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Young people are flocking to astrology

washingtonpost.com

431–440 of 972 posts

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#431
post #90

the reason this is happening is science and rational thinking has really let them down in their lifetime, especially during the pandemic. they (and people in general) dont know what is real anymore, what to believe any more when everyone seems to be making up things as they go along, especially the so-called experts. why not review everything they have access to but told by the experts not to pay attention? ie they w…

> the reason this is happening is science and rational thinking has really let them down in their lifetime, especially during the pandemic. No it hasn't. Science and rational thinking are part of the reason that many are still alive. Without vaccines the number of dead would be far, far higher than it ended up being (and people are still dying of COVID right now, but fortunately in lower numbers and it looks like we…

>Without vaccines the number of dead would be far, far higher than it ended up being

based on what? 'projections' from sources that commissioned the cures and the mandates? what to believe? who to believe? let's cue in data ambiguity and conflict of interest as among the reasons why this is happening.

most of the young people were not affected by the virus but had to lose key years of their life to save old people. they do feel let down.

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#432
post #90

the reason this is happening is science and rational thinking has really let them down in their lifetime, especially during the pandemic. they (and people in general) dont know what is real anymore, what to believe any more when everyone seems to be making up things as they go along, especially the so-called experts. why not review everything they have access to but told by the experts not to pay attention? ie they w…

The article gives only anecdata as evidence that this is happening, mostly from astrologers themselves. I would question that it is happening at all. At least I found nothing objectively convincing for the thesis that "young people are flocking to astrology".

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#433
post #430

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There is no qualitative difference between belief in astrology and any of the world's religions. Some of the world's religions can start off from a basis of logic: * https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35592365-five-proofs-of-...

How is this not bigger news? He actually proved God exists???

Because it is impossible to prove such thing. All arguments of this kind rely on some kind of shaky or dubious foundation.

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#434
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree in general. I think that if for some reason you do not want to see a therapist some kind of "alternative" (like Family Constellations or Jodorowsky's Tarots/Psychomagic may offer some solace. The main problem is that (in my limited experience) they also conveniently offer solace but not much impulse to actually try to change things.

I don’t know if this is true, but I wonder if these alternatives offer very top down perspectives on an individual’s life and circumstances, rather than one of personal responsibility and agency. One is kind it like “here’s how things are, and here are the deterministic, universal reasons as to why that is”, while the other might be more like “here’s how things are, and here are the ways you could choose to reason ab…

Yes, of course. Having someone listening to you, attentively, is great. It is also a key point of actual therapy.

Fictional example: https://terra-ignota.fandom.com/wiki/Cousins

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#436
post #413

> It’s the date that determines parts of her personality, her passions, her romantic interests and, to some degree, her life decisions. One day it came to be from a female colleague during a fun meeting. The vibe was too good to be disturbed, so I just skipped all birthday hoops and told her my star sign is Orion, then I asked her to search online if she wanted to know the attributes. My fellow nerds, remember, we ha…

> My fellow nerds, remember, we have a whole 88 IAU designated constellations, and they only got...like 12?? We can win this war and teach em some real astronomy.

What matters in astrology is the constellations that the sun passes through. You can learn some basic astronomy by figuring out the movement of planets in the solar system as seen from Earth, as the ancient astrologers (up to Kepler) did in order to predict their locations in the future, which they (erroneously) believed would allow them to predict auspicious days for their patrons.

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#437

At this point I assume all articles saying “young people are doing X” to be total bollocks. Like the articles we’ve seen here about paper maps making a comeback for young people (a small handful of people were using them as art) or the “young people trading their smartphones for dumb phones” which had a tiny sample size and sounded like bullshit. Nowadays you find 1-2 tweets (or similar), call it a trend, and move on…

"Young People Sceptical of Articles Claiming New Trends in Young People"

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#438
post #404

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I automatically assume they are not intelligent, irrational, and I find it impossible to take them seriously There are a lot of people who are highly regarded in history but who also believed in astrology, so you shouldn't be too hard on it. Do you feel similarly about people who believe in various religions? These people believed in astrology to varying degrees: Winston Churchill J.P. Morgan Nancy Reagan Theodore…

Source on Winston Churchill?

I just dug into it further and it's rather interesting. TLDR Churchill did not personally believe in astrology, but he did in fact use astrologers as part of his political and military planning on several occasions, but not for the reasons it at first seems. He knew his opponents often believed quite a bit in astrology, so he used astrologers as a way to better understand what and when his opponents might move, often with effective results. Fascinating. Thanks for the prompt to look into this more.

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#439
post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe that "modern" astrology takes in account the location of birth (latitude and longitude). Of course if you go back to more traditional texts (European or Middle Eastern) they did not really have any concept of this, but on the other hand they were making charts and predictions for people of their own area so it was not a big deal. For them.

When put like this it really sounds like astrology is just trying to be a tool to predict and explain someone's behavior based on external factors that have a non complex origin. A more accurate and scientific version would be to be to examine someone's upbringing and life events while using methods from modern psychology. Note that both methods are kind of cold and one way. You are determined to examine someone else…

Yes, thanks for this hindsight.

This is definitely another problem with Astrology as a "cure".

Tarot is a bit different, at least in the way it is used by Jodorowsky and other who were influenced by him. You turn up a card and start answering questions from the "Tarot Reader". It is more like "what do you see in there? who does this figure remind you of?"

Re: Young people are flocking to astrology

#440

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…

Dude, lighten up. She was playing a game with you, probably flirting. And you didn't play the game very well. Mysticism is fun, aesthetic, and filled with more questions than answers. Play the game some time, you might enjoy it.

I also can't believe you actually found a way to weasel racism into the conversation. It's all so tiresome.

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