Astrology and science

[David Horn]

(12-17-2020, 11:43 PM)TnT Wrote: But you're right!  Strauss/Howe's system is very much a correlation "science."  Yet, do the cycles cause the events?  Or do the events merely run on cycles?  That's a very important question.  My money would be on the events running naturally on cycles.  Astrology also runs on cycles.  So why wouldn't it make sense for many, many other things to simply run on cycles that match up with. parallel with or oppose the astrological cycles?  That actually seems like more of a simple (Occam's Razor) explanation.

The sunrise and sunset run on cycles.  The phases of the moon run on cycles.  Seasons come in cycles.  Do they cause one another?  Is one the root cause?  Well, sorta.  The physical laws constrain their motions and each individual motion affects the other.  By using the phases of the moon, we certainly could develop a system to predict seasons.  Would that suggest that the moon causes seasons?  No.  Would we call that an astrological "system" for predicting something?  I dunno - you tell me!  It makes as much sense, actually MUCH more sense than lining up planets and trying to predict a political outcome.

But ... Bless your heart, Eric.  You like it.  It does something for you.  It's entertaining.  And ... anything is possible.  We certainly have not solved all the mystery of the cosmos.

BTW, have you sampled the Harvard physicist Max Tegmark?  "Our Mathematical Universe."  Fascinating read.  He's one of the "infinite universes" dudes.  This book is hard to follow, but I was able to get enough to stay interested by understanding some of the high points.

I have no problem with astrology as clock and calendar, which may be the actual origin of astrology.  The prehistorians weren't stupid, just highly ignorant.  That wouldn't have precluded them from observing and using the astronomical as a guide, building a narrative around it, and anchoring it with a belief structure to sustain it.  That doesn't validate or invalidate the practice, but it might explain it.