Astrology raises its head

If the astrologers really predicted the future, then they could first take care of themselves, for example by investing safely in the stock market (safe because of knowing the future, not because of deliberate speculation). Instead, they collect a hundred or two hundred shekels from each person who enters them in exchange for a vague astrological prediction.

Not long ago I was asked a question, which for 400 years it seems there is no need to ask, because the answer is known: "Does the sun revolve around the earth or does the earth revolve around the sun."
I hesitated whether to answer because it's not every day that such a basic question comes up. Someone might be waiting for an answer with a hidden camera. I still decided to answer.

First - the exact answer is that both the sun and the earth orbit an imaginary point which is the equilibrium point between the masses of the two bodies. But due to the huge difference between the masses, that point is a short distance from the center of the sun. Practically speaking, since this point is inside the sun, it turns out that the sun revolves around itself and the earth also revolves around it.

This phenomenon has been known since Copernicus over 400 years ago. It took the church over 200 years to embrace this fact since it is contrary to the sight of the eyes according to which the sun apparently rises in the east and sets in the west for the observer at any point on the earth. Two great thinkers were even tortured and one (Giordano Bruno) was executed. The second is Galileo Galilei, who is credited with the saying "and yet move, move" on the earth.

The only ones who adhere to the belief that the sun revolves around the earth (and by the way, if this were the case, we would already be receiving results from spaceships that were launched throughout the solar system, there would be no solar system if everything surrounded the earth - it would be the earth system...) are the astrologers, all of their calculations are based on On the position of the sun and the stars as if the sun is the one that moves against the background of the stars and not the earth that moves.

I decided to refresh the memory of those asking these questions about my opinion on astrology. Here is an article I wrote in 1996 and was published in the "Haaretz" newspaper where I worked at the time.

Towards the beginning of the year, all the newspapers (except "Haaretz") are filled with astrological analyses. What kind of economic year is expected (recession, everyone says then, including the astrologers) which of the world leaders will live and who will be murdered (and for twenty years the astrologers think that Assad will die, and for at least ten years - Saddam Hussein) and more. The prophecy of Herzl Lifshitz is known, who predicted at the time that Yigal Alon would be prime minister, unfortunately for him the prophecy was published exactly two days before Yigal Alon's death.
Astrology is based on the assumption that the earth is the center of the universe and everything in the sky a: revolves around us, b: has meaning for us. That is, the random collection of stars arranged at least for the ancients in a way vaguely reminiscent of a lion, has meaning for those who were born when the sun passed in the background of that "constellation". Astronomers have known for several hundred years that the first assumption is incorrect, that is, the earth is not at the center of the universe, and apart from the moon, nothing revolves around us. It is clear that the movement of the sun behind the background of the stars is a simulated movement, because the earth is the one that rotates around the sun and therefore the background behind it changes.

This background, of course, has no meaning because these are stars, which supposedly are found in one array and do not form a group at all, because some of them are deep in space, others are relatively close, and all that links them is their brightness (enough to see them without a telescope) and their angle of view regarding Earth making them close to the mirror.
One of the most brilliant proofs is quoted in Steven J. Gold's book "Hail to the Brontosaurus" (published in Hebrew by Dvir, 1994). Gould describes a cave of glowing fireflies. The fireflies hang on the roof of a cave by the thousands, and this roof reminded him of a starry sky, except that these "stars" were scattered so that they did not form any pattern. It turns out that the pattern created by those worms was actually ordered: "The stars are arranged in the sky randomly, in relation to the position of the Earth. That's why we see them as juxtaposed within constellations. It may sound like a paradox, but my statement reflects a proper aspect, which is not appreciated by a random distribution.

Equally spaced points are a very ordered system. Random values ​​always include some degree of coupling, just as a sufficient number of coin tosses will include what 'trees' one after the other with considerable frequency - and our sky does not suffer from a lack of stars. The fireflies, on the other hand, are spaced out in a much more balanced way, because they compete with each other, - and even eat each other - and each of them builds a territory for itself. Without me, the firefly woodpecker is a neat firmament."

In response to Gold's article, Nobel laureate in physics Ed Parcell conducted an experiment and created a computer program that would illustrate the phenomenon. Within an array of cells 96 cells high and 144 wide Parcel presented "stars" or "fireflies", according to the following rules of randomness and order (corresponding to the sky vs. the cave of fireflies) in the star option, the squares are simply captured at random by a random number generator that emits a number between 1 L.-13,824 In the option of the embers, the same generator emits numbers, but the square is colored only if it and all the squares adjacent to it are not occupied. Most viewers see where in the random shapes there are meaningful figures and in the ordered landscape they see complete randomness, because there is nothing for the eye to grasp. The conclusion is that our conceptions of order are wrong.

Besides, if we were to quote Carl Sagan from the series "Cosmos", perhaps today we would even give those systems names from the last period - that is, a telescope or a car - things that were beyond the reach of the Babylonians and Greeks, who had to throw figures from the vocabulary and concepts of that time into the sky Probably mostly animals and mythological characters. Obviously, their meaning was different.

Apart from the puzzling fact that for about two thousand years the sun has moved and its path does not coincide with the zodiac at all, and that a few years ago the earth shook when the so-called 13th zodiac sign was discovered, it was discovered that all the systems that still remain almost do not shine in the background of the sun in the months that the Babylonians and Greeks designated for them, except with a delay of one month, but for astrologers it is nothing matters. For example, a person born at the end of June or the beginning of July is considered to be a Cancer, that is, a particularly sensitive person prone to moods? and withdrawn, but in fact the sun is in the sign of Gemini, which supposedly causes the person to be "open, witty, conversational".

Another question is the meaning of the date of birth. After all, it is known that heredity is determined at the time of fertilization and not at the time of birth, and some character traits in general are learned after birth, therefore the moment of birth itself has no meaning from a practical point of view, (Sagan: "The gravity of the obstetrician has more influence than the gravity of Mars as far as the baby is concerned" ).

The French psychologist Michel Joquelin published an ad in a newspaper in which he offers a free horoscope analysis. To all applicants he sent an astrological analysis he received on the date and place of birth of an executed murderer. To his surprise, 90 percent of people said the analysis they received was an accurate description of their personality, and 80 percent said even their friends and family members agreed.

It is also known that the astrological predictions are formulated in such vague language - and human nature is so complex that if someone insists on looking for something suitable he will always be able to find it, no matter what the prediction is based on.

And think about something else: if the astrologers really predicted the future, then they could first of all take care of themselves, for example by investing safely in the stock market (safe because of knowing the future, not because of deliberate speculation). Instead, they collect a hundred or two hundred shekels from every fool who enters them in exchange for a vague astrological prediction. (The prices are correct for 1996).