it's professor Dave I'm a cancer what
about you after getting through all of
the astronomy concepts in this series we
found how it's quite easy to put certain
common beliefs into perspective like our
analysis of the Flat Earth model that we
just went over are there any other
concepts like this that ought to be
investigated I can think of one more a
significant percentage of the global
population believes in astrology which
is the notion that the positions of the
planets and stars in the night sky have
influence over events that take place on
earth according to Western astrology the
locations of the planets along the
ecliptic and their spatial relationship
to the 12 constellations of the zodiac
is not arbitrary as science would
suggest their positions at your birth
determine aspects of your personality
and their positions on any given day
determine things that will happen to you
can this be true can the validity of
this claim be tested it absolutely can
let's go through an examination of
astrology now and see if we can
straighten this out once and for all
this analysis will occur in two parts
later we will look at what's in charts
and horoscopes but first let's see if we
can find a mechanism of action
astrologers claim that the positions of
celestial objects affect us if so then
how thousands of years ago when these
planets were regarded as gods
it may have sufficed to simply say magic
or divine action and then go about your
day but in the modern era we have
science we have instrumentation we have
the ability to learn all about the
universe so if there is something
happening here we should be able to
detect it measure it categorize it so
what kind of influence is being exerted
by these planets and stars on the earth
and the people on it well let's see
there are four fundamental forces the
strong and weak nuclear forces
electromagnet two
and gravity the nuclear forces operate
on the dimensions of an atomic nucleus
so those are out for sure
electromagnetism and gravity on the
other hand have no limit in terms of
distance so let's take a closer look at
those keep in mind we understand these
two forces very well we have equations
that allow us to calculate the magnitude
of the electromagnetic force or
gravitational force between two objects
these equations are indisputable they
predict the behavior of objects down two
extreme levels of precision and with
repeated flawless accuracy these
equations describe the universe now if
we try to plug in some numbers like the
masses of celestial objects and the
distances to them we find that all the
stars we see in the night sky are so
incredibly far away that they just can't
affect us even the nearby planets in our
solar system have a very limited effect
the abnormally powerful magnetic field
of Jupiter has dramatically less
influence on human beings than that of a
toaster oven in the next room the
gravity of these faraway objects pulls
on us less than the car in your driveway
and not just by a little by several
orders of magnitude so if either of
these forces are proposed to be the
mechanism by which astrology operates
then case closed it's bogus
the math doesn't lie but that's not the
only problem
even if the magnitude of these forces
was significant enough to affect us as
is certainly true of the gravity exerted
by the Sun and the moon and to a much
lesser extent Jupiter and Saturn due to
their size and proximity how can gravity
dictate your personality at birth how
can gravity the force of attraction
between all matter determine something
as subtle as your disposition in the
biology series we learned about genetics
and gene expression so how can astrology
fit with all of that the answer is
simple
it can't astrology predates biology it
predates all of modern science by a
longshot and that's the point astrology
is a collection of things that we
thought of before we knew anything in a
time when we thought the earth was the
center of the universe but the
retrograde motion of a planet is not a
deity turning around in the sky it's
just the visual effect of one planet
passing another in their respective
orbits
the signs of the zodiac don't actually
mean anything they are just imaginary
pictures we made up by playing connect
the dots with stars that are strewn
about at random we made water
constellations to remind us about stormy
seasons at sea and Virgo with her sheaf
of grain to remind us of the harvest
these were simple mnemonic devices that
had mystical connotations painted upon
them by ancient generations who were
seeking meaning in a universe without
any we have been replacing mysticism and
pseudoscience with real science since
the time of Galileo an astronomy is one
such science of all the thousands of
astronomers around the world people who
study planets and stars for a living
there are precisely zero that believe in
astrology just let that sink in for a
moment
10 out of 10 professional space
scientists agree astrology is not a
thing
once you learn enough science the
pseudoscience inevitably gets the boot
now let's say you're still not convinced
perhaps you don't know about these
equations and you don't trust the
