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Comment by RubenSandwich | Hacker News Reader

This quote is so good from the interview with Rachel Lo, co-founder of Struck:

“I’ve always been a very science-focused person (I studied Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science), and used to be more opposed Eastern philosophies and traditions (which is a whole thing to unpack as an Asian kid growing up in a white community), but I started seeing the benefits to having a more readily available language to express empathy/emotions in the form of astrology.”

It very briefly describes why you shouldn’t be so dismissive of astrology. Even if it’s not a hard science, that doesn’t mean that it’s useless in other people’s lives. It helps them communicate real emotional needs and wants.

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It might help them communicate real emotions, but it is also used to skirt responsibilities of ones actions and be dismissive of others based on a trait they have no control over.

However, the app should be free to exist.

Making excuses for one's own bad behaviours has nothing to do with the context, it has to do purely with the individual's integrity and holding oneself accountable or lack thereof.

And I’m not defending people who do that. But this also kind of proves the point of the article that we are quick to stereotype folks who do astrology, when it’s likely a very diverse thinking group. I know a few friends into it and for them it’s a bit real and a bit tongue in check. Ask your friends who are into astrology, I bet not all use it as a tool to dismiss actions or predestine things.

> But this also kind of proves the point of the article that we are quick to stereotype folks who do astrology, when it’s likely a very diverse thinking group.

I don't think most people stereotype people who do astrology.

Some seem to think they display a dramatic lack of intelligence however but I personally am fine with them being a diverse group of idiots.

From my point of view is that it provides people and escape from decision paralysis. They’re not going to generally do something they’re opposed to because the stars say so, but they’ll use some arbitrary bullshit criteria to chose between multiple equally good options. It’s no different from flipping a coin, but coin flipping is a fine way to make a decision sometimes.

It's possible this is why divination and oracles are common across cultures: https://aeon.co/essays/if-you-can-t-choose-wisely-choose-ran...

How does astrology help express emotional needs and wants? Is it something that only works for some people, whose emotions happen to match those predicted by astrology?

A way I could see it work is that you get a series of (randomly generated) statements about who you are. You then go through them, and either say "yes that's me" or "no that doesn't fit". This exercise helps you reflect on your identity.

Then you might communicate to someone else "I'm pretty <trait x> for a <sign a>". Then they know that you have <trait x> and <trait y> (because it is associated with your sign and you didn't reject it).

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