Astrology: Fact or Fiction?

[vincegamer]

Originally posted by MarkusTay
Please don\'t judge things you haven\'t experienced personally.

I haven\'t experienced the curve of the earth but I judge it to be true.

I haven\'t experienced the big bang but I am convinced it happened.

I never witnessed my grandparents having sex, but I judge that they did.

I didn\'t witness the Holocaust but I still judge it to be a terrible thing.

We judge lots of things we never experienced.

 

[Infidel Castro]

Originally posted by freakinacage
not a believer myself. am a scientist so i can see no way that the time of year you are born affects you that much. i find that the descriptions are vague enough that they could apply to most. don\'t get me wrong it\'s fun (and i do tend to read my signs in the girly mags, my housemates leave around)

I made a point of not reading all the posts after a certain stretch, but got as far as Tim\'s. I agree with him in as much as WHEN we\'re born means f-all. But I do believe, being made mostly of water, we are indeed influenced by interplanetary bollocks (like Earth!). Pseudo-scientific stuff, but I think it\'s kind of right.

 

[philologus]

Hey No Such Agency. I didn\'t believe that book on solar wind! I just thought it was interesting and pertinent to the topic. Sorry if I miscommunicated. Also before anyone shoots at me; I am not saying that the bible advocates astrology; particularly the variety that involves seeing the future. It is however mentioned for charting seasons and times. It does hint that we do affect the universe through our actions.
Food for thought on either count.

 

[Infidel Castro]

The other thing about astrology is Precession and the movement through the houses of the zodiac (where the sun resides and all that). That stuff\'s well interesting. Epochs and all that jazz

 

[Etherion]

What do ya get when ya mix Science and Astrology?

...

Scientology.

I guess they must be right then :moon:

 

[Infidel Castro]

Hehe! Nice one

I was born under a wandering star...or was it a bus station?

 

[monolith]

And if we take string theory on board, each point in space-time has a number of dimensions folded in upon themselves. String theorists can\'t agree as to how many dimensions each point in space-time holds, it\'s 15 one day, 26 the next. These dimensions are apparently where the things that make gravity and whatnot work, come from. My own understanding of them is limited, to say the very best.

Then there\'s quantum theory. The main tenant of this is simple. Observers affect outcomes.

I\'ll paraphrase Dr. Hawking: Imagine a particle. It\'s a small particle. So small, that you have to use a very intense beam of light to measure it\'s trajectory. This imparts energy to the particle, changing it\'s trajectory. The more accurately you want to measure something, the more you affect the outcome.

That said, I figure now\'s a good time to quote from futurama: \"No fair! You changed the outcome by measuring it!\"

Things happen. Why they happen is generally beyond me, and in this respect, I feel that ignorance is bliss most of the time. The answer is probably Quantum.

 

[Infidel Castro]

The answer is as a breeze at an unexpected moment. *ahem*

 

[Modderrhu]

@Etherion - The Christian Scientists might argue with you.

@monolith - That\'s Hawking\'s simple explanation of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, and that is the real underpinning of quantum theory. You can measure a particle\'s exact position or velocity. The more accurate one measurement is, the less accurate the other will be. Therefore, it\'s impossible to know a particle\'s exact position and how quickly that position is changing - velocity. Mathematically curious, because velocity is simply the derivative of position.

@rev - Born in a bus stop? You lucky bastard, you had shelter. All I know about my conception involves the words \"quickie\" and \"drainpipe\".

 

[Infidel Castro]

It must have been a bit of a squeeze, two people in as drainpipe!

 

[MarkusTay]

Just to add one more little thing, a famous Astrology story...

A renowned astrologer early in the last century pinpointed his exact time of death. He also found out he was going to die violently. He decided he was going to cheat fate, because knowing about his death would allow him to avoid it. On the night of his demise he invited several friends over, fellow astrologers, and told them what he would be attempting. He told them he would simply sit in his favorite chair all night while they watched him, and not do anything that could harm him. The hours went by, and he and his friends got into a disagreement about a certain aspects of astrology. To prove his point he went to his bookcase and took down a very heavy old volume. In so doing, he unbalanced the HUGE bookcase and it fell on him and crushed him.

The point is, was this a self fufilling prophesy? ???

I remember my father reading this to me when I was about 13, so I don\'t remember the source or the name of the astrologer.

Even if you don\'t believe in Astrology, you should still remember we have astrologers to thank for observing the movements of heavenly bodies for thousands of years. Most of our modern sciences had there beginnings in the studies of the Magi.

Does anyone want to argue the validity of Alchemy now?

 

[Infidel Castro]

That must have been a real shitter that! It\'s all going so well until oops, there he goes lol

 

[Modderrhu]

It sounds to me as though the his fates knew what he\'d be up to, and he just went through the motions to fulfil them. Now, had he whored and gotten drunk with copious amounts of ale, I bet he\'d have lived happily ever after. lol

Originally posted by MarkusTay
Even if you don\'t believe in Astrology, you should still remember we have astrologers to thank for observing the movements of heavenly bodies for thousands of years. Most of our modern sciences had there beginnings in the studies of the Magi.

Does anyone want to argue the validity of Alchemy now?

Once upon a time, a long time ago in the happy land of Nod, all religions and sciences fell to the philosophers. As time edged on, through the Dark Ages, until the time of the trial of Galileo, when the sciences separated themselves from each other, and from religion. As an understanding of one philosophical sphere grew, it became a separate science, with its own dedicated body of discoverers.

Astronomy and astrology were once the same thing. Reason separated from belief, and the two split apart. Same thing with alchemy, it was an application of a very poorly understood chemistry, just as astrology was an application of a very poorly understood astronomy. Alchemy died as rational chemistry surpassed it, astrology refuses to die. Alchemy was bold enough to provide testable hypothesis and was proven wrong by chemistry and due to failure. Astrology offers no assertions, thus cannot be proven either way, and neither can it fail.

 

[Sturmhalo]

Now Fate is another issue entirely! I have a love/hate realationship with that guy... and likewise Lady Luck... Lady Luck always comes up with something (though not always what i want, usually just what I need... apart from that one time recently... bitch!), but then good old Fate tends to intervene and bollocks it all up! It\'s a conspiracy I tells ya!

 

[Etherion]

I thought Fate is a woman too?

 

[dauber22]

Originally posted by supervike
Take me and Dauber for instance...Many have claimed that we are the same person, we have so many similarities, that it is downright spooky.

But according to \'astrology\' he\'d have to have the same sign as I do.

I am a Gemini, what are you Dauber??

Oops! Soryy! Must have been sleeping and missed this thread entirely until now.

I certainly agree with you on this one, Jim. Since we are so similar we definately should have the same sign. However, while you are a Gemini, I, on the other hand , am a Gemini! See there. I guess that disproves the whole... Hey! Wait a minute!

 

[supervike]

I knew you\'d come along sooner or later....