scientists in the first place that's
fair we should be able to make up our
own minds
so let's come at this from a different
angle let's say astrology is true let's
say that the planets and stars do
influence events on earth and we just
can't understand how it is beyond our
ability to comprehend the mechanism of
action at this point in time if this
were the case astrologers still ought to
be able to make predictions that end up
correlating with reality if the
positions of celestial objects are
indeed relevant we should be able to do
some experiments and collect some
evidence that demonstrates this
relevance well as it happens a wide
variety of experiments have been done
some experiments have asked professional
astrologers to match people to their
respective natal charts based on their
psychological profiles they never
succeed in a statistically significant
way
beyond what random chance would allow if
astrology was true wouldn't people who
study it be able to apply its tenets as
consistently as scientists apply science
well perhaps they are bad astrologers
one might say they don't know what
they're doing so that doesn't prove
anything
very well then what if we gather huge
amounts of data on certain sets of
people some studies have taken hundreds
of people all born within a couple
minutes of each other that are now
adults and examined a huge variety of
their characteristics disposition income
profession relationship status and
dozens more the planets were in the same
positions for the births of all of these
people so there should be some kind of
similarity between them something
anything and yet no trends can be found
whatsoever for any of these traits and
circumstances they are no more alike
than any random assortment of people of
similar age still too many variables you
say unreliable reporting of time of
birth too much distance between the
locations of birth all right no problem
let's get even more specific than that
to people born within seconds of one
another in the exact same location
fraternal twins according to astrology
these children have precisely identical
charts and should therefore be
essentially identical people same sky
same planets same constellations same
location everything is the same
so they necessarily have the same chart
if you haven't been convinced of
anything yet then no further study can
be cited to convince you so use your
personal experience go ahead and think
of all the fraternal twins you have ever
known are they identical all of them
definitely not some are rather similar
and some couldn't be more different just
like all siblings but astrology would
require that these similarities exist
without exception that fraternal twins
do not have
precisely identical personalities is
definitive proof that astrology is false
maybe you're still not satisfied let's
say you don't have a twin and never knew
any how can you verify things for
yourself well you have a Sun Sign you
have a natal chart and horoscopes that
should apply to you so what about
individual horoscopes then studies have
been performed whereby test subjects
with birthdays scattered throughout the
year are given horoscopes and are told
that they are highly specific to their
sign high percentages of the subjects
reported that their reading was very
accurate and insightful despite the fact
that everyone got exactly the same
horoscope how can the same horoscope
apply to everyone it can't that defies
what astrology proposes we should all
get different horoscopes and natal
charts so how can everyone identify with
the same one that's very easy to answer
most horoscopes and charts are vague
listing more positive traits than
negative ones everyone wants to believe
that they are compassionate creative
intuitive wise or other such traits even
weaknesses listed are usually pretty
easy to swallow like overly trusting or
too humble or having high standards for
oneself things that have a positive spin
to them most people will agree that they
are these things even if they
objectively are not furthermore on any
given day look up your horoscope from 10
different sources
if astrology is true they should all
agree to an extent but you can bet a lot
of money that they will not some will
tell you to be careful with money some
will tell you to take a chance today
nothing said will mean much and none of
them will correlate horoscopes are just
too vague to have any real meaning as
they do not predict things as concretely
as science does science says that if you
throw this object at this angle and with
this initial velocity according to this
equation it will land on this precise
spot at
this precise time and lo and behold it
does every single time the equation
therefore must correlate with reality
horoscopes do not say anything so
falsifiable if they said that today a
man named Kyle Evans will ask you if you
want half of his tuna sandwich and then
a car horn will honk three times before
you find a $2 bill under a mailbox and
that highly specific event did indeed
happen to every single person for whom
that horoscope applies then astrology
would be in business but this is never
the case
it's always something along the lines of
there will be an important opportunity
or you will reconnect with someone or
you will have to make a decision today
these are things that apply to pretty
much everyone every day of their lives
and that's what makes astrology a
pseudoscience it does not regularly make
rigorously falsifiable claims and when
it does they are immediately falsified
anyone that is being honest with
themselves must admit that these results
demonstrate that there is no validity to
astrology when something makes
falsifiable claims which are then
repeatedly falsified that model must be
rejected if someone asks you to think of
a number from 1 to 10 and then attempts
to guess it claiming that they are
psychic if they then proceed to guess
incorrectly many times in a row we would
conclude that they are not psychic this
is how science works for a theory to be
valid it must correlate existing data
and make predictions if those
predictions don't work out the theory is
discarded so the fact that astrology has
stuck around is due to confirmation bias
plain and simple
if the psychic guesses your number only
2 out of 7 times they are not psychic
they just guessed correctly two times by
chance just like any of us might but if
someone reads their horoscope every day
and two times this week it correlated
vaguely with events they may still
believe in astrology if they use
those two days to confirm their bias and
ignore the rest of the data an equation
that only predicts events two out of
seven times is utterly useless in
science as it can't have a reliable
correlation with reality therefore
neither do horoscopes you can
demonstrate this to yourself by
comparing your experiences with others
that have the same Sun sign as you try
to objectively assess whether there is a
correlation if you're really serious
find someone born on the same day of the
same year as you even in the same region
the two of you would absolutely have to
be dramatically similar as the tenets of
astrology would apply to both of you if
the reality is anything less than this
astrology can't be true because in order
for it to be true its predictions must
hold at all times not just when things
work out by chance so what's the big
deal you may be asking even if astrology
isn't true who is it hurting well it's
more harmful than you may think
especially when people in power
subscribe to it when Ronald Reagan was
in office as the president of the United
States First Lady Nancy Reagan hired an
astrologer whose advice was quite
influential on decisions made by the
administration can you imagine if
America was to declare war on a nation
because on astrologer advised it it
doesn't even have to get this
catastrophic in general when large
segments of the public allow themselves
to entertain pseudoscience and mysticism
it clouds their ability to apply reason
and logic which are needed to make
informed political decisions in short we
all need to agree on the nature of
reality if we have any hope at
unification against potential oppression
so things like astrology while they may
not be specifically immoral are still
counterproductive in the grand scheme of
human development so that's all there is
to it astrology is undeniably in
arguably completely and utterly false
the positions of the stars and planets
at the moment of your birth have no
correlation with anything whatsoever
regarding who you are and what happens
to you on a day-to-day basis it is
nothing more than a stubborn relic from
ancient times when mysticism and science
were won and it has only survived for
one reason it's fun
people liked it they liked the idea of
it and how it makes them feel the notion
that the universe and everything in it
is deeply intertwined with the
trivialities of humanity is comforting
that can't be denied but it's also
absurd its hubris on the grandest scale
so while it may not be such a big deal
to read your horoscope for fun it would
be far better for us to grow as a
species and leave this relic behind for
good there are those who would argue
that something would be lost in
discarding astrology an appreciation for
the magic of the night sky but they are
just plain wrong when you leave this
primitive construct behind and actually
learn about these objects absorbing what
astronomers have come to understand over
the centuries as we have done together
throughout this astronomy series your
reverence for these objects is
necessarily magnified a thousand fold
planets stars galaxies the infinite
potential of the universe which calls
out to us begging us to grow up and tame
it the deafening silence that is our
unknown future is smiling down at us in
the guise of a billion twinkling stars
these worlds are ours for the taking but
only if we rise to the challenge and set
our efforts on the acquisition of real
knowledge for those of you that take
this road as your own I'll see you next
time no matter which chapter is next for
you thanks for watching guys subscribe
to my channel for more tutorials support
me on patreon so I can keep making
content and as always feel free to email
me professor Dave explains at gmail.com
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