• pensivepangolin@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    As a side note: blows my mind there are people over the age of 9 that persist in actually believing in tarot cards or astrology.

    • agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works
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      11 months ago

      So independent of any woo-woo, tarot cards are designed to be a potent conceptual microcosm. That means that when you shuffle the cards and do a reading, with a decent understanding of what each of the cards represents, you essentially make a little randomly generated conceptual perspective through which to view the problem. Extremely helpful for shaking out of an established mindset, finding an unexpected angle which reveals connections you hadn’t considered.

      I can’t really speak to astrology, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out to be approximately accurate for some reason other than the stars themselves. Perhaps the changing temperatures of the seasons have a slightly noticeable effect on natal development.

      • Tavarin@lemmy.ca
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        11 months ago

        Astrology is only accurate in that everything it says is vague and easily interpretable in multiple ways.

        A teacher did an experiment where he handed his class custom astrology reports based on their birthdate, and asked them to rate how well they fit each of them. Everyone gave it a high rating, and said it was very accurate. He had them pass the paper to a different student, and everyone laughed because everyone got the exact same astrology report.

        • agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works
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          11 months ago

          Certainly sometimes, not always. I was convinced to get a “proper” chart done, and the results were more specific and accurate than I expected. Certainly not vague newspaper predictions. I’m not going to claim the whole practice is authentic, but like I said I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out to have some actual correspondence to some unknown tangible cause unrelated to the stars.

          • Tavarin@lemmy.ca
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            11 months ago

            Nope, astrologers are masters at making vague answers sound specific. But they are still vague and interpretable in multiple ways, even in your proper chart.

              • Tavarin@lemmy.ca
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                11 months ago

                No, that’s all astrology is. Whenever it’s been put to the test it has been found to have no supernatural or real predictive power. Just vague statements, and reader bias.

          • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
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            11 months ago

            Certainly sometimes, not always

            That’s not the basis of a good prediction. Imagine flipping a coin. You can “guess” the answer with 50% accuracy by just choosing heads each time.

            But that’s cheating you say? You could also get 50% accuracy by just flipping another coin and using that choice. Or just choosing the opposite that just appeared (heads, tails, heads, etc.). That’s not good enough for a prediction.

            • agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works
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              11 months ago

              I’m not trying to sell anyone on astrology here. All I said was sometimes it’s so vague as to to apply to anyone, but not always.

              • Honytawk@lemmy.zip
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                11 months ago

                If it isn’t vague, it isn’t astrology.

                They are just reading your body language and things they find online about you.

                The location flaming balls of gas are have no influence on your life. Except for the sun.

                • agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works
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                  11 months ago

                  It was automated so it wasn’t that.

                  Once more, not saying the stars have anything to do with, except that they’re in the sky in a particular time of year. If astrology is based on anything, it’s probably the effects of the seasons.