Hacker News Reader

Comment by goto11 | Hacker News Reader

Predictions are falsifiable, which is why prediction-making astrology is easy to show as bullshit.

Your "real" astrology sound like it is vague enough to be non-falsifiable. But it is still bullshit, since celestial bodies does not affect the "fields of possibility" unless you are an astronaut.

View on HN

And your 'proof' is where?

Proof of what? You can't prove or disprove an unfalsifiable claim.

"But it is still bullshit, since celestial bodies does not affect the "fields of possibility" unless you are an astronaut."

I imagined you could back up the claim if you were going to make it.

You can't prove a negative, as I'm sure you are aware. The burden of proof is on the one making the claim of an effect.

It would be beneficial to have an open mind to the possibility of there being an effect. It serves no purpose to say "I know" when in fact, one does not.

No scientist knows how quantum entanglement works, we don't know how light photosynthesizes in plants, but by some magic we're super-familiar with the macroscopic properties of planets enough to say they're dead rocks/gas?

I'm sure there are all kinds of things we don't know about the planets and universe. But astrologers make positive claims about particular effects on human life. These claims are unfounded.

The fact we don't know everything does not give anybody a free pass to just make up bullshit.

Can you present such a claim and your dispute?

What needs to be proven is the claim that the stars _do_ influence anything, not the default position that they don't.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com