Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id OAA20631 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Tue, 23 Jan 2001 14:00:47 GMT Subject: RE: ....and the beat goes on and on and on... Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2001 08:57:28 -0500 x-sender: wsmith1@camail2.harvard.edu x-mailer: Claris Emailer 2.0v3, Claritas Est Veritas From: "Wade T.Smith" <wade_smith@harvard.edu> To: "memetics list" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Message-ID: <20010123135609.AAA12263@camailp.harvard.edu@[128.103.125.215]> Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
On 01/23/01 07:57, Joe E. Dees said this-
>It doesn't work worth a flip, but it IS
>efficient. All you have to do is pigeonhole people into categories
>based upon complexion or birthdate or gender or gender orientation
>or age, and you don't have to go through the difficulty of considering
>and responding to them as individuals.
Efficiency of operation is vital to astrology, and all other forms of
'personality' matrixing. But the pigeonholing is _not_ really done in
astrology via the chart (or in other forms by the charms, trinkets, maps,
lines, bumps, castings, entrails, etc...), but by the cold reading skills
of the astrologer, who might 'read' verifications not supplied by the
'traditional' chart from the smallest possible subtext, which these days,
among astrologers with computers, includes asteroids and the moons of
planets, but which, more, um, traditionally, included the 'opposed'
planets, and the moon's influence, and, of course, the time of day and
whether or not the groundhog saw his shadow....
But, yes, this is also a grand way to avoid the horrible fact that the
stars ain't the same no more....
And when astrologers and other true believers of like 'divining arts' are
asked about whether it 'works' or not, their reply, based on the
willingness and participation of their clients, is that it does, because
the feedback loop is complete. This is the way the placebo works, of
course, and is the main reason 'alternative medicine' 'works' and it is
the way 'work' is defined among these endless catagories of practicing
quacks.
There is a truly laughable locus of self-proclaimed 'scientific' study of
astrology at Kepler College, http://www.kepler.edu/index.html, in
Washington state, US, and another equally grin-causing outfit at
http://www.astrodatabank.com/indexAS.htm, in case any of you want to see
the sorts of people we card-carrying skeptics sometimes lock horns
with....
At any rate, the definition of 'scientific' is the first casualty.
And, talk about word salads....
- Wade
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