Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site utastro.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!ut-sally!utastro!padraig From: padraig@utastro.UUCP (Padraig Houlahan) Newsgroups: net.origins Subject: Re: Astrology Message-ID: <731@utastro.UUCP> Date: Tue, 17-Sep-85 10:06:22 EDT Article-I.D.: utastro.731 Posted: Tue Sep 17 10:06:22 1985 Date-Received: Fri, 20-Sep-85 02:29:10 EDT References: <304@pyuxn.UUCP> <2137CJC@psuvm> <397@scgvaxd.UUCP> <2109@burdvax.UUCP> <2178@iddic.UUCP> Organization: U. Texas, Astronomy, Austin, TX Lines: 46 > In article <2109@burdvax.UUCP> bnapl@burdvax.UUCP (Tom Albrecht) writes: > > > >Communism is to government what astrology is to science. > > The rest of the article was bo-ring, but this little message in his > signature caught my attention. Do any of you netters out there know > what the origin of astrology is? I think I remember hearing something > about the ancient Egyptians, but I don't know what the true story is. > > I'm not convinced that astrology is totally bogus. I don't mean the > astrology you get on the comic page. I mean the idea that a person's > life, health, and personality are (to whatever extent) influenced by the > exact time and place of his/her birth. Any astrology buffs/debunkers > out there care to comment? > > Kendall Auel Astrology claims that the relative positions of the planets and stars influence your future. There is no evidence of the existence of any force that can do that. If one postulates that the gravitational pull of a planet has significant effect on you well the answer strictly speaking is a qualified "yes". I say "qualified" because a simple calculation shows that the gravitational attraction between a planet like mars and you is about the same as an average size car less than 1m away from you. If one wants to claim ability to determine the influence planets have on your future, they must first take into account the influence that auto's which pass by you every day make. Because there is a unique configuration in the sky when each of us is born, and each of us leads an independent life, the fallacy of association is committed. Astrologers cannot justify why the time of birth is so significant; why not use the beginning of the third trimester? the second? or conception? or any point in between. Certainly the time and place of birth influences your future (suppose you were born near the end of the second world war at a place near Hiroshima), but astrological claims have the least credibility for having insight into our future; I would say that social scientists, our parents banker etc. would be able to make better predictions. A further aspect of astrology is the removal (or reduction) of self determinism that it entails, which goes hand in hand with reduced responsibility that we must take for our own actions. The world is full of people that want others to tell them what to do, how to behave etc. Unfortunately, there are many that are only too willing to oblige. Padraig Houlahan. Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com