Astrology And Other Pseudoscientific Beliefs

Once or twice is coincidence. Happening for numerous people, with predictions about what will happen 10+ years later, correct to the year, without a single error, does not sound like coincidence to me.

How in the world does cold reading predict what will happen 10 years down the line? Cold reading can judge what has happened to you or try and guess something about the past; not about what will happen. If it was generic and said that it will happen 'at some point', then yes, it's probably a guess. Stating the year however does kind of change things.

Obviously your grandfather was something special. I'm sure he'd have a chance at the James Randi challenge. If he's still knocking about there's a million quid to win. Get him signed up.
 
Obviously your grandfather was something special. I'm sure he'd have a chance at the James Randi challenge. If he's still knocking about there's a million quid to win. Get him signed up.

Afraid not. He passed away a couple of years ago.

In any case, he did this for a hobby and only for family/close friends. He wouldn't have been interested.
 
Afraid not. He passed away a couple of years ago.

In any case, he did this for a hobby and only for family/close friends. He wouldn't have been interested.

That's a shame. Obviously someone with his accuracy and skill would have made it a walk in the park and proved beyond reasonable doubt that astrology was a proper science.
 
Are you seriously trying to conflate human emotion with mysticism?

The emotion of nostalgia can be explained scientifically, what mediums claim to be doing can't.

No you've misunderstood, the point being that every single one of us has irrational thoughts and beliefs and we should remember that when we question others thoughts and beliefs because and the basic level many of them are how me make sense of the world around us.

Is feeling emotion towards an inanimate uncaring item any different to not walking under a ladder etc etc.

Similarly, if I have two bits of concrete in my bag, one from my garden and one from the Berlin wall, which one would you like to touch ? They are both just concrete but most would head to the Berlin wall concrete because its classed as an "authentic" object and thus deemed of more value, still irrational though.
 
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My girlfriend's workplace recently had a shaman come in to drive away evil spirits. A middle-aged, female, white shaman. :confused::(

Apparently she was pretty quiet, hummed in a room for about 10 minutes, told them they could no longer open the supply cupboard (heh) and then buggered off.

lol - I know a hospital manager who had to get a priest in to perform an exorcism after a cleaning lady spotted a ghost. AFAIK a decent portion of the cleaning ladies all went to the same african-carribean church and were all a bit upset by this ghost being present so it was worth while playing along with it and getting in the priest purely to get things back to normal again.
 
I think this thread warrants a quote from Cosmos by Carl Sagan:

'Superstition is cowardice in the face of the Divine,' wrote Theophrastus, who lived during the founding of the Library of Alexandria. We inhabit a universe where atoms are made in the centers of stars: where each second a thousand suns are born; where life is sparked by sunlight and lightning in the airs and waters of youthful planets; where the ram material for biological evolution is sometimes made the the explosion of a star halfway across the Milky Way, where a thing as beautiful as a galaxy is formed a hundred billion times - a Cosmos of quasars and quarks, ********** and fireflies, where there may be black holes and other universes and extraterrestrial civilisations whose radio messages are at this moment reaching the Earth. How pallid by comparison are the pretensions of superstition and pseudoscience; how important it is for us to pursue and understand science, that characteristically human endeavour.
Every aspect of Nature reveals a deep mystery and touches our sense of wonder and awe. Theophrastus was right. Those afraid of the universe as it really is, those who pretend to nonexistent knowledge and envision a Cosmos centered on human beings will prefer the fleeting comforts of superstition. They avoid rather than confront the world. But those with the courage to explore the weave and structure of the Cosmos, even where it differs profoundly from their wishes and prejudices, will penetrate its deepest mysteries.

I can highly recommend the book by the way. It saddens me that astrology is still far more popular than astronomy. I would hazard a guess that upbringing, education (particularly how science is taught in school) and general intelligence all play a role in an individuals aptitude or preference for mysticism over science.
 
lol - I know a hospital manager who had to get a priest in to perform an exorcism after a cleaning lady spotted a ghost. AFAIK a decent portion of the cleaning ladies all went to the same african-carribean church and were all a bit upset by this ghost being present so it was worth while playing along with it and getting in the priest purely to get things back to normal again.

I doubt it was an exorcism.....you have to jump through a lot of hoops to get anywhere near getting the Church to agree to even talk to you about an exorcism and even then they will refer you to a medical professional for psychiatric evaluation and treatment..... and besides Exorcisms relate to people, not to buildings.

I would bet that the priest simply blessed the building or room and that was about it.
 
I can highly recommend the book by the way. It saddens me that astrology is still far more popular than astronomy. I would hazard a guess that upbringing, education (particularly how science is taught in school) and general intelligence all play a role in an individuals aptitude or preference for mysticism over science.

I doubt very many people actually take Astrology very seriously these days.....whereas Astronomy is increasingly popular. Not that the two are at all related anyway.


Every person takes the limits of their own field of vision for the limits of the world.

-Arthur Schopenhauer
 
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Once or twice is coincidence. Happening for numerous people, with predictions about what will happen 10+ years later, correct to the year, without a single error, does not sound like coincidence to me.

How in the world does cold reading predict what will happen 10 years down the line? Cold reading can judge what has happened to you or try and guess something about the past; not about what will happen. If it was generic and said that it will happen 'at some point', then yes, it's probably a guess. Stating the year however does kind of change things.

Have you considered the ramifications of believing in definite prophecies that must come true at a specific time? To do so, you must believe that the future is fixed and that everyone is merely following a pre-programmed path and nobody has any choice in anything. Nobody is a person. We're all just things, no more sentient than a washing machine following a programmed washing cycle. It's worse than the Matrix, because at least it's possible to escape that.
 
Have you considered the ramifications of believing in definite prophecies that must come true at a specific time? To do so, you must believe that the future is fixed and that everyone is merely following a pre-programmed path and nobody has any choice in anything. Nobody is a person. We're all just things, no more sentient than a washing machine following a programmed washing cycle. It's worse than the Matrix, because at least it's possible to escape that.

As said in my first post, the pre-determined life is not something I really believe and the rational part of me believes that no one can determine your actions and subsequent consequences.

However, I am faced with the examples stated above in my personal life and am unsure as to how to balance that, with the rational belief.

I honestly have no idea where I come down on the debate. If it wasn't for first hand instances, I would very clearly be on the rational side of the argument but these experiences have left me a bit confused.

That all being said, the horoscope is something nice to know, but I in no way let it determine my actions or what path I will take.
 
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