclude that it is a good approximation of them, or that it is very accurate. People make the reading work for them, counting the hits and ignoring the misses. It is only when there are far more misses than hits that people generally reject it as inaccurate, and this happens even when the person who has the reading is the same star sign as the person the reading was intended for.

So Rhizo, any comments?

[theVOID]

I must also mention than since the Zodiac was created 2000 years ago, the wobble of the earth has put the cycle out by 1 whole sign. For example i am a Leo, but on the day of my birth, 15th august 1989, the sun wasn't in Leo at all, but near the end of the Virgo constellation.

I am shocked that Rhizo believes this bullshit.

[Eilonnwy]

Astrology was always something I viewed as amusing. Something you could declare in common with other people and get amusing predictions for. I never took them seriously. I think I tried to at one point but I wasn't able to convince myself there was anything too it.

Now that I am more skeptical in general astrology annoys me because I realize people do, in fact, take it seriously. I know someone who is very serious about it and she will mention in it conversation as fact. It makes me cringe.

[Rhizomorph13]

So this post:

Yeah anything about homeopathy or numerology drive me up a wall, but somehow, astrology doesn't and seems cool to me. I don't think it is good at predicting the future but when it comes to correlating personality to astrological signs there seems to be some merit to it. There I said correlating so it would sound sciencey.

equals Rhizo believes in astrology?

What the fuck? I was saying that listening to astrology doesn't bother me. Sounds more like it is fun at parties for me, which is the case. I used to read my horoscope but only ever for fun. Now the I Ching I used to believe in, but gave that up long ago along with a weak in homeopathy. I based my belief in homeopathy on one experience with "cantharis" alleviating pain from a soldering iron burn, so, it was a short path to rejection.

Anyway, check out http://www.astro.com click "Free Horoscopes" then "Short Horoscopes - Personal Portrait" and enter in the information it asks for. You will need to know the time of day when you were born to complete the form, I just guessed. This is just for fun Adrian so don't miss-construe this as belief. The only reason I even mentioned it in the first place was your post about the astrology challenge.

I found it interesting, I wasn't blown away by it, but found it to be right more then wrong and it didn't apply to my brother, who I know very well, at all. I don't "believe in astrology" so you need to retract that.

Just for fun mate,
Rhizo

[theVOID]

Astrology Interesting? I don't see how you could find generalised descriptions of people interesting, but yeah... you're free to.

[Zhalentine]

This topic reminds me of this Dawkin's interview. Skip to around 2:00 if you don't want to hear about code reading.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xswt8B8-U...playnext=1

[Eilonnwy]

Oooo, Adrian. You got told

[Tiberius]

So this post:

Yeah anything about homeopathy or numerology drive me up a wall, but somehow, astrology doesn't and seems cool to me. I don't think it is good at predicting the future but when it comes to correlating personality to astrological signs there seems to be some merit to it. There I said correlating so it would sound sciencey.

equals Rhizo believes in astrology?

No. This does:

PS Fr0d0 I have perfectly logical reasons to believe in astrology but it is such a deep subject that I can't explain them too you.

( http://atheistforums.org/thread-2742-pos...l#pid53231 )

Generally speaking, when someone says they believe in astrology...they believe in astrology. Or they were making a joke that was a little less obvious than usual ones.

Having said that, in another post you call astrology "not an exact science" and liken it to psychology in that respect. Psychology is a proper science though. It is the study of the human mind (or any mind for that matter). Astrology is the study of how the planets and their movements affect human lives, and is complete bullshit since it fails to even account for how it can do that.

Anyway, check out http://www.astro.com click "Free Horoscopes" then "Short Horoscopes - Personal Portrait" and enter in the information it asks for. You will need to know the time of day when you were born to complete the form, I just guessed. This is just for fun Adrian so don't miss-construe this as belief. The only reason I even mentioned it in the first place was your post about the astrology challenge.

I checked the site, and got the standard generalised statement that is automatically generated by a computer. All they do is change a few words here and there depending on the date you were born. People aren't that similar. The date of your birth has hardly anything to do with how successful you will be in life, or what personality you will have. It shouldn't be used for fun; it's ridiculous and people waste good money on this.

I found it interesting, I wasn't blown away by it, but found it to be right more then wrong and it didn't apply to my brother, who I know very well, at all. I don't "believe in astrology" so you need to retract that.

If you don't believe in it, that's fine. It's your statement to retract, not mine. I quoted you saying you had "perfectly logical reasons to believe in astrology". It was a direct quote.

Care to expand upon what you mean by astrology being a science? I'm interested, because in my view, if you see astrology as a science (and comparable to psychology in that respect), then you do believe in astrology. Science is the study of nature, whilst astrology is the study of the paranormal and supernatural. It isn't science.

[fr0d0]

It shouldn't be used for fun; it's ridiculous and people waste good money on this.

In this instance I'd go further and say it really can be dangerous.

[Rhizomorph13]

PS Fr0d0 I have perfectly logical reasons to believe in astrology but it is such a deep subject that I can't explain them too you.

( http://atheistforums.org/thread-2742-pos...l#pid53231 )
Care to expand upon what you mean by astrology being a science? I'm interested, because in my view, if you see astrology as a science (and comparable to psychology in that respect), then you do believe in astrology. Science is the study of nature, whilst astrology is the study of the paranormal and supernatural. It isn't science.

Ahh, that was joke in reference to fr0d0's statement about his belief in God in another post. I often forget that you can't expect people to understand something is a joke even if it is completely ridiculous. Nah I don't care to talk about astrology, it is just for fun I don't consider it a science. I was using the phrase to say that it is inexact. I get the missunderstanding now, sorry about that. Usually a PS line from me is just a joke.

Rhizo