Hacker News Reader

Comment by DoreenMichele | Hacker News Reader

Probably something no one here wants to hear, but astrology is a big thing in India -- serious astrology, which is highly mathematical and historically goes hand-in-hand with advances in astronomy, not "sun sign astrology." I'm guessing that's not entirely irrelevant to there being this mnemonic system, though I don't know enough about India to support that suggestion.

View on HN

As far I went down the ancient sanskrit traditions, I also think this numbering system has deep ties to numerology, astrology and derived spiritual disciplines like raga (classical carnatic music, hindustani) and classical dances like Kathak, all of which are studied through numbers, patterns and thus math. Though I'm sure I'm missing something.

I’m curious why you think no one here would want to hear it?

I've been on HN a long time. I know how it usually goes to say anything at all about astrology.

Is Indian astrology falsifiable?

Not today as 5 planets are moving into a rare alignment this week :-)

That's called astronomy, not astrology. It's fine to be fascinated with the sun, moon and stars and go outside to look at them before dawn.

It's not okay to think they influence events here on earth (like tides, winds, moods) through "invisible forces" (like gravity).

Why is it not ok? And who decided that? Or is it just your opinion?

That's not my opinion. That's the general sentiment of HN as judged by the negative reactions I've gotten over the years as someone who once studied astrology in earnest and dares to occasionally comment on it.

It was a mild joke as planetary alignment does play a part in Vedic Astrology.

Astrology indeed had a high place in ancient India and significantly influenced the development of mathematics and astronomy. 5th/6th century mathematician Aryabhatta was also an astronomer as well as an astrologer. He even devised his own numerical encoding, which is far more compact than the Katyapadi system but not as amenable to writing numbers poetically.

You don't believe in astrology but u believe it's ""3 PM"" ?!?!?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com