----- Forwarded message from [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Date: Sun, 25 Apr 2004 23:16:36 +0530 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Astrology- A pseudo-science In his book “Flim Flam”, the well-known American conjuror James Randi recounted how as a young man he briefly got the astrology job on a Montreal newspaper, making up the horoscopes under the name ‘Zo-ran’. His method was to cut out the forecasts from old astrology magazines, shuffle them in a hat, distribute them at random among the 12 zodiacal signs and print the results. This was very successful of course, because all the predictions were working on the "Barnum principle", of saying things so vague and general that all readers would think that it applied to them. Belief in astrology has become so widespread that many able, highly distinguished and intellectual people today indulge in it. There are many who wish to live in a world governed by fantasy and mystical wonder; where the tall and wild claims of astrologers are generally accepted as the unchallengeable truth. Excessive attention to ‘Astrology’ is one of the superstitions that is hurting India very badly. The continued uncritical dissemination of astrological charts, forecasts and horoscopes has contributed to the growth of irrationalism and obscurantism. To qualify as a scientific theory, an idea has to be logically consistent, both internally (all of its claims must be consistent with each other) and externally (unless there are good reasons, it must be consistent with theories which are already known to be valid and true). Astrology fails on this score. Neither its basic assumptions nor its predictions conform to the rigorous discipline that science demands. So much of what is claimed about astrology contradicts what is already known and proven in physics. The “twinkling stars” tell us nothing. Astrology is nothing but hogwash and superstition. As William Shakespeare states in “King Lear” in his inimitable style: ``This is the excellent foppery of the world, that when we are sick in fortune -often the surfeits of our own behaviour - we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon and stars; as if we were villains on necessity; fools by heavenly compulsion; knaves, thieves and traitors by spherical predominance; drunkards, liars and adulterers by an enforced obedience of planetary influence; and all that we are evil in by a divine thrusting on – an admirable evasion of whoremaster man to lay his goatish disposition on the charge of a star!'' If we allow ourselves to be overrun by dangerous superstitions, society faces a most dangerous plight. A society engulfed in superstition is a detriment to itself. The time has come to challenge directly and forcefully this pretentious science of "Astrology". The bunkum must be separated from the reality! Sandeep Heble Panaji-Goa ----- End forwarded message ----- ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################