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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I've been quite busy researching the role of
religion in humanity lately and haven't had time to visit. I decided to
drop in and I see a weird debate on astrology? </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>What is happening here? 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? Can astrology even work considering human genetics and our ability to
learn new behavior patterns and the way our personalities change throughout our
lives? Even assuming that you could group behaviours by date ranges, how is that
any different than recognizing the occasional pattern in a string of random
numbers? You can't use it to predict and that's what astrology claims to be able
to do. What kind of outside force could force people into such groups that
relies on the relative positions of the earth, sun, moon, and stars? Are we
really entertaining such topics at the moment? </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>
</FONT></STRONG></FONT><STRONG>From:</STRONG> <A title=femmechakra@yahoo.ca
href="mailto:femmechakra@yahoo.ca">Anne-Marie Taylor</A> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org
href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org">ExI chat list</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, July 17, 2006 5:49 PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [extropy-chat] it had to
happen...</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Samantha Atkins wrote:</DIV>
<DIV>That is not just "strange". It borders on willfully stupid. <BR>Astrology
has been tested utterly flunked the test over </DIV>
<DIV>and over again.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Anna writes:</DIV>
<DIV>What parts of astrology are you talking about?</DIV>
<DIV>I would like to mention links when you powerfully declare</DIV>
<DIV>something as stupid.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Samantha wrote: </DIV>
<DIV>If you wanted to learn characteristics then you would study
human <BR>beings, psychology, evolutionary psychology and so on. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Anna writes:</DIV>
<DIV>Yes, thanks for the insight, I studied psychology in University,</DIV>
<DIV>maybe I wasn't paying enough attention:)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Samantha asks:</DIV>
<DIV>Why would you think that clumps of similar characteristics get </DIV>
<DIV>handed out based on your birth location and time?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Anna answers:</DIV>
<DIV>Based on observation. </DIV>
<DIV>I didn't mention location. </DIV>
<DIV>Why couldn't their be a correlation between the time you </DIV>
<DIV>are born and human characteristics? It seems pretty acurate to </DIV>
<DIV>say that their are only so many charactestics humans can have.
</DIV>
<DIV>Why wouldn't their be a way to compute them? </DIV>
<DIV>If the time you are born is a starting point *Leo, born in August*</DIV>
<DIV>Why wouldn't it be likely that Leo's are born with certain </DIV>
<DIV>characteristics? </DIV>
<DIV>If i've observed enough correlation between characteristics </DIV>
<DIV>of Leo and characterists of Pisces, how are you contemplating</DIV>
<DIV>telling me my idea is stupid with no just answer but to tell me </DIV>
<DIV>that it's bogus or false?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Samantha wrote:</DIV>
<DIV>You wouldn't try to draw some bogus correlation against the</DIV>
<DIV>position of certain groups of stars as seen from earth. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Anna writes:</DIV>
<DIV>Yes Samantha, I know your feelings on pseudoscience.</DIV>
<DIV>Yet at the same time, I never mentioned anything about</DIV>
<DIV>stars, location, horoscopes or any other meaning associated</DIV>
<DIV>with Astrology except the time you are born.</DIV>
<DIV>If you have any great ideas on how an AI is going to distinguish</DIV>
<DIV>between human characteristics I would like to hear them.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Anna:)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><B><I>Samantha Atkins <sjatkins@mac.com></I></B> wrote:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid"><BR>On
Jul 17, 2006, at 10:50 AM, Anne-Marie Taylor wrote:<BR><BR>> Since you
brought it up:)<BR>> This is way out there, I know. But what the heck,
i'm known<BR>> now to do and say strange things:)<BR>><BR>> I was
wondering if astrology could help in building AI.<BR>> Don't get me
wrong, I was looking at it from the point of view<BR>> of catagorizing
certain charactestics based on the time frame<BR>> of when your
born.<BR><BR>That is not just "strange". It borders on willfully stupid.
<BR>Astrology has been tested utterly flunked the test over and over
again.<BR><BR>><BR>> I am a strong believer in astrology based on the
idea that people<BR>> born at a certain times have similar characterics
(Again, from a point<BR>> of view of the Blue Man Theory).<BR>> This
can't be proven, I know, it's just my experiences and<BR>> observations
that have led me to be curious.<BR>><BR><BR>It has been proven
bogus.<BR><BR>><BR>> Could Astrology just be a way for humans to learn
about<BR>> characterics?<BR>><BR><BR>If you wanted to learn
characteristics then you would study human <BR>beings, psychology,
evolutionary psychology and so on. You wouldn't <BR>try to draw some bogus
correlation against the position of certain <BR>groups of stars as seen from
earth. Why would you think that clumps <BR>of similar characteristics get
handed out based on your birth <BR>location and
time?<BR><BR><BR>><BR>> It would seem ludicrious to believe that human
characterics are<BR>> unique per individual therefore there must be a way
compute it.<BR>> How can something that's been around that long have no
meaning<BR>> or reason?<BR><BR>You can have plenty of "meaning or reason"
without making up bizarre <BR>theories like astrology or taking up such
nonsense. Just because <BR>something has been around for a long time doesn't
mean it has <BR>"meaning or reason". There are explanations for much of
human nature <BR>and human characteristics though.<BR><BR>-
samantha<BR><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>extropy-chat
mailing
list<BR>extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org<BR>http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat<BR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>
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