Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Astrology, science, and the millennials

My favorite magazine had an essay on astrology.

I prefer to spell astrology as ASStrology in order to clearly and immediately convey what I think about it ;)

I read that essay, nonetheless.

And then I emailed a letter to the editor.

Not the first time that I have vented ;)  But, this time it was different.

A reply stated that they were going to publish my letter, but in an edited form because of space constraints.

Here is my letter in the latest issue of The New Yorker:
I was surprised that Smallwood, who notes that many millennials today “see no contradiction between using astrology and believing in science,” does not mention India, where scientific progress and astrology have long coexisted. The sage Varahamihira, who lived fifteen hundred years ago, studied the sciences, such as astronomy, and also astrology. In contemporary India, it is not unusual to meet people who are scientists at work and read horoscopes at home. Though believing in both science and astrology is not new, followers of astrology would do well to remember that harboring such a serious contradiction in thought may be perilous. One doesn’t need a horoscope to predict what the equation of non-science with science might bring about in India and elsewhere.

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