Astrology (I think this would fall under "philosophy&qu

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Does anyone else believe in astrology? I understand that it might not make much logical sense, but I find it to be strangely accurate. Accurate or not though, I find it interesting.

I'm a libra. What is your sign? Do you think it fits you?

Astrology is bunk. The predictions based on my sign are as accurate and inaccurate as any other zodiac sign. People fail to recognise confirmation bias with astrology.

From Wikipedia:
Confirmation bias (also called confirmatory bias or myside bias) is a tendency of people to favor information that confirms their beliefs or hypotheses.[Note 1][1] People display this bias when they gather or remember information selectively, or when they interpret it in a biased way. The effect is stronger for emotionally charged issues and for deeply entrenched beliefs. For example, in reading about current political issues, people usually prefer sources that affirm their existing attitudes. They also tend to interpret ambiguous evidence as supporting their existing position. Biased search, interpretation and memory have been invoked to explain attitude polarization (when a disagreement becomes more extreme even though the different parties are exposed to the same evidence), belief perseverance (when beliefs persist after the evidence for them is shown to be false), the irrational primacy effect (a greater reliance on information encountered early in a series) and illusory correlation (when people falsely perceive an association between two events or situations).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias

♏

At least I got a venomous sign .

Oh, and in addition to Tallyman's post:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forer_Effect

I'm a Pisces, which "fits" me better than most. I don't think there's anything special about astrology though, like GGPViper says I think it is mostly the Forer effect.

See also: i-Ching

There is no valid empirical evidence to support the claim that Astrology is an effective means for determining one's personality or fortune.

However, it is an effective tool for generating wealth from the fears, gullibility, and ignorance of those who believe in it.

In simpler words: Astrology is a scam.

Here is my horoscope for today.

Sounds like a plan.

To the OP:

I have an interest in astrology, but not horoscope columns or popular sun sign astrology. When you get more in depth than that, it gets much more interesting. (But I won't discuss it here in depth, with people digging at the idea.) There are other forums where you can find information and helpful people. And you don't need to spend a lot of money. You can learn a lot about it from free information online. When you start to understand a complete natal chart and transits, it can be really interesting.

If someone has never studied it, it's easy to dismiss. It's not a science that can be proven or disproven, it's more of an art. It's also not something you believe in or not, at least not for me, because a lot of what you get out of it depends on what you put into it. I'm skeptical about many aspects of astrology, but I still think there's something to it worth studying.

I've never spent a lot of money on it, that's just silly. The popular best-sellers about sun signs might make a bundle, but that's not really astrology.

My interest goes hot and cold, though, because it's an effort to keep up with watching my transits and such, and it has limited uses. When I'm having problems I do look at what transits might be affecting me, and that can help.

Last edited by BlueAbyss on 27 Dec 2012, 3:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Astrology is nonsense. It has no empirical validity whatsoever. It is a belief system that emerged before we had a decent theory on what makes the celestial bodies move (gravitation). After Newton's theory was accepted astrology was no long practiced by reputable natural philosophers. Note: In Kepler's day, natural philosophers cast horoscopes for the princes and potentates who funded their work. Kepler himself cast horoscopes. It was a say of getting money.

But it is still nonsense. It is trivially falsifiable: find a pair of identical twins who ended up in very different ways. Find two people born at the same time in the same hospital who ended up in different ways.

Also astrology is based on the Babylonian ephemeris which is totally inaccurate by modern astronomical standards. The Babylonian Ephemeris is off by as much as 30 degrees.

Astrology is bullsh*t.

ruveyn

I find astrology irrational but interesting. I thought of starting an astrology thread on Wrong Planet months ago, but astrology's unpopularity on Wrong Planet deterred me from doing so.

People of certain star signs may tend to be more cynical than others.

The world is made up of both the logical and the illogical. There's a place for both. Just not, apparently, here.

People can be as illogical and fanciful as they like, it isn't against the site rules. Similarly it isn't against the site rules for members to point out the Emperor isn't actually wearing any clothes.

Ah, an Aquarius sun
You must be very idealistic and independent. The great musician Bob Marley is sun Aquarius also.

I understand that, it just seems to me that there are a lot of threads where someone wants to discuss a topic that is not scientific where the scientific types or skeptics come along and seem to just want to dampen the conversation. No rules are being broken, true. But that doesn't make some of the responses any less rude, and it creates an atmosphere where the original reason for the thread is diminished and those who are interested in it have to slog through a lot of posts saying what BS the topic is.

I was only pointing out that there are other forums where the conversations about such things can go on uninterrupted, where they are taken seriously and shown more respect.

The OP might have been better off posting his thread in the Random forum rather than PPR. There is would have had less analytical responses and more members would participate in a more jovial, informal and less confrontational manner. PPR is the debate forum of the site, so comments made here tend to be ... well... debated.

... and the Emperor's name was Astrology ...