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Young people are flocking to astrology

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#331

Post by jacquesm »

copperx wrote: post #241
vkou wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My experience with religion in the public sphere is that ~all of the religious arguments that are actually advanced in that sphere have nothing to do with ones made by religious scholars. Attacking a strawman is perfectly appropriate in this case, because the strawman is what actually drives policy.

I've always been curious about serious scholarship of religion. I've wondered whether it is possible to be both, say, a Christian and an atheist simultaneously (e.g., not believing that Christ existed physically, but at the same time believing that following the tenets in the religion is the right thing to do for the greater good, or perhaps interpreting the Bible completely metaphorically). I imagine that scholars c…

> Christian and an atheist simultaneously (e.g., not believing that Christ existed physically, but at the same time believing that following the tenets in the religion is the right thing to do for the greater good, or perhaps interpreting the Bible completely metaphorically).

Yes, this happens.

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#332

Post by jamil7 »

simbolit wrote: post #326
lrvick wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Are you suggesting the "we take all your data"-ecosystem of Alphabet is preferable? Or are you so hardcore, everyone not working on *nix FOSS is judged?

I'm presuming it's the latter, which is precisely the reason they have a reputation for being some of the most unbearable people in the tech community.

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#333

Post by amanaplanacanal »

yakshaving_jgt wrote: post #298
UberFly wrote: post #237

Young people are also flocking to Taylor Swift. Doesn't mean much other than young people flock to fads. Well, everybody does but especially young people.

This seems a pretty unfair comparison. Taylor Swift is a musical artist and creates art for people’s enjoyment. Astrology is a long-running grift that has defrauded society’s easily exploited; mostly women. They’re just not the same.

I suspect most people who are into astrology are doing it for enjoyment too. Not sure how somebody who enjoys looking at their weekly horoscope is being defrauded.

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#334

Post by MassiveOwl »

nprateem wrote: post #66

I 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…

I never reveal it at work, there are morons out there that have opinions like "I'm starsign x, and if you're y, then we won't get along". It's so frustrating

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#335

Post by jacquesm »

BiteCode_dev wrote: post #171
LargeTomato wrote: post #37

My girlfriend is in the middle of her PhD program and is very intelligent but she's really into this stuff. She makes comments about it in public and I cringe. But the worst part is that half my female friends and all my gay friends love astrology. It's very weird.

I worked in various "alternative" industries in my youth. One day I was having an informal diner with people that, in another context, could have been business partners. One guy was making a killing with an astrology service by phone. He started with those text message based games, that were popular in the 2000'. Remember? "Send 'love' to this number to know if he loves you". And eventually created a full phone call…

I think we have a common friend!

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#336

Post by permo-w »

uwagar wrote: post #67
permo-w wrote: post #14

I think the easy way to look at this is that a certain segment of society will always want to believe in something beyond the observable world with the decline of organised religion amongst Western Europeans, astrology is one way they fill that void if astrology doesn't float your boat, there's always witchcraft and tarot, or crystals and alternative medicine. or if you're less inclined towards new-age horse you can…

and you believe in pfizer and moderna? :)

do I?

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#337

Post by achenet »

dielll wrote: post #268

App Idea - Use LLM to generate Astrology readings

don't bother with an LLM, you could just do some basic procedural generation.

This morning will be [adjective], but so long you keeping [verb] and make sure your [noun] is [adjective], by this afternoon you'll feel very [adjective].

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#338

Post by akomtu »

BiteCode_dev wrote: post #171
LargeTomato wrote: post #37

My girlfriend is in the middle of her PhD program and is very intelligent but she's really into this stuff. She makes comments about it in public and I cringe. But the worst part is that half my female friends and all my gay friends love astrology. It's very weird.

I worked in various "alternative" industries in my youth. One day I was having an informal diner with people that, in another context, could have been business partners. One guy was making a killing with an astrology service by phone. He started with those text message based games, that were popular in the 2000'. Remember? "Send 'love' to this number to know if he loves you". And eventually created a full phone call…

[flagged]

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#339

Post by midoridensha »

klabb3 wrote: post #82
maxbond wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, this is a "very intelligent woman in a PhD program" who has a hobby that she shares with her friends, that's no reason to suspect she and her friends can't discuss "important things." My understanding as an outsider is that astrology, tarot, etc function as a shared vocabulary and mythology to communicate about mental health and life's troubles. I think for most people the occult elements are largely aesthetic.…

> Throughout history people have used occult aesthetics to create a heightened experience. Yes and even among hackers. Porting doom to a microwave oven for instance.

Porting Doom to something weird is a hobby. No one actually believes the game is anything other than a silly game. It's not much different from building model ships in bottles: a very interesting and impressive technical exercise, but ultimately a task of zero practicality.

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#340

Post by alpaca128 »

rmbyrro wrote: post #280
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m a 61-year-old software developer. It’s been interesting (and infuriating), experiencing some of the conclusions that younger techs have reached about me, due to my gray hair. I’m also a developer of Apple device software. That has resulted in even more abuse. There’s serious hate for Apple amongst techs. Human nature likes pigeonholing other people into simple “sort buckets,” and we have many ways to do that. It…

> There’s serious hate for Apple amongst techs. Really? Wow. My anecdotal experience is that most people in tech are blind fans of apple.

I think it varies a lot by where you live. In the US Apple seems to be much more popular, meanwhile where I live it's more seen as overpriced fashion brand for non-technical people. The few people in technical fields who actually use Macbooks tend to see it more as time-efficient alternative to Linux, at least that's my observation. I have met a lot of Apple haters in the past but not a single blind fan.
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