Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Nelson on August 27, 2011 at 11:22pm

um. are you asking for fun? your question seems to suggest that you think that it might mean something. but astrology is utter nonsense. so...

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Permalink Reply by Spike on August 27, 2011 at 11:31pm

I'm convinced that organized religion and god are complete nonsense, but DO believe people of the same zodiac sign very often share similiar personality characteristics. I'm new here, just joined, and I don't know how my beliefs will fit-in with this groups beliefs?

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Permalink Reply by Reggie on August 27, 2011 at 11:41pm

That is not a popular belief here, but that doesn't mean you can't or shouldn't be here.  Think Atheist promotes critical thinking and has a strong Skeptical bent.

I would ask what exactly you believe to be true about astrology and why you believe it?

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Permalink Reply by Spike on August 28, 2011 at 12:05am

I believe the possibility exists that biological changes that occur within the mothers womb during the fetal development of the childs brain ("possibly" caused by magnetic/lunar forces in nature) "might" be the reason for such similiar characteristic tendencies in individuals that share the same zodiac signs (such as virgos being analytical, cancers being emotional etc.). Of course, I realize the upbringing of an individual can weigh greatly on their overall character and tendencies... But, I have known four other people that share my August 31st birthday and we are all very similiar in thoughts and tendencies, and as a whole most virgos that I associate with are very similiar... I am by no means suggesting this is Gods "master plan", I think it is more of an evolutionary process.

 

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Permalink Reply by Nelson on August 28, 2011 at 12:37am

first, there are no "magnetic/lunar forces in nature" that could ever effect changes to human beings, either in utero or at any time after. the moon produces tides on earth  because it is so big. gravity's strength has to do with mass. small bodies at a distance from even large bodies experience insignificant effects of gravity. this is easy enough to see when you consider that we can overcome the massive gravity of Earth by simply...................... jumping up in the air.

the tides are caused by the difference in gravity between the near and far sides of earth relative to the moon. since there's such a distance between the near side and the far side of the planet, the moon's gravity has a significantly different effect on the near side than the far. this is why tides happen. but human beings have a negligible distance from their near and far sides, the difference in the strength of gravity from your left and right sides (or your front and back) works out, when you do the math, to be the equivalent of 1 billionth the weight of a paperclip.

you're saying that you believe that this effect is enough to have these mysterious effects??

 

second, provide evidence that people that share the same zodiac sign have similar characteristic tendencies. this just isn't true. the illusion that it is true comes about through confirmation bias- people concentrate on the hits and ignore the misses, and because the horoscopes are so absurdly vague as to allow anyone to find that they accurately describe themselves, no matter when they were born. take a look at this Information Is Beautify graphic to see what i mean. (and see how they produced the graphic to see how damning it is).

 

so, offer some evidence for a mechanism that would do what you claim it can first. then actually offer some evidence- something besides "some people i know share my birthday and think like me"- of a statistically significant effect.

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Permalink Reply by George Mathias on August 28, 2011 at 5:16am

Excellent answer.

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Permalink Reply by Robert Karp on August 28, 2011 at 9:11am

Nelson what a great graphic. Aries my "sign's" unique word is "whatever"! Explains a lot. DAMN YOU ASTROLOGY! WHATEVER!

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Permalink Reply by Danny Sanchez on October 26, 2011 at 5:24pm

Thank you for saving me the trouble of coming up with an almost identical reply that would point out everything you just did.

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Permalink Reply by Unseen on October 27, 2011 at 1:27am

The zipper on your trousers generates more gravitational force on you than the nearest star. And the nearest star isn't even in a constellation.

Besides, constellations only appear the way they do in a particular time frame and from a particular angle.

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Permalink Reply by Tammy on October 27, 2011 at 3:47pm

Wow, that's a really good response. But than you always have the best responses. :)

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Permalink Reply by Unseen on August 28, 2011 at 12:00pm

Perhaps the differences you refer to, which I think are mostly anecdotal and not scientifically proven, may be due to the effect on children of the behavior of people in their lives who BELIEVE in astrology. But I doubt if there really is any correlation other than that engendered by the subconscious mental filters operating in the minds of people who believe in astrology and thus are more likely to notice confirming evidence than disconfirming evidence. Like I said, where is your SCIENTIFIC evidence? It's hard to imagine how constellations, which may appear in a flat-looking sky to make a vaguely coherent grouping, but which are composed of stars which vary in distance from us wildly, could function as a group to form human personality into highly discrete chunks of humanity who are all alike in terms of some personality traits. Astrology is just a way to form preconceptions about people you don''t know very much about, which makes it somewhat akin to racism.

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Permalink Reply by Dylan Sloboda on October 26, 2011 at 7:44pm

It could be argued that when you are born determines what seasonal environments you are exposed to first. It also would effect what seasonal environment the mother experiences as you are developing in her womb.

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