Dhruv rathee astrology video!

https://youtu.be/JILyj5IZ3rI

It had been a while since I came across a video bashing astrology. I used to get infuriated, but at this point of my life videos like this make me sad. I used to be exactly like this guy Dhruv, throwing around terms like barnum-effects! ( I respect him for the kind of videos he makes most of the time).

Since it is important to me as an astrologer and as a rational citizen of this modern scientific world, I would like to try and share a few things on this. I will begin by saying this: he is probably right about most of the astrologers you see.
But,

1. Astrology is not merely about predictions. Yes, you read that right! The utility of astrology goes beyond doing event predictions, but sadly most astrologers try to make it big out doing predictions, perhaps in a desire to quickly make a name for themselves, or perhaps in a desire to prove themselves that they are good at the game(they know that’s where money is!), but in doing so they risk embarrassing themselves and jeopardizing astrology. And it is sad, because the binary nature of the result of the prediction cannot always explain the complexity of the universe we live in, our lives and events around are far more diverse, complex and too chaotic to be defined by binary results. Yet most authentic astrologers successfully predicted events, but in doing so they also make it look like astrology is all about ‘prediction’ which is not true.
Yet there have been many astrologers who have done jaw-dropping predictions! Astrology is not hard science, it is science of tendencies, there is a fair amount of intuition used in the process. Without intuition, you won’t know where to look in the face of vast amounts of information! In any case, how can you hold an inadequate astrologer’s incompetency against someone who has successfully predicted the event? In an attempt to highlight the failed predictions, they turn blind eye towards the right ones. As much as astrologers have failed, they have also done mind-numbing predictions! There are astrologers who have predicted world war, there are astrologers who have predicted death, there are astrologers who have predicted ‘the lost purse is in the right corner of your house under the brown sofa’! Who is gonna talk about them?

2. The moment some scientists or guys like this one dismiss astrology based on Sunsign, I laugh a little. I feel like saying: ‘ You haven’t done your research, boy!’ Sunsign astrology is not even five percent of the whole chart. If you only you would try and learn astrology to see the complexity of it! You have barely scratched the surface of it, and you go on dismissing it so vehemently? C’mon! Yes, the burden of proof is on the astrologers, but don’t you think it is extremely unscientific to dismiss something before you thoroughly understand it? Yes, there are fraud astrologer. Yes, we are creature full of biases, its all too human to be biased. Just look at people like him, being completely blinded by pro-scientific thoughts! Yes, an astrologer will use all his tricks to do the right consultation for the client, but ultimately he has to read the client’s chart, he has to know his stuff! ( and I am making a point for genuine astrologers, not for frauds. Frauds will do anything to take your money. You don’t have to be an astrologer to be a fraud, you have to be a fraud to be a fraud!)

3. Astrologers pick-up clues. Yes, astrologers working for many years, will just know what kind of problem a client has come to solve. But isn’t it same for any other profession? Say, a doctor? Experience will definitely support the astrologer. It’s laughable that the guy in the video is making a point against the experience of an astrologer!
3. Barnum effect is true, cold reading is true, selection bias is true. Humans are fundamentally flawed creatures in many ways. We come up with our own theories and conspiracies in many forms and layers. We tend to do anything to conjure up an argument that supports our arguments, true. But all these flaws can sneak their way into the brains of people in any other fields just as much(no , not doing strawman here!) The biases don’t mean astrology is bullshit. But this pro-scientific stance to bash astrology is just another bias. And Sadly people like him will always be slaves to their cold- rational self, failing to see beyond. It is like arguing against quantum physics, without understanding shit about how it works!

4. The only genuine challenge(on the surface at least) to astrology is the twin problem, yet Vedic astrology even takes note of a second of difference in birth. A small moment of difference in birth time makes a significant difference in the life path of two different individuals. Plus, there are genes and circumstances which make a difference in manifestation of the astrological potential of two individuals born at the same time, astrologers have never claimed that it is only astrology that shapes our lives!

Credit – the rational astrologer

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