Slashdot Mirror


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."

9 of 1,181 comments (clear)

  1. Nigger dicks up your arse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Nigger dicks in your mouth

    GNU GOATSE PUBLIC LICENSE
    Version 3, 29 June 2007

    Copyright (C) 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
    Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
    of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.

    Preamble

    The GNU Goatse Public License is a free, copyleft license for
    software and other kinds of works.

    The licenses for most software and other practical works are designed
    to take away your freedom to share and change the works. By contrast,
    the GNU Goatse Public License is intended to guarantee your freedom to
    share and change all versions of a program--to make sure it remains free
    software for all its victims. We, the Free Software Foundation, use the
    GNU Goatse Public License for most of our software; it applies also to
    any other work released this way by its assholes. You can apply it to
    your asshole, too.

    When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not
    price. Our Goatse Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you
    have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge for
    them if you wish), that you receive source code or can get it if you
    want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it in new
    free programs, and that you know you can do these things.

    To protect your rights, we need to prevent others from denying you
    these rights or asking you to surrender the rights. Therefore, you have
    certain responsibilities if you distribute copies of the software, or if
    you modify it: responsibilities to respect the eyesight of others.

    For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether
    gratis or for a fee, you must pass on to the recipients the same
    freedoms that you received. You must make sure that they, too, receive
    or can get the source code. And you must show them the shocker so they
    know their rights.

    Developers that use the GNU GPL protect your rights with two steps:
    (1) assert copyright on the software, and (2) offer you this License
    giving you legal permission to copy, distribute and/or modify it.

    For the developers' and authors' protection, the GPL clearly explains
    that there is no warranty for this free software. For both users' and
    authors' sake, the GPL requires that modified versions be marked as
    changed, so that their problems will not be attributed erroneously to
    authors of previous versions.

    Some devices are designed to deny users access to install or run
    modified versions of the software inside them, although the manufacturer
    can do so. This is fundamentally incompatible with the aim of
    protecting users' freedom to change the software. The systematic
    pattern of such abuse occurs in the area of products for individuals to
    use, which is precisely where it is most unacceptable. Therefore, we
    have designed this version of the GPL to prohibit the practice for those
    products. If such problems arise substantially in other domains, we
    stand ready to extend this provision to those domains in future versions
    of the GPL, as needed to protect the retinas of users.

    Finally, every program is threatened constantly by software patents.
    States should not allow patents to restrict development and use of
    softwar

  2. Um, Yes... by kabocox · · Score: 0, Troll

    Sure why not? People believe in all kinda of crazy things like religion, astrology, string theory, and evolution.

    A quick google search shows up this url http://amasci.com/weird/vindac.html for those that were ridiculed, but later vindicated.

    I think there is a ton of money to be made in astrology. With what we know now, it should be possible to work backward and find out if visible lights in the sky have had effects on a personal/societal level for the past few thousand years. There is a part of me that wonders if the gravity of other planets or the moon/sun has noticeable/predictable effects on us. With all the crazy crap that we fund, that sounds like a fun off the wall one. The only problem is if we discovered that "astrology" was actually real. I have a feeling that we could make astrology work.

    What I find funny is that we'd find it impossible to fund NASA to observe all the asteroids that might hit the earth. We'd actually come up with the money to fund that for astrology though. Those asteroids might have a noticeable impact on our collective future if left unaccounted for.

    I think astrology actually can match up fairly well under science. The thing is it would be that crazy blue sky science until we really started looking at it. For a means to predict the future though? Nope, I wouldn't buy that, yet. I do think daily horoscopes and the like are great fun. If some one takes one as daily instructions of a high priest/priestess that's their problem. I bet astrology would turn out some what like the weather. With enough data, we could predict it for 4 days or so. (I find funny is its not sky data that we'd need to determine your likely future, its knowledge about the person and what they are likely to do. Actual successful astrologers might be pretty good at reading people and learning to guide people into the directions that they want to go anyway. i wonder if anyone has studied the careers of successful astrologers and their impact on "important" people in business/government.

  3. last post by apol · · Score: 0, Troll

    Hi,

    My wife believes in Astrology in until strange phonomena like the Mars effect are not explained I don't think I can criticize her.

    Last post!

    apol

  4. Re:Which method? by Empiric · · Score: 0, Troll

    "...imaginary superbeings that were made up by some random illiterate guy some thousands of years ago..."

    I await with anticipation your testing model for this hypothesis.

    --
    ~ Whence do you come, slayer of men, or where are you going, conqueror of space?
  5. Re:Which method? by bobkoure · · Score: 0, Troll

    For the idiotic things that some men believe, i.e. organized religion, the burden of proof is on the atheists? WTF? You seem to have missed that Athiesim is a belief in something unprovable as well (just a belief in non-excistence, but still...). Seems like it's the agnostics alone who miss the burden of proof.
  6. 5 years? Gotta be 18 in this state... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    It's illegal to date 5 year olds in this state... you have to be 18!

  7. Re:Multiple Choice by Surt · · Score: 0, Troll

    Do you have any evidence for that belief, or are you only qualifying academics as scientists, because there are other reasons that better account for the differential there.

    --
    "Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
  8. Re:Which method? by Empiric · · Score: 0, Troll

    Well then, we'll just leave your Bare Assertion fallacies as they are.

    Interesting thing is, formal logical fallacies are even less plausible than astrology. Good luck with that.

    --
    ~ Whence do you come, slayer of men, or where are you going, conqueror of space?
  9. Re:Which method? by Empiric · · Score: 0, Troll

    Sorry, I've observed it. I do appreciate your claim to personal omniscience as to the content of everyone else's experience, however.

    Thought experiment on such negative reasoning:

    1. How many people would one have to interview to know somebody knows who really killed JFK?
    2. How many people would one have to interview to know -nobody- knows who really killed JFK?

    What you're really saying is that you don't have evidence following the methodology you prefer, despite the fact the particular religion at hand likely would see a certain injustice in granting equivalent results for someone dedicating actual effort to it, and someone willing to make the effort to say "gimme proof".

    --
    ~ Whence do you come, slayer of men, or where are you going, conqueror of space?