[extropy-chat] it had to happen...

[Damien Broderick]

At 08:17 PM 7/17/2006 -0500, Kevin wrote:

>Anne, is it not painfully obvious that two people born at the same 
>time can have wildly varying characteristics and that just as many 
>people born far apart in date can be similar?

Anne, aside from her astrologically-induced inability to spellcheck 
her emails, has apparently never noticed the finding that fraternal 
twins resemble each other somewhat, but not nearly as much as 
identical twins, who have double the shared genome. However--

>Can astrology even work considering human genetics and our ability 
>to learn new behavior patterns and the way our personalities change 
>throughout our lives? ...You can't use it to predict

Well, of course people *can* and *do*. The question is whether they 
are correct in their predictions. Suppose they were, a bit? (Most 
research I've read shows they aren't, but hey.) Seasons of gestation 
and birth might be a significant parameter, just as maternal smoking 
or doping or available nutrition are. On top of that, there are 
several key filters in development that might be modulated by birth 
month: in many places, you start school at age 5 (or whatever) with 
some given month as the cut-off. One lot of kids might be a day 
younger than another and yet start school a whole year later. And so on.

The hilarious aspect to sun-sign astrology (as seen in your local 
rag) is that Southern Hemisphere idiots contentedly follow the 
reprinted advice dished out to 6-month-season-reversed Northern 
Hemisphere dopes, which suggests that the seasonal element isn't very marked.

>Are we really entertaining such topics at the moment?

Let's hope not, except in another sense of "entertaining".

Damien Broderick