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Should Scientists Date People Who Believe Astrology?
YourAstrologer writes "Wired Science asks: Should scientists date people who believe in astrology? Apparently, the argument is quite complex. Astrology is sort of a flawed mental shortcut for understanding the world, but so is disregarding someone because of their spiritual beliefs. Women are inundated with astrological nonsense from fashion magazines, so it is normative for them to believe it even if they are otherwise highly logical. Smart people can convince themselves of silly things."
Which method - radiocarbon or by slicing thenm and counting the rings?
It's true I tell you, feller at work's next door neighbour read it in the paper.
Must be for this to make the front page. It's not like anything *interesting* is going on elsewhere I suppose.
Don't mind my grumpiness. I think it's just the bad horoscope I read this morning. I should have stayed in bed.
I'm kind of a scientist and I kind of believe that astrology might have some truth to it. Is spiritualism of any kind NOT for scientists?
Beggars can't be choosers....
Where are we going, and why am I in this handbasket?
Seeing as this is Slashdot, lemme just say, you should probably take what you can get. Astrology, piercings, fetishes, just be glad a girl's talking to you and not asking you to do her math homework. Seriously though, sometimes breasts are big enough to make other things not important.
What's they're sign? If you two are incompatible according to the stars then you can forget about being compatible on Earth.
As a Marxist, I have no time for pseudoscientific concepts that claim to explain the workings of human nature in their entirety while offering no evidence or falsifiability.
If you haven't made a developer cry, you've wasted a day.
I have to take offense to this. Couple of years ago, the local paper's astrological peice listed for my birthday, 'If today is your birthday, you gonna get lucky today.' Now, yes I was dating the lady who was incharge of editing that section at the time; but by God, it was correct.
In God we trust, all others require data.
Think of the children... No, seriously, think of the children.
Duh.
From the comments on TFA:
(note, this is not even on /. !)
Which begs the question: Should anybody date someone who recommends taking a look at a 68k Mac software in 2008 ?
In Soviet Russia, our new overlords are belong to all your base.
I'm a Scorpio, Scorpios don't believe in astrology.
There's an old Bosnian joke about how Mujo decided which girl he should marry. He discussed about it later with his friend Haso:
H: I heard you got married. Congratulations! How did you decide?
M: Well, this was not easy. I had three candidates and I conducted a test. I asked the first one:
"What's 2+2?".
She said "4".
I though to myslelf, that's good, the woman is smart.
The second one said: "Well, it depends. It can be 4, but sometimes it can also be 3 or 5."
That's even better, the woman is cunning.
I asked the third one the same question and she says "I don't care. Whatever my husband says it is".
I thought to myself, this woman surely will respect her husband. This is good.
H: So, which one did you take?
M: Oh. The one with big tits, of course.
I don't think that scientists are THAT different to other men.
"Kinky sex involves the use of duck feathers. Perverted sex involves the whole duck." - Lewis Grizzard
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
Interesting - you believe in salvation through a holy zombie despite a total lack of explanation as to how the reanimation of dead bodies relates to human events ?
OK, let's at least get this clear: the resurrection of Jesus (you know, the fictional one) did not involve zombies. Jesus did not hunger for the flesh of the living. Instead, he actually came back to life.
We're talking Goa'uld Sarcophagus or Ancient Healing Device here, not a zombie virus.
The article is about Astrology not $cientology...
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
And a confusing life it is! But finally, I understand why so many scientists have problems with time management...
Guys, if any women are actually reading this, we are collectively sooooo not ever getting laid.
Ed R.Zahurak
You know, oblivion keeps looking better every day.
Now for some good news: by following the above steps, you will develop a mathematically sound personality that society actually needs, and, more to the point, every one of the linked personalities gets laid and so will you. Study your personality, make the set of behaviors etc. your own, and date only people who have an astrological sign that complements the one you've chosen using the above steps! When faced with a choice, read the astrology section of a trusted newspaper, and just do whatever is prescibed for your chosen personality. The only caveat (and really it is the only one) is not to mention your true birthday, only one that fits in with your chosen sign, if anyone asks. This is just to keep from having to explain the science behind your choice every time you mention it. If the relationship gets to be very serious, just invent a story about a botched birth certificate, for why your identification doesn't show your "true" birthday... As with nicknames, people will understand that you have a different "official" birthday.
FAQ.
Why is this better than a traditional horoscope?
The traditional way of determining astrological signs for selecting a personality is flawed because there is an unequal distribution of births by month. (It's not the only thing true about birth months, incidentally! Check out these studies linking lifespan and month of birth!) Also, your physical birth month will be a function of, how can I put this delicately, your parents' mating habits, so it's less than scientific...
But won't twins have the same checksum?
Duh. It's an astrological sign. You know, normally based on birthdate...
But won't people cheat and just keep picking different checksum schemes until they get the "
The principal point should be whether the stars says that you two are made for each other, of course.
You might be surprised!
A good friend of mine, almost a brother to me - an otherwise reasonable, sane guy - is a devout believer in astrology. For the longest time, I thought it was a (largely successful) ploy to get laid. But after many alcohol induced discussions with him, I came to the conclusion that he actually believes in it.
His explanation? When asked a few hard questions about astrology, e.g., Are all Scorpios complete fucking morons, or is it just you? and Why are all astrological predictions exceptionally vague and overwhelmingly flattering? he responded that he feels it's a useful way to get a feel for some baseline characteristics of an individual. Myself, being a sagittarius, am apparently prone to prolonged bouts of philosophical circlejerking and self-destruction. Not sure where I was going with this. Just food for thought.
It depends. That time I met the girl who liked to be pooped on ... well, that was a deal breaker for me.
I see this as a basic problem of economics and supply/demand.
... and really like sex.
See, I'm a scientist (male). I would prefer it if women, including those who believe in astrology, preferred to date male scientists, especially in my age range, and that male scientists didn't want to date women.
That way demand for me is high and supply of me is low, making it fairly easy for me to date cute women.
Oh, and they should be rich too
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
It's true I tell you, feller at work's next door neighbour read it in the paper.
oh, right rule out dumb girls, when exactly was the last time you hooked up with someone?
Under the influence of Post-Cyberpunk Gonzo Journalism