[tialaramex]

Are you sure? I can see for Astronomy that's a branch of physics so sure, there's loads of tricky practical mathematics so if you're bad at mathematics you'll get stuff wrong, but surely for Astrology since it's just bullshit anyway you don't need to do mathematics as it wouldn't make a difference?

[saithound]

A horoscope is a fine mixture of fortune-telling bullshit and verifiable astronomical facts. The latter have the form of "where the celestial bodies could be seen at the hour of the client's birth", or "does Jupiter currently appear to be moving forward or backward in the sky".

The average Visual Basic programmer and the world's best mathematician are going to be about equally good at writing the fortune-telling part, but the mathematician will have a much easier time getting the factual part right.

[IshKebab]

I don't think the kinds of people that believe astrology are actually verifying the astronomy though.

[_doctor_love]

False. That's just your opinion. The best astrologers are heavily into astronomy and follow astronomy news very closely.

[IshKebab]

Fair enough. Feels weird to talk about "the best astrologers"! Like the most skilled witch doctors or elite roulette players.

[_doctor_love]

Dunno. A lot of Wall St forecasting is honestly worse and less reliable than going to a watch doctor or playing roulette.

I'll confess I'm a little sad at this attitude but people miss out on good stuff all the time.

EDIT: thought about this one a little more. There are definitely better and worse astrologers out there. The good ones will treat your birth chart and transits/progressions as a template for growth, a map to your life. The bad astrologers will condemn you to your fate because of when you were born. There's an enormous world of difference.

[_doctor_love]

> since it's just bullshit anyway

Alright, you're on - post the place you were born, including date and time and I'll cast your chart and tell you what I see. Then you can tell me if you think it's bullshit or not.

Free reading, you have nothing to lose.

Example: Milpitas, CA @ 4:52am January 24 1987

[_doctor_love]

I take downvotes as folks being intellectually not curious.

Homies - Silicon Valley is full of people who are into astrology. FFS, this is a community of people whose favorite thing on earth is Burning Man! People who drop acid and do art and experimental living in the desert usually aren't run-of-the-mill "the universe is just a big machine" type thinkers.

Most of the best programmers I know are serious meditators and mindfulness practitioners. There are reasons for this.

Try to open your mind a little.