With the return of astrology, crystals and tarot, we 1970s prophets have only biorythms, mood rings and disco remaining. Our messiah will descend from a cigar shaped UFO, blinding us with the reflection of his lapels. He will speak one-sentence truths below a bushy porn-star mustache and laugh tracks will sing our adoration.
Young people are flocking to astrology
601–610 of 972 posts
Re: Young people are flocking to astrology
#602I have a pet theory that things like astrology, tarot, the I Ching, Myers Briggs, etc. are valuable (and therefore stick around) not because they have a supernatural or scientific ability to make correct predictions, but because they provide a useful framework for discussing topics. So for example, even if tarot doesn't give you supernatural insight, the discussion it generates with the card reader may allow you to r…
I do solo tarot card readings all the time as it forces you to think about situations in a different way via the card imagery. I find it helps with decision making. Nothing mythical about it, just a weird form of brain hacking.
Re: Young people are flocking to astrology
#603I have a pet theory that things like astrology, tarot, the I Ching, Myers Briggs, etc. are valuable (and therefore stick around) not because they have a supernatural or scientific ability to make correct predictions, but because they provide a useful framework for discussing topics. So for example, even if tarot doesn't give you supernatural insight, the discussion it generates with the card reader may allow you to r…
It’s a good point but it’s not equal. Myers Briggs is nice a framework. You can just look at the axes of personality and use them to structure a claim about where you land. The test is not the important bit. I think many people have not considered the dimensions of personality that it proposes. Astrology not so much. You can’t describe yourself as a linear combination of different signs or at least, you’re not meant…
Myers Briggs seems so arbitrary. Why 4 dimensions instead of 3 or 5? And is there any reliable evidence that using it actually produces better outcomes?
Re: Young people are flocking to astrology
#604Earlier quoted context omitted.
When you're responsible for something you have to understand it better (or at least get good at making justifications). All people do this, they just typically aren't responsible for keeping an object or program working. I don't see why you would have a superior mental model about subjects you are not intimately familiar with the details of.
I don't recall making the claim of having a superior mental model. I make the claim that STEM workers cannot rely solely on mystical thinking, we have to apply the scientific method to perform our jobs. This gives us a tool at our disposal to pull back the mysteries in other areas of our lives. Flaky toasters, keyboard keys that stop working, the way light effects our bedtime routines. We don't need to rely on confir…
Hmm, well you effectively said you "see the world as it is" and that would typically be understood to be a claim that you have a superior mental model, I think.
Re: Young people are flocking to astrology
#605Increased interest in astrology has been noted before in societies with declining traditional religious belief and greater feelings of uncertainty. Whereas a Christian would leave his concerns about things out of his control with God, and a stoic might simply accept his powerlessness, the anxious remainder look for other ways of trying to cope. Astrology has a track record of filling this void with its fatalism, and…
Second part seems dubious. Seems likely that a large portion of people are simply spiritual and go with whatever is socially popular in their circle regardless of circumstance.
Re: Young people are flocking to astrology
#606I had an argument with a girl the other day who was adamant she wanted to know my star sign. I said "you tell me" and after 10 guesses I finally told her. She then went on to tell me what I must like etc - most of which was complete bollocks obviously. I told her her beliefs were akin to racism. Just because of when I was born she thought it was acceptable not to bother to treat me as an individual but as automatical…
Speaking of stereotypes, if anyone takes astrology seriously, I automatically assume they are not intelligent, irrational, and I find it impossible to take them seriously. I consider them beyond reason so I don't even try. If a person's logic and epistemology lead to him believing in astrology, it shows a deeper problem and I don't hope to have an intelligent discussion with them any more than I expect to have an int…
I used to date a gal who was really into astrology and all manner of new agey stuff. I was crazy about her, but it would never have worked out. The number of dumb arguments just about astrology was high.
Re: Young people are flocking to astrology
#607Earlier quoted context omitted.
Speaking of stereotypes, if anyone takes astrology seriously, I automatically assume they are not intelligent, irrational, and I find it impossible to take them seriously. I consider them beyond reason so I don't even try. If a person's logic and epistemology lead to him believing in astrology, it shows a deeper problem and I don't hope to have an intelligent discussion with them any more than I expect to have an int…
The conditioned response that you're talking about is typical in a culture where we're taught to trust in science. I'm not saying that anyone should believe in astrology (I don't), but having spent the last few years looking into a number of topics similarly treated as esoterica, my understanding is that we're often unaware that science as a discipline is not dogmatic in what is possible. But human bias is probably i…
The most fundamental element of science is not today's body of understanding, but the process with which we arrived at that knowledge. A process that generally recognizes human fallibility and how easy it is for us to trick ourselves. So yes, a lot of the stuff we think we know today might be wrong, but the point of science is continuous refinement and trying to eliminate the biases you mentioned.
Applying the process of science to astrology causes the whole edifice to quickly crumble[1], that's why it can be dismissed out of hand. Not just because of what we think we know about the universe.
Re: Young people are flocking to astrology
#608Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because it is impossible to prove such thing. All arguments of this kind rely on some kind of shaky or dubious foundation.
> All arguments of this kind rely on some kind of shaky or dubious foundation. No, they do not. Aristotle's Argument from 'Motion': 1. Some things in the world are changing. (Observation) 2. Whatever is changing is being changed by another.[1] (Lemma 1) 3. There cannot be an infinite regress of instrumental changers.[2] (Lemma 2) 4. Therefore, there must be a changer that is not itself being changed by another. * htt…
Even if this does point to some higher being or reality, it isn't necessarily any conception of God. Also, true randomness in fluctuations in quantum fields could refute 2, no? Also, trying to extend the notion of time to some point at infinity in the past, as if this is a proof by induction, is absurd. Mathematics are free for us to make statements about because we can start with whichever axioms we like. However, our realities (plural) are necessarily constrained by what we think and observe. There is no way to be certain of the nature of one's reality without somehow transcending it.
Re: Young people are flocking to astrology
#609Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s a good point but it’s not equal. Myers Briggs is nice a framework. You can just look at the axes of personality and use them to structure a claim about where you land. The test is not the important bit. I think many people have not considered the dimensions of personality that it proposes. Astrology not so much. You can’t describe yourself as a linear combination of different signs or at least, you’re not meant…
Myers Briggs seems so arbitrary . Why 4 dimensions instead of 3 or 5? And is there any reliable evidence that using it actually produces better outcomes?
There is no material, accepted claim that you could not make another dimension, or an alternative dimension to describe personalities. Simply that these are 4 distinct and interesting ones.
A descriptive framework is of course going to be arbitrary.
Re: Young people are flocking to astrology
#610"My hypothesis is that in like 10 years gen z is gonna have a big cult boom the way the boomers did in the 70s " https://www.tumblr.com/withhereyeswideshut/64649078205384294...