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Comment by emptyfile | Hacker News Reader

I'm so infuriated by your link I'm at a loss for words.

EDIT: This is an UNIVERSITY newspaper? I thought it would be some kind of british tabloid or something... depressing

The article makes an important point.

Astrology isn't meaningful or rational. However, the level of contempt shown for people who are believers in astrology is wildly out of proportion. There are lots of equally dumb things that don't get the same level of vitriol.

It's valid to dismiss astrology, but that doesn't mean that all dismissal of astrology is based on high-minded scientific ideals. A lot of it is based on sexism.

Really? What equally dumb things are believed by 40% of women and 20% of men (as per the article) and are a constant topic of conversation?

I'm really struggling to think of any.

It seems to me that epistemically indeterminate ideas (astrology, religion, health (viruses), politics, etc) do something strange to the human mind. It's hard to miss what they do to the minds of believers, but it's very easy to overlook what they do to the minds of non-believers. I wonder if this has something to do with the increase in polarization among the public, where some people cling ever harder to religion, while other people increasingly cling to science. The mind seems to seek "certainty" (correct or otherwise) first and foremost, but epistemic soundness shows up much further down the list, if at all.

Good observation. I wonder if we go through certain cycles of polarization and if there are external causes for these events. I believe there is something to astrology, at least the part about the planets gravitational forces having an effect on human physiology. I'm not sure what that something is, but I don't reject it out-of-hand simple because there isn't enough scientific understanding around it.

An interesting way to think about it: even if there was some effect from the planets (you know, like on full moons people swear that people genuinely act differently, and I don't have a good reason to conclude otherwise), the likelihood that we would necessarily be able to detect it seems slim - and yet, this type of possibility seems to not even be on the radar of The Big Brained representatives from the dominant thought directing institution going: The Science.

When one's Best and Brightest are actually quite dim, I do not think it is a recipe for substantial success. They are excellent at deciphering the complexities of physical reality, but for the most part they seem oblivious to other dimensions....while constantly complaining about them!!!

If it wasn't so tragic, it would be hilarious.

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