Bombay High Court Rules Astrology To Be a Science

neosaurus writes "In India, the Bombay High Court recently ruled astrology to be 'a time tested science more than 4000 years old.' Not only does this stretch the definition of science, it also reaffirms people's faith in pseudosciences at a broader level." At least we can know for certain the people trying to get creationism taught as science in our schools have equally wacky friends around the globe.

Comments

Comfort

[necro81]

At least we can know for certain the people trying to get creationism taught as science in our schools have equally wacky friends around the globe.

That isn't very reassuring.

sad day for enlightenment

[tota]

I have met numerous people, some of them quite clever and respected, who despite being well aware of various pseudo-science tricks (say homeopathy and the like) all fell for astrology. They will claim that people born at a certain time of year share some traits... (like it's some kind of scientific measurable proof. sigh)

I have no idea why it appeals to so many, especially women for some reason. Just look at most women's magazines!
Every newspaper has a column (all of them sufficiently vague that you can't use this to prove how ridiculous the whole thing is).

I wonder what it is that makes so many of us susceptible to such blatant scientific fraud.
As for India, I am not surprised... their belief system is already quite complicated and intersects with all aspects of life, science included.

Re:sad day for enlightenment

[rjstanford]

James Randi's astrology experiment remains one of my favorites. Gather information from a room full of people, prepare a reading for each one, and have them read it (in the same room, but silently). Invariably they claim that it was 85-95% accurate, far beyond what they would believe is pure chance. Then he has them pass their readings to the next person in line. Very soon they realize that the entire room was given the same paper.

As Heinlein liked to say, man is not a rational animal, rather a rationalizing one.

Re-enforcing India's Supreme Court

[Anonymous Coward]

RTA, Bombay High Court didn't "rule" this way. They noted that India's Supreme Court already ruled on whether Astrology is a science back in 2004 and parroted the result of it. Seems consistent to me.

Re:Idle

[Anonymous Coward]

Because unlike other things on Idle this has real consequences for intelligent and honest people at large. This undermines real science and makes fighting pseudoscience and superstition harder because idiots now have another country to point to and say "See, they think it's real!". It makes it harder to defend vaccines, to debunk homeopathy, and to get rid of the cancer that is religion because garbage masquerading as science now has another sanctuary in a legal code.

That's why it doesn't belong in Idle, because it has real harmful effects.

RTFA

[mangu]

According to TFA,

"So far as prayer related to astrology is concerned, the Supreme Court has already considered the issue and ruled that astrology is science. The court had in 2004 also directed the universities to consider if astrology science can be added to the syllabus. The decision of the apex court is binding on this court," observed the judges.

Apparently India's Supreme Court has already made a ruling about this and the lower court is just following orders.

Re:RTFA

[MozeeToby]

From the article: "The PIL had urged the authorities to ban articles, advertisements, episodes and practices promoting astrology and its related subjects like vastu, reiki, feng shui, tarot, palmistry, zodiac signs and rashifal." Emphasis added.

They had recently passed a law banning certain false advertising practices for medicine and treatments (similar, I imagine, to the regulations that the FDA imposes in the US), but the law was written in such a way that it could be used to ban any psuedo-science from being advertised or sold.

The court was left with three choices. Apply the law as written and ban the above listed pseudoscience, enraging scores of superstitious Indians across the country. Declare that those subjects were science and continue to all them (what apparently they chose to do). Personally I think, the third choice, declare those practices to be outside the scope of the law, would have been the preferred one. But I can understand why, for political reasons, they ruled the way that they did.

Re:Idle

[Lord Ender]

Well, I was fooling around with an Indian chick, but she wanted to consult with an astrologer before things got too serious. I refused to tell her my birthdate and pay an extortion fee to some con man for his blessing of the relationship. Now I'm forever alone, and am very aware of the real harmful effects of India's perverse fascination with astrology.

Re:homeopathy

[JonStewartMill]

Homeopathy is a great example of not throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Especially since the bathwater magically retains a memory of the baby it once contained.

Try reality

[Roger W Moore]

Seems consistent to me.

Not if you like to be consistent with reality